and now ... the end is near

all i have to do is practice
my dance moves and i'll be
ready for carnivale!

hello my poor forsaken blog readers ... oh how i have ignored you.

sadly, due to a family emergency, my time in argentina has been cut short.  but before i move on to my misadventures of readjusting to life on strong island, i have a few more stories up my sleeve ...

first off, you can't leave south america without going to one last parade.  so we took a bus to gualeguaychu for carnivale for one last parade hurrah.  the plan was simple ... get drunk on the beach, watch carnivale, and then take a bus home at 4 am.  simple.

for those of you who don't know about carnivale, the town of gualeguaychu celebrates carnivale every weekend from january to march.  they close one of the larger streets and set up bleachers on both sides, making a long runway of sorts for the paraders to parade down. it's the largest carnivale celebration outside of brazil.  apparently, HUGE amounts of money go into the elaborate floats and costumes, and a lot of time is spent practicing dance steps.  typically the parade starts at around 11 or 12 at night, and goes on until about 6 am.

but sadly, somebody (your truly) had a bit too much to drink and ... well ... i believe i slept through a large part of carnivale.  i seem to have a large chunk of time from midnight to 2 am where no pictures were taken and i don't remember much.  but luckily i do have some photographic evidence that i was there!

scantily clad carnivale dancers

i liked these older ladies and their more regal costumes

dancers atop of a float (with dance handles for safety)

i'm not quite sure what this guy is supposed to be ... but i like it