Dec. 24, 2004

Of course, the previous night was filled with drinking. Thus, waking up around 3pm was inevitable. Knowing that I had to buy dessert for a potluck on the 25th, I scrambled out to find something that was non-perishable (no fridge). I found a bakery that was quite near and bought a pound of little cookies. After that, Sarah and I pondered about what we would do this night. We ended up going to an all-you-can eat "Chinese" restaurant. The food was OK and I had no problems. We went back to the hostel and there was a dance club function in the same building. We went to take a look at around 3am and the place was dead. So Horacio went and talked to the bar owner and managed to convince him to let everyone from the hostel in for free. So we went up to try to rally everyone to go. Groups of people went and left. A dead club is still a dead club. We thought about going out but Sarah and Horacio started having tummy problems. We ended up staying in and drinking in the hostel

Christmas traditions in Argentina:

Christmas Eve is when the families gather for Christmas dinner. At midnight, they break out the champagne and toast everyone. Kisses on the cheeks for all. Somewhere in the city, fireworks are lit. Soon afterwards, gifts are exchanged and gatherings go on until 2-3am. At this time, kids old enough usually seek out dance clubs and party till the next day. Tickets for everything are usually sold out and overpriced. Most stores close by noon. Some, depending on the establishment, close around 3 or 4pm. This goes for restaurants as well.