A Google of Gringos

Christmas frat/ Hostel party in Mendoza
Vineyards in Mendoza
Me and my New Years P.I.C.
Are we adorable or what?
Google of Gringos

I can’t believe the holidays are already over but oh man what a holiday season it has been. Carly, Fro, and I kicked off the holidays with Christmas in Mendoza, Argentina. Home of lots of really good wine. This year I got to spend my Christmas drinking copious amounts of vino, attending a frat party, and eating one very large steak...in 85 degree weather. Friends, food, and frat parties….isn’t that what the holidays are all about?

For New Years, a group of us went to Valparaiso to experience the worlds 2^nd best display of fireworks. Carly, Fro, Jackie, and I had been debating what to do for New Years for some time. The issue? Valparaiso is the place to be for New Years. However, this means expensive hostels and extreme crowds. We thought about staying out all night and taking a morning bus back; but considering we have an affinity for drinking early, we were well aware that this could be a recipe for disaster. During all this debating of what to do/ where to go…we clearly forgot to factor in one thing. We happen to be 4 very good looking gringas who also so happen to be very popular. We were worrying for absolutely nothing. Our solution? We would hitch a ride to Valpo with Pablo (Carly’s student) and stay with his family on December 30th where we would allow them to feed us wine and fajitas, lend us their children’s beds, and feed us a delicious breakfast. Then we would stay with brothers Keane for the 31^st. Our friend Joe has 3 brothers who just happened to be visiting for New Years. His family got 2 hotel rooms. One for the brothers and one for the parents. Somehow we weaseled 6 more people into this situation. Jackie, Carly, Fro, Danny (Fro’s brother), Elias, and myself happily found ourselves sleeping in a very nice hotel located in the center of Vina del Mar for New Years. Of course.

We started off our New Years celebration with a bang. We went to the beach around 4 pm for piscolas and vodka. Jackie managed to steel some oversized glasses from a drunk man on the beach and I proceeded to remove the lenses of my sunglasses to match Carly and Jackie. Sunglasses with no lenses/ clear lenses have become the unofficial party uniform for Carly, Jackie, and I ever since Bicentenario. Afterwards we moved ourselves to a house party in the hills of Valparaiso. The house party came equip with a spectacular view of the fireworks without the overwhelming crowds. The only thing missing from this New Years celebration was a respectable countdown. New Years pretty much went down as follows:

Random person #1: Hey, what time is it?

Random person #2: I’ve got 12:02…what do you have?

Random person #1: Mine says its 12:01. So I guess it’s the New Year?

…confused group hugging and kissing ensues until everyone catches on that it is indeed the New Year. Followed by the typical champagne bottle popping/ excessive champagne spraying.

I have to admit…I really missed the standard “It’s a Wonderful Life” song when the clock struck midnight. Next year. After the fireworks, we went back to the house party for a while. And by everyone I mean everyone except Elias, Jackie, and I who got lost within a block of the party. When we finally did find the party it took us another 10 minutes to get inside since all 3 of us insisted that the door was locked. False. The door was not locked as was proved by the 80 year old man who opened it using only his pinky finger. New Years ended in typical North American fashion. With 2 casualties. One puked on a bus and the other in a bowl of guacamole. You can take the gringos out of the USA but you can't take the USA out of the gringos. Heres to hoping that 2011 is half as great as 2010 was!!