We came home from Gualeguaychu on Tuesday and I’m only now starting the post, because it has taken me that amount of time to distill it all in my mind and upload a gazillion photos. We were gone for four days, and each day was an adventure! I hope this longer-than-usual post will let me share the fun with you.

Day 1: Arrival

Gualeguaychu is a three-hour drive north of Buenos Aires, and we arrived early in the afternoon. Our cabana was at a lovely little compound called La Serena, and given how hot it was we were thrilled to see a great swimming pool — to which we all headed as quickly as we could peel off our clothes!

La Serena lived up to its name — very peaceful and green.

 

We spent most of the afternoon there and then set out to see the town. We were all surprised at how big and modern the place is. There were lots of nice fashion stores and eating places, and we could see there was a big carnival atmosphere there. Also lots of carnival paraphernalia being sold — small sample in the picture.

I don’t have a photo of this, but there were literally hundreds — maybe thousands — of young people down by the river and in it, dancing, singing, drinking and having a great time. We looked forward to joining in the fun next night.

 

 

Day 2: Carnival! (Maybe)

The second day dawned bright and sunny, and we enjoyed our time in the pool in the morning, and Macarena and Daniela made us a real Argentine asado — yummy!

Here is Macarena taking pictures of some friendly geese who wandered over to say hello.

Early in the evening we got all dressed up and looking pretty, ready to enjoy the main event. We went downtown to have some empanadas in the open air near the consodromo (where the parade takes place), and just as we were sitting down — the heavens opened! Sheet lightning, rain like I’ve never seen before. Everybody pelted over to the consodromo, thinking that was the best place to wait it out. We stood with a crowd of other revellers under the stadium, while the water ran like rivers all around us. I had visions of the roof collapsing with us under it. Truly, I have no words to describe how heavy and unrelenting this rain was. I’ve never seen anything like it, and hope not to ever again.

After about an hour with absolutely no let-up, we decided it was a bust and we might as well go home. Macarena and Daniela were not going to the show, and they had the keys to the car, so we decided to head for the parking lot. The telephones were out of commission and we couldn’t reach them, so we were just trusting that’s where they would be. We had to wade through ankle-deep rivers of water — punctuated by pockets of mud — till we finally got there. Thank goodness, there were the girls waiting for us in the car, and we quickly headed back to the cabana.

I have to say here that although we were disappointed, it wasn’t a complete downer. We had a nice glass of campari and had a good laugh about it all. I had bought this daft carnival mask and was determined to wear it at all costs, even if it was with a drookit rain poncho!

Day 3: Go Home Early? (Maybe not)

Next day we woke up to more rain, although nothing like the night before. It was kind of dispiriting and we toyed with the idea of going home early. Fortunately, the girls persuaded us not to do that because it was such a lovely place. So we sat around the cabana and just enjoyed each other’s company for most of the day. Here are the girls, busy making the lovely braided jewellery they sell.

Much to our surprise, the weather cleared up as the day went on, and in the afternoon we decided to go down to the consodromo and see if we could exchange our tickets for the show that night. Guess what — we did! So we had a bite to eat downtown and then headed to the consodromo again — not dressed up and looking pretty this time, but in much better spirits as we filed into the place with the crowd.

And what a time we had! We had been told that after Rio, Gualeguaychu has the biggest carnival in South America, and people come from all over to see it. Having seen it, I can understand why. The show started around 10 pm, and we left just before 2 am. And it never stopped!

I’m inserting just a few representative photos here, but my plan is to put together a video using iMovie and post the link here. That could take a while though, so here’s a preview.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Honestly, I went snap happy and my phone ran out of battery before the final group came on. It was dazzling. On the way in, the ticket lady told us we would see “some lovely boys” tonight but we were not to touch them! (I’m not sure why she picked us to say that to.) Anyway, I can promise you we didn’t touch them — they were just a tad too far away!

One question I ask myself is, where did they find all those beautiful people? There was even a group representing motherhood, with babies and storks and such — led by a girl who was conspicuously pregnant, still in her skimpy costume and looking fantastic! People will always tell you that Argentines are good looking, and this show certainly doesn’t contradict that. This was my first experience of a carnival and it didn’t disappoint. We were all so glad the weather did clear up so that we didn’t miss this spectacle.

Day 4: The Trip Home (with a detour)

Despite our late night (got home at 3 am), we were all up and ready to leave after breakfast. We set out along the dirt roads, which of course were extremely muddy because of the heavy rain two nights before. You guessed it — fifteen minutes out of Gualeguaychu we got well and truly stuck. We had laughed at Cecilia for bringing her wellies, but she had the last laugh here as she was the only one without mucky feet.

The girls worked incredibly hard, pushing rocks under the wheels and pushing like mad, but no success. The sun was beating down mercilessly and the parakeets were laughing in the trees.

A man on a motorbike stopped to help, but it still wouldn’t budge. So Cecilia, Donna and I decided to walk along the road and see if we could get some help. And while we were away, along came a boy, a man  — and a horse! I’m just sorry we weren’t there to take a photo of the horse dragging the car out of the mud. A few minutes later we were all back in the car, laughing about yet another aventura as Cecilia calls them.

But the problem was, we were filthy — and stinky — and it looked like an unpleasant three hours in front of us. But somebody remembered that a man at the cabana had told us about a terma (hot springs spa) in the area, so we turned around and headed for that. What a great idea! We got washed off, swam in the pool, sat in the hot thermal pool, had a great lunch and headed out with a new energy.

 

 

The drive home was smooth and we arrived at my apartment around 6 pm, tired but definitely happy.

What an incredible trip!