At the end of every September and then again in early October, 50,000 people from around Argentina flock to a small town called Villa General Belgrano to participate in what is billed as the largest Oktoberfest in South America and one of the largest in the world outside of Germany. Thousands of Germans migrated to Argentina in the 20th century and many of them came to Belgrano, as is evidenced in the architecture seen throughout the village.
The festival features a weekend parade (during which I was able to chat with the Mayor of Buenos Aires) followed by an afternoon and evening full of traditional German (and some Argentine) music, dancing, food and of course - beer drinking. You purchase a mug when you arrive (you can choose from a pint sized mug all the way up to a 3 liter sized one) and you go from location to location trying the different regional beers.
To get here, its a 10 hour bus ride to Cordoba from Buenos Aires, followed by a two hour ride from Cordoba to Belgrano in a micro-bus, but definitely well worth it! To view all of the photos from this year's Oktoberfest, click here.
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