Gualeguaychuuuu

Ok ok, Ive really been slacking, Im sorry.  After a few hours of sleep Friday night and a long day Saturday (extending to 730am Sunday morning), I slept a ton last night and woke up at 715pm.  The only thing I did today was go out to get dinner (really, breakfast).  So now its almost 4am and Im wide awake with nothing to do.  Ive got some good music playing and Im gonna go ahead and catch up on some stuff.

Gualeguaychu.  I mentioned earlier that its a small sorta city a few hours up the river from BsAs.  Last Friday a group of about 30 of us got on a bus that we rented through a tourism company and headed there for a weekend at Carnaval.  We didnt arrive until about midnight and then checked into our apartment.  When we got off the bus, everybody sang me happy birthday (that Saturday was my 21st) and a generous friend handed me a beverage to toast and start off the weekend for everybody.  Afterwards we headed to a parrilla for some steak and choripan with the whole group.  The area next to the river where we stayed was just a big row of bars and boliches (dance clubs) and there were thousands of people out just hanging and partying in the streets.  We were super tired and didnt feel like dealing with the huge crowd of people so we headed to bed around 2 or 3.

Saturday we woke up to a nutritious breakfast of dulce de leche-covered croissants and coffee, and then chilled for a bit before heading to the beach.  This beach was awesome.  Our group stayed in this little separated area which had essential nobody on it, right in front of a parrilla, and next to a some locals who had set up a dj-quality sound system playing reggae and salsa all day.  The weather was a perfect 82 and gorgeous with a slight breeze of the water.  We tanned, played soccer, swam a little in the river, and just enjoyed it.  At one point a guy came up to us on a boat and offered a free ride on his banana-tube.  4 of us hopped on and went for a ride.  It was super fun, especially when everybody but me got bucked off it :)

After the beach we headed back to town and got dinner quickly, then headed towards the parade.  The parade was set up on a street with barricades and bleachers on either side for people to watch.  We bought these bracelets for 40 extra pesos which allowed us to be on the street leading the parade through the people.  There were probably about 200-300 people with us at the front, all dancing and jumping and making conga lines.  The parade behind us was playing some cool music and getting everybody around us into the show.  It was very cool and tons of fun.  When we reached the end of the parade route we headed into the bleachers to watch everything that had been following us.  We took a million pictures and danced some more and had a great time.  After the parade we headed back to a bar near the hotels for a bit then headed to bed.

Sunday, Svetlana and I headed out early to catch a bus back to BsAs because her flight was at 930pm that night.  The rest of the group went to a hot springs bath and pool that day, but apparently we really didnt miss much.  They got back to BsAs around 2am Monday morning.


Heres a few pictures from the weekend, click to enlarge (some may not enlarge)

Our little spot on the beach.  Tiki cabanas to either side, plenty of sun, and good music.  Overall a great birthday.

 Me and Svetlana on the beach.

A shot of the bigger part of the beach.

 My lovely ladyfriend and the group got me a birthday cake.  She's pretty isnt she?  Thanks everybody.

Tons of people dancing in front of the first float of the parade!

 Me and some awesome looking dude in the parade.

A cool float.  I dont know why everything has boobs, but that seems to be the trend.

Most of our group plus a few random people who jumped in.  Im sitting all the way at the top.

So thats my Carnaval experience in a nutshell.  We did some cool stuff this week too, but its almost 5am and Ive been up for 9.5 hours, so I need my beauty rest.  I promise Ill try to update soon.

PS- I know there are a good amount of people reading this, occasionally somebody will mention it and it surprises me that so many do read it.  I have a small request.  It feels good when somebody comments on it, not to mention the knowledge that somebody is actually reading it gives me some motivation to keep writing.  Once in a while can somebody leave some comments on it?  I dont care what you write.  Just let me know if you love it, hate it, tell me how your dog is doing, what you'd like to hear more of, what your favorite color is...anything.  Thanks!