Carnival in Gueleguaychú: A Parade for Adults, Designed By People on Drugs

Wow, I don't even know how to begin with describing a Carnival parade.  From what I could best tell of the parade in Gualeguaychu, Argentina it is some sort of mix of cirque du soleil and a stripper show with some beer and super repetitive music thrown in.

For any Carnival novices out there (myself included), the deal behind Carnival it is to get your party on before the 40 days of Lent.  There are parades, people wear maquerade style costumes, and you imbibe.  Wikipedia tells me that the word literally means "meat is allowed" (as opposed to Lent when christians don't eat meat).  If you have a frat-guy vocabulary, you'll understand that there was plenty of meat to be had.


The Tourists
That would be us.  But this time, we're joined by Woong and Greg, some other travelers that we met passing through Buenos Aires.  Carnival is definitely enjoyed more by the more people you are with and especially by fun people like these two.  Plus, they were good motivation for us to keep partying all night instead of getting one of those "hotel room" thingys.  We'll sleep when we get older.


The Atmosphere
Party all the time, party all the time, party all the time.  It's all about having fun and if you're not there to have fun, you've come to the wrong place.  The performers in the parade know this and they're very keen to get people excited about the night, whether it be by interacting with the crowd, or by shaking the booty that much harder. 

To my surprise, the crowd was really fun without getting out of control.  Sure, occasionally there were the drunk people running around the parade and getting their photos snapped with some of the performers, but it was all innocent.  People seemed to just want to have a good time and weren't out to do any harm.


The Music
If it's one thing that Carnival needs, it's better music.  It's kind of like singing row,row,row your boat, but with words about Carnival.  For instance, there is one song where all the words are "Quiero, quiero Carnaval.  Todo la noche, Carnaval!"  (I want, I want Carnival.  All night, Carnival!)  Over and over and over.  Although, while we can't get the song out of our head now and want to remove it with some sort of blunt instrument, during the parade, we had no problem singing and dancing along with it.  Maybe that has something to do with the beer.

The Costumes
Wow.  If you ever think that what you wear for Halloween might be too risque, you would be wrong.  I've never seen so many inventive ways to show nudity without showing the "naughty" parts.  If you think about all of the parts that are generally banned, it comes down to a couple of small areas, so the inventive constume designers have found ways to basically show every thing else while covering up those little areas that can't be shown.


Of course, it's not all about sexy outfits, there are some that are quite elaborate.  The size of some of the costumes is so big that we could see the performer underneath it, struggling under the weight.  They do a good job of putting on a happy face about it, but you could tell it was some decent work hauling around some of the creations.


The Floats
Man, I don't think I can see a float at most American parades anymore without comparing it to these.  There were some amazing ones with an oriental theme, or a "joker" theme, or african theme.  A couple had live 10 piece bands playing (or pretending to be playing) and some were being pushed down the street by teams of men.  On top of that, most of the floats had people (not one, multiple) standing on platforms 20 feet in the air and dancing around.  At first we were scared for their lives as the float tended to shake when they danced, but we got used to it.