I don't know jack but I stay sincere: Welcome to Carnaval. This is a party.

Last weekend the group took a trip to Gualeguaychu (gwa-lay-gwai-choo) for the last weekend of Carnaval. The city is 3 hours north of Buenos Aires on the Rio Plata, and apparently it is a boring ghost town when Carnaval doesn't bring an infusion of tourists. We paid for an all-inclusive trip that provided us with a party bus, two nights at a hostel, two crappy breakfasts, and stuff to do during the day. There were about 50 people on the tour mostly Americans with some Europeans and Argentinians mixed in. The party bus didn't quite approach Freshman ski trip levels but we did have a fun time playing 21 questions and sipping on cuba libres. For anyone who doesn't know Brendan Brooks is the BEST 21 question player ever, just a warning if you ever find yourself up against him. After a couple drinks had built up our valor several of us Americans made a pact to only speak in Spanish for the rest of the night. This instantly made the night much more interesting.

Once we got to Gualeguaychu everyone went out to a big dinner on a a rooftop terrace. I sat with Dave, Brenny, and some Argentinians and had one of the funniest dinners of my life. I don't remember too many details but the combination of our jovial mood and attempts at speaking Spanish well caused much hilarity. Also, I died laughing for 5 minutes when Dave thrust his man hand into the salad of a big surly American girl who we had only known for 20 minutes in an attempt to "get the best part." She let out a shriek of no and slapped his hand away with enough force to make Dave look like a shamed puppy after it is kicked away from the dinner table. The entire table fell quiet, except for me as I instantly burst out laughing and couldn't stop for a while. If only Dave had eaten dinner with my mom before he would know he's not Helen Keller.

After dinner we went to a party in the streets, which is exactly what you might imagine. There were hundreds of people packing the streets/boardwalk. Music was blaring and everyone was dancing, drinking, or spraying foam in each others faces. Yes they sold some sort can that shot a stream of foam several feet. I refused to buy it until I was attacked by a mob of screaming/giggling/foam-spewing girls. It was terrifying and I vowed revenge. I purchased my own can and was handily winning the war due to my spraying skillz and evasive moves. Then I ran out of foam. Then I got ambushed and sprayed in the eye from 6 inches away. Then I quit because I couldn't see. Things quieted down a bit (meaning they ran out of foam to sell) so we danced in the streets for a while and went to bed just before the sun woke up.

The beach restaurant.

Dancing on the beach

Me winning the foam war.

The next day Dave forced us to get up for the free breakfast which ended at 10:30. It was not worth it as it included two mini croissants and some strong coffee that prevented us from going back to sleep. We were soon on our way to the beach though so it was all good. We spent approximately 6 hours at the beach swimming, lying, soccering, laughing, eating, playing. It had already been a phenomenal day, and we hadn't even started the real festivities yet. We returned to the hotel and went out to dinner, which was free. We also got some cake because it was Dan's birthday. After that we pregamed BC style for the carnaval, then took the party bus to the parade.

The first part of Carnval is a parade of the people where anyone who pays 40 pesos can slowly dance/walk down the main street displaying their drunken antics to the crowd. Of course we paid, and of course it was a lot of fun. After all we were part of Carnaval. There was lots of dancing, smiling, and picture-taking. It was strangely alluring to be making a fool of myself in front of hundreds of people. Now I know why people do reality TV. After that was over we joined the spectators and watched the real Carnval. It was crazy. Hundreds of people dressed in the most absurd costumes ever dancing down the streets. Many of them had barely any clothes on just some crazy contraption on their backs and a speedo. It was very cool to see all these people parading in such a ludicrous way, and they were all obviously enjoying it very much. One of our Argentinian friends explained to me that her people are quite self-centered and for many Carnaval is a great way to get the attention they covet. There were also 6 huge floats that were insanely decorated and had people dancing on them. It was a ridiculous experience and made better by the fact that they played three songs on repeat for four hours. Some dude also kept on saying "Welcome to Gualeguaychu, the last day of Carnaval, this is a party, have fun." He must have repeated himself so many times, or maybe it was a recording. It was all very funny and very exciting. Definitely something worth experiencing.

After the Carnaval we returned to the party in the streets. We were going to go to a club, but upon noticing that there were 30 guys in the line and no girls we opted for a bar instead. After a couple hours of sleep we went to the hot springs. This was a big outdoor area with lots of swimming pools and "termas" which were supposed to be hot but were really just warm and dirty. I kind of got the feeling I was standing in a big vat of pee. So I exited the springs and went to lie in the sun, a wise choice. Then we played a little jump rope which was quite the ball. After tiring ourselves out sufficiently we took the bus ride back to Buenos Aires. It was an excellent weekend with a good mix of partying, sight-seeing, and relaxation.