Carnival fun is not exclusive to Brazil.
A young lovely woman with long legs walks in high heels covered with sequins. She is with a boy who must be her brother. They rush through the uneven sidewalk, and to the surprise of the tourists they manage to appear graceful. They are afraid they will be late for the Corsodromo, where their group must already be warming up.
This scene is very common during the carnival festivities in Gualeguaychu. Here all the families participate directly or indirectly aiming for first prize. This Carnival has become the most important one in Argentina because of the vast amount of people that are part of it and of course because of the quality and splendor of the floats and costumes. The groups start preparing nearly a year before and people that live far away, for example in Buenos Aires, give anything to be able to dance for one of them.
We get there on a Saturday morning, after a short trip by car from Buenos Aires. As it is too early, we decide to check out the dance scene. There is literally a place for everyone. After a bit of dancing we sleep for a couple of hours so that we can enjoy the beach for most of the day. Lying around time goes by and we start the pre-corso.
At noon, in the surroundings of the Corso, anxiety builds up, specially the tourists that are trying to get a ticket. The price is very reasonable, so we get a good spot. It is important to highlight the fact that due to the arquitecture of the place you can see perfectly from anywhere.
A couple of hours later we are going in. We are constantly surprised to see how everybody in this town participates in one way or another. Apart from the long legged woman and her brother, we meet an elderly lady with an enviable figure that confesses that she has been doing this for more than 20 years. “Every year I look forward to this more and more. My nephew are part of it now too, a girl, two boys and the entire family help out. It is the only thing they think about at this time of the year.
On a side street a group of six or seven come along dressed in shiny green from top to bottom. They are wearing a strange feathery thing on their heads, but they seem not to notice our strange looks. It can be said that carnival still gives you that liberating feeling, expressed in clothes and gestures. We hear the music as we get closer and our hips start moving involuntarily, more than one would like to put a couple of feathers on and dance along.
At a distance we see the first floats slowly getting closer. When they are in front of us we can see the details, all their bright colors, we can feel the rhythm and the fun. I don’t know when climbed onto our chairs, and if we could have done it we would have jumped over the fence. The energy here is impressive, now everything is red, feathers, sequins, the huge floats full of lights and water effects. All of a sudden a sea of greens, blues and silver appears. Our eyes can’t take in so much beauty. The groups come one after the other and we lose track of time. No one wants this to end. As the last group passes we are hoarse and totally euphoric.
It is impossible to stop our feet from dancing, so we decide to carry on at a local night club.
Content courtesy of Nomada Magazine
