Costume Party

October was created for one reason only: Halloween.

I haven't been trick-or-treating in abuot a decade, but I'm still a huge fan of the horror movies, the TV specials, the decorations, and now the orange and black as well. I'm all for festiveness and there are very few holidays more festive than Halloween.

So you can imagine I was a little disappointed to find out that the Argentineans don't celebrate Halloween. They don't even have a word for our - apparently - distinctly Yankee holiday. (In a recent American movie I was watching, "Halloween" was subtitled as "Navidad." Not quite).

I was pleasantly surprised last night that on the first Friday of October, Villa Juarez (San Vicente's boliche) would host a costume party as a fundraiser for this year's graduating class.

Now, I didn't bring much with me to Argentina, and certainly no Halloween costumes. Everyone suggested I use my sunglasses in some way (my Ray-Bans are quite sexy here).

The only costume-like piece of clothing I have are my white pants. White pants + white polo + Ray-Bans ... I called myself Men in White (like Men in Black, but ... the opposite. Get it?)

I felt very lame. I arrived to Franco's house looking insufficiently awesome. Everyone else had gotten really into it - Superman, gaucho, farmer, and priest all done with meticulous attention to details. I just looked like a preppy, well-dressed Klansman.

A garbage bag was lying on Franco's kitchen table and a memory rushed to me.

A few years ago at camp, my friend Alex and I along with two counselors dressed up in garbage bags and wore toilet paper rolls strung around our necks as ties.

I told Franco that I would be right back.

I walked the two blocks to the Colomberos and changed out of my white clothes into something more comfortable, completing the new costume with a garbage bag and a toilet paper roll. Franco's parents gave me suspicious looks. I assured them that not all Americans were so bizarre.

At the boliche, I was VERY impressed with what everyone had done. The Argentines take their parties very seriously! My costume, as ratty as it may have been, actually proved to be incredibly useful. If anyone needed a tissue, I had a nearly endless supply.

I had a number of responses for what my costume exactly was. At camp, Alex and I had been toilet paper salesmen. That wasn't really an option last night.

I eventually settled on telling people that I'm simply "un loco." How appropriate.