Carnaval in Gualeguaychu

Throughout the months of January and February, Carnaval takes place all throughout South America. Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina and, of course, Brazil are home to many celebrations, and a lot of half-clothed (más or menos) people.

When we arrived down in Argentina, Chuck and I both signed up to several Expat groups to get involved in different activities in the city. Through a Meetup group, we found out about Carnaval in Gualeguaychu.

Gualeguaychu is in the province of Entre Rios, about 230 km north of Buenos Aires. One of the main sources of income for the city is tourism. Unfortunately, Argentina has received above normal amounts of rain this year, so the river on which the city is situated, was flooded so much that the river had totally engulfed the beach. That must have been why everyone was so excited for Carnaval this year!

So believe it or not there is a point, and even a competition, involved in Carnaval. There are three teams who compete. I’m not sure exactly what they compete for other than the name of winner of Carnaval 2010, but it adds a certain element of competition to the event. The three themes and team names are listed below. I’ve included snapshots of each to see if they convey the theme they were trying to create.

Team O’Bahia
Comparsa del Club de Pescadores (Fisherman Club)

Team Ara Yevi
Espiritu de Naturaleza (Spirit of Nature)

Team Papelitos
Pan Y Circo(Literal translation: Bread and Circus. However, it is an expression used to describe the current practice of a government to keep people quiet or hide facts in issue.)




See below a few videos from the event. It’s hard to fully describe the enthusiasm during each “show” but the music is contagious and everyone is singing it…even though we didn’t know what words we were saying. Needless to say, we had a wonderful time and met a lot of fun people. We arrived back in Buenos Aires at 7:30am on Sunday.