I just got back from an amazing weekend in Villa General Belgrano, which is in the state of Cordoba in central Argentina. This was a big three-day weekend in Argentina so everyone was traveling somewhere **see pictures of Retiro bus station below** Every year Villa General Belgrano hosts a wonderful Oktoberfest. The town literally is overrun with Oktoberfest activities. We went with a great group of expats, drank some fantastic beer, ate delicious German food, partied with Argentines from all over the country (as Americans, we were very much a novelty at a predominantly Argentine Oktoberfest) and had just a crazy weekend. Here are some of the highlights.
The group waiting for our bus which ended up leaving two and a half hours late :)
The insanity that was Retiro bus station on Friday night.
Sarah, Florencia, Hernan, and Sergio pumped for the nice long bus ride to Cordoba :)
Me, Kurt, and Lynn equally excited for the bus ride.
We arrived this morning and had an interesting time finding a campsite that still had space. Luckily, we ended up at Nido Gaucho, sent up the campsite and started enjoying the festivities.
Lynn, my lovely tent buddy, and Sarah
Christina and I on our first night out
The craziness that was Oktoberfest
Lots of music, lots of dancing. Basically, they pumped music through the entire town the entire weekend. There was definitely a range in quality of the music that they played, but it contributed to a really fun atmosphere.
Kurt showing off his injuries
Most of the group
Kurt and I with our glorious steins :)
Hmmm, what do we have here?
Oh, right. This is how amusement parks roll in Argentina. Something breaks? Temporarily suspend the ride, bust out your blow torch, "fix" problem, re-open ride two minutes later. The samba was a centrifuge-like ride with no seat belts or safety harnesses of any kind-- refer back to Kurt showing off his injuries, all from the samba :) We all went on this ride the first night with no problem. The second night, however, they decided that something needed to be fixed and busted out the blow torch. I stood there with my tickets in hand to get on the samba for another whirl but could not bring myself to actually get on the ride after I watched the man with the blow torch "repair" whatever "problem" he had found.
And there you have it , Oktoberfest 2007. Too bad the Argentine rugby team lost to South Africa :( People are still passing around photos so there might be more posted soon :) Have a great week!
The group waiting for our bus which ended up leaving two and a half hours late :)
The insanity that was Retiro bus station on Friday night.
Sarah, Florencia, Hernan, and Sergio pumped for the nice long bus ride to Cordoba :)
Me, Kurt, and Lynn equally excited for the bus ride.
We arrived this morning and had an interesting time finding a campsite that still had space. Luckily, we ended up at Nido Gaucho, sent up the campsite and started enjoying the festivities.
Lynn, my lovely tent buddy, and Sarah
Christina and I on our first night out
The craziness that was Oktoberfest
Lots of music, lots of dancing. Basically, they pumped music through the entire town the entire weekend. There was definitely a range in quality of the music that they played, but it contributed to a really fun atmosphere.
Kurt showing off his injuries
Most of the group
Kurt and I with our glorious steins :)
Hmmm, what do we have here?
Oh, right. This is how amusement parks roll in Argentina. Something breaks? Temporarily suspend the ride, bust out your blow torch, "fix" problem, re-open ride two minutes later. The samba was a centrifuge-like ride with no seat belts or safety harnesses of any kind-- refer back to Kurt showing off his injuries, all from the samba :) We all went on this ride the first night with no problem. The second night, however, they decided that something needed to be fixed and busted out the blow torch. I stood there with my tickets in hand to get on the samba for another whirl but could not bring myself to actually get on the ride after I watched the man with the blow torch "repair" whatever "problem" he had found.
And there you have it , Oktoberfest 2007. Too bad the Argentine rugby team lost to South Africa :( People are still passing around photos so there might be more posted soon :) Have a great week!
1 comment:
Doesn't Argentina have a really large German population? I bet the Oktoberfest celebration there is one of the largest in the world no?
- Keyvan
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