Oktoberfest, the Second biggest in the world
Trip Start
Aug 26, 2005
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5
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Trip End
May 26, 2008
Blumenau - Southern Brasil,
Brazil
Monday, October 10, 2005
We celebrated Oktoberfest in style with meat, beers and of course singing and dancing like Germans with loads of talk about David Hasselhoff!
´I love Blumenau - Bom Dia Brasil´ - goes the theme song for this fiesta.
Blumenau - wet but comfortable. I Find myself at the only youth hostel in town, sharing a room with 18 sweating backpackers for 34 real. Its called ´Grun Garten´, the cheapest stay in town even at double its off-season price. Setting the new standard in pricey stays, but considering the event, it should all be worth it
Beauty queens and some chicks
.Blumenau - They built it to look like the real thing sort of place. Other then the white facades with wooden 'X´s' on the buildings ´just like Germany´ and the upcoming Oktoberfest, there doesn't seem to be anything else German about it. A walk down the main street and back to the hostel left a feeling like I have seen it all and then some. If it wasn´t for the festival there would honestly be no reason to visit.
The hostel slowly fills as the time to kickoff nears. I was the first to arrive, to an empty hostel, a feeling of desertment and disappointment sets in, then along comes Darryl, the 30 year old American who left his home in California on a one year world trip (7 YEARS AGO!), his guitar and whitty humour quickly brightens the mood and brings in the others. Slowly the place starts to fill and in no time our 18 beds are occupied and the mayhem that is Oktoberfest sets in. Then along come Mike and Jeffrey, the Dutch couple, following closely behind burping as they go. Carol and Julie, from Sao Paulo appear third, causing Pavlov Dog reactions by the others. The "bea vagon" gang forms... and this begins the start of a mad few days. With our crazy group of 6 we were sure to be a famous success in the drunken days to come!
Beer fest 2005
October 7, 2005 - the beginnings of Oktoberfest!
Another rainy day. A fine German breakfast of very light and white bread and coffee.
The newly formed gang head down to the center to begin the festivities and the search of the now infamous "bea vagon". (a wagon driving around the streets handing out free beer) The price of absolutely everything is double and it quickly becomes apparent I need money for this experience.
The struggle to extract money from a Brazilian ATM machine. The kind that have pictures of all the standards of cards on the front such as Plus, Cirrus, Visa, Master card yet accept NONE of them, which seems now to be the norm in South America. A concerted effort by the whole gang finds me the one machine in town that works. Now I´m Loaded and ready to get into this festival.
It isn't long before we are all fairly smashed, wearing felt German hats, our pants up to our armpits, suspenders at full strength, bringing a monstrous wedgeee and singing German beer drinking songs, as if we were there. We were so far gone that a visiting German news crew decided to film us, thinking we were the real thing...So step aside David Hasselhoff, we are sure to be the next biggest thing in Germany
Blumenau - Oktoberfest
. And all this happened before we even entered the pavilions for the real party. A faithful comparison to the real thing, but with less business reservations and a more casually inter social crowd. "Eins... Svei... Drie... Suffa!" or something like that. Up until the early hours, with shots of Jagermeister and countless beers, leaving us of course in a mood to sing at the top of our voices and dance on top of tables and do things we choose not to remember. Oh yes, we did remember but what happens in Oktoberfest... well you know how it goes. The sun came up and the rain came down and that was our queue to leave, finishing our first night of mayhem.October 8, 2005
A slow start to the day after a big BIG night. And another rainy day makes way for another night of wreck less drinking, even heavier and later than the last, stories that cannot be repeated here, but of course, the singing, the dancing, the clashing steins and the Jagermeisters were back in force! Along with beer drenched shirts, and for some... missing pants, and dancing in underwear. (it wasn't me by the way)
October 9, 2005
A relatively dry and decent day, the day of departure for the drinking team. One last search for the ´Bea Vagon´ leaves us again disappointed.
A long goodbye at the bus station to a great gang. With plans to meet Darryl in Iiha Do Mel. Now its time to go to Another Island and rest my aching head...
