We arrived in Quito on a cloudy Friday afternoon, visitors in a strange land, not quite sure what to expect from the South American Bridge Championships. As we stepped off the plane, we were met by two smiling organizers, holding signs which read "BRIDGE" and had the universal symbols of our game: spades, hearts, diamonds, and clubs. They helped us navigate through customs, sent us off to our hotel, and told us to let them know if there was anything we needed. Oh, and there was a duplicate game that evening.

This experience foreshadowed our experience in South America. Everyone was extremely welcoming to us, saying how glad they were that we could come, and proudly showing off their splendid country to us. That first evening, we played in a slam off the cashing ace-king of spades; they laughed and joked with us as if they had known us for years. Everything was one big party; there was wine everywhere, yogurt drinks for sustenance during sessions, and even a parade that the city of Quito held for the bridge tournament one evening, a spectacular procession of dancing through the streets of downtown colonial Quito. It was truly a festival, carried out under the capable direction of larger-than-life Bernd Papenbrok, who seemed to be everywhere at once; we even ran into him several times in the airport on the way back.

The bridge started in earnest with a pair game on the first three days, a three-session qualifying to separate two-session finals for open and mixed pairs. While this pair game was going on, the ladies' and men's open team championships were going on; we got to watch players like Gabriel Chagas compete during the off times in our schedule. The pairs were a lot of fun, and Ari and Jason ended up winning the event, while John and Erin placed second in the mixed pairs. It was a good start to the event for Team North America.

The junior teams started the next day. It was good to have a five-person team when the second-day schedule displayed four twelve-board matches, each 95 minutes long, with no breaks; we were each able to get some rest. In the double round-robin, we came out on top; the final standings were:

North America 206
Argentina A 174
Brazil 162
Argentina B 142
Ecuador 125
Uruguay 61

So we played Argentina B in the semifinals, with Argentina A and Brazil meeting in the other match.

The following deal from the second half proved critical to the semifinal (hands rotated):

	AKT K983 KQ72 K5
Q975 5     98643 874	N    W   E       S	83 JT64 AJT JT92
	J642 AQ72 5 AQ63

W	N  Greenberg	E Scaravino	S  Develin
			1
Pass	1	Pass	1
Pass	2*	Pass	3
Pass	6	DBL	Pass
Pass	Pass