[Paisleychick-lj] Carnaval en Gualeguaychú

[Beatrice M's blog]

[![][1]][2]   
[Roman float][3]   
Originally uploaded by [blmurch][4]. 

We've been hanging out a lot with our new friends, [Kevin][5] and [Alicia][6]. Kevin works at [SocialText][7] with friends of ours and he's here for about six months. Alicia is in school and working towards an eventual law degree. Alicia suggested going to [Gualeguaychú to see the Carnaval parade][8]. She took the lead on getting things organized and we bought bus tickets a week and a half in advance. It almost wasn't in advance enough.  
  
I was supposed to get lots of sleep on Friday night. I didn't, of course - only about three hours. The alarm blarred at 5:30 and we snoozed and snuggled til 5:45 when I made my way to the shower and found myself somehow underneath a stream of warm water. We caught the 6:59 train to Retiro and were actually early for our 8 am meetup with Alicia and Kevin. Our 8:30 bus to Gualeguaychú left a little late - what a shock. I inflated my neck pillow, put in earplugs, on my eyemask and promptly fell asleep. Kragen woke me up as we approached the small town.  
  
Alicia again wonderfully took the lead and called around to find us a place to sleep. We ended up going with a place we found walking down the street from the bus station. Our lodging was a house where we slept in the beds upstairs and the family slept downstairs on mattresses on the floor and the couch. The kids were cute, the family very hospitable and happy to have the extra income.  
  
We briefly explored the neighborhood. I found a hardware store and bought supplies for a [U$1 camera stabilizer][9] - but I only paid 2 pesos (60 cents). I didn't end up using it, but at least I have it now. After making the image stabilizer, we found a restaurant. Lunch was simple and very carnivorous. We walked back to the house in the hot hot heat and took an extended siesta. We slept through a HUGE rainstorm and woke up to a muddy town.  
  


[![][10]][11]   
[Perfect Brahma Ass][12]   
Originally uploaded by [blmurch][4]. 

We picked our way through the streets to the parade grounds and eventually found our front row seats. We bought the seats from the _"Club de pescadores"_ (fisherman's club). Festivity permeated the air and people were in the mood for a good time. We put in earplugs. It was still loud, but more manageable. The parade started rolling with sponsor vehicles, lead by women in skimpy outfits. That was pretty much the general theme for the night. Beautiful people dancing, singing in not very many clothes.  
The parade lasted for four long hours with two intermissions and one break because it threatened to rain more. But, we lucked out and the sprinkles evaporated after a mere 5 minutes. If you have ever gone to a museum and looked at art for hours on end, you might have experienced art-fatigue and what-I-call "blurring". While individually awesome, the works of art tend to run together after a while and your appreciation wears thin. This happened to me when I spent eight long hours at the Louvre. I found the same thing happened with watching this parade and looking at all the beautiful people and listening to the same songs over and over. We stayed till the bitter end, but it could have lasted two hours and I don't think it would have suffered in quality. In fact, I think less time would have improved it.  
  


[![][13]][14]   
[Gualeguaychú Lights][15]   
Originally uploaded by [blmurch][4]. 

Kragen noted that this parade was "Burning Man done fascist style". Participation was frowned upon. Cops kept on hauling away the people who jumped over the fence to take photos with the pretty people and [kept people back][16] at the end of the parade. After the parade stands emptied the thousands of spectators, the streets filled with the drunken hordes. Everyone was a spectator. We walked along the muddy streets to the river to try and find the beach parties. But, we only found clubs which none of us were interested in going into. We did however, find a taxi. We hoped in and rode it back through the town and slept the rest of the night away.  
  
On Monday, Alicia helped me narrow down the 700+ photos I took from 200 decent ones to 23 ones for flickr. I'm pretty happy with [the resulting set][17]. I'm really happy that she likes doing this because she's able to ruthlessly edit them down. Kragen is not much help in this department.   


   [1]: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2063/2242298781_516574fba4_m.jpg
   [2]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blmurch/2242298781/ (photo sharing)
   [3]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blmurch/2242298781/
   [4]: http://www.flickr.com/people/blmurch/
   [5]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kj-an/
   [6]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/24265317@N00/
   [7]: http://www.socialtext.com/
   [8]: http://www.carnavaldelpais.com.ar/index1.html
   [9]: http://akimages.metacafe.com/f/fvp/EmbedVideoPlayer_5.1.0.4.swf?itemID=1041948&mediaURL=http://akvideos.metacafe.com/ItemFiles/%5BFrom%20www.metacafe.com%5D%201041948.5984449.11.flv&normalizedTitle=&isViral=false&embeddingURL=http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1019&message=26463954&isWatermarked=true&postrollContentURL=http://akimages.metacafe.com/f/fvp/EmbedMiniCatalog_1.0.0.3.swf&networkingAllowed=true&
   [10]: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2257/2243089018_db09d6e4c2_m.jpg
   [11]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blmurch/2243089018/ (photo sharing)
   [12]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blmurch/2243089018/
   [13]: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2009/2243114532_51afab1190_m.jpg
   [14]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blmurch/2243114532/ (photo sharing)
   [15]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blmurch/2243114532/
   [16]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blmurch/2243112854/
   [17]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blmurch/sets/72157603855261626/

URL: http://paisleychick.livejournal.com/332300.html