Elebaires at Octoberfest, Villa General Belgrano (Córdoba)

Last week Argentina hosted it’s very own German-style Octoberfest in Villa General Belgano, Córdoba. As it was a bank holiday weekend so on Monday the school was closed, a group of friends and I decided to take the long, but very worthwhile trip to Córdoba to celebrate this famous festival the Argentinian way!

We left Buenos Aires on Friday evening and embarked on the 10-hour drive. We arrived at around midday on Saturday, and got off the bus to see amazing sunshine and bright blue skies in Córdoba. It is such a beautiful part of the country with many mountains and vast green landscapes. The place where we were staying, Las Cabañas del Tronco, was just outside Villa General Belgrano and had rustic cabins where we all stayed and each one had it’s own heated swimming pool!

Arriving at Octoberfest was such a surreal experience. It literally felt like I had been transported out of Argentina and into a town in the middle of Germany. Many people were dressed up in the Dirndls or had German hats on (you can see one in the photo below). In the festival they don’t sell beer with glasses so everyone has to buy a huge pint sized mug that they carry around with them during the festival. After only 5 minutes there, I had bought all the outfit and had started to impersonate a real German lady, minus the blonde hair of course! In my group, all the other girls were blonde and it was so funny to see how everyone reacted to seeing them. Everyone was asking for photos with them, it was as if they had never seen a blonde girl before!

The festival was a lot bigger than I had expected, the main part was in a forest with lots of huts around the edge selling typical German food, such as sausages and beer. The selection of different beers was so impressive, I struggled to choose which one to order each time I got a drink. Each litre of beer cost AR$100, but luckily they also sold half pints for AR$50! At the front there was a stage and during the day and night there were lots of different performances including dances from all different cultures around the world. As it turns dark later on ¡n the evening, the crowds move closer to the stage and pull up chairs to watch or stand and dance along with the music until the fiesta finishes at 12am.

It was a great experience and, if you are lucky enough to be in Argentina during the time that Octoberfest is happening, it’s definitely something that I recommend for you to do – one thing to tick off the bucketlist!!