Buenos Aires Pub Crawl.

With a face full of pizza, awkwardly holding a beer in a plastic cup, surrounded by strangers, it's hard to predict what to expect. You've gathered at a park in Palermo, signed in, chatted a bit, and loaded yourself with the much-needed sustenance for the night of drinking ahead. How does this work? Who are these people? And am I going to have fun? Two hours later, as you give a group cheers to the bartender and slam down a neon-blue shot with 20 people, it all makes sense. You are on a pub crawl.

The Buenos Aires Pub Crawl was started by Dustin Walsh, Jeremy ( ), and Miguel ( ). Their moto is to "live the dash". In other words, as they explain, the dash is what goes on your gravestone before your birth and death. The concept is to enjoy the time you have to its fullest, because when you die, the dash has already eclipsed.

Though it's a brand new venture in Buenos Aires, the Buenos Aires Pub Crawl has found success in its simplicity. They find the bars that will fit their clientele, offer a controlled social atmosphere, drink discounts, pizza, and most importantly provide a good time. The concept on the business end is simple: Bring customers to bars (10-40 people) in exchange for a round of free shots, happy-hour discounts, and consistancy. Once the pub crawl chooses the bars, they come back week-to-week, only rotating the order of bars. For the pub crawler, all you need to worry about is your $50 peso crawl fee, and the rest is in the hands of the organizers.

The first thing I noticed as an honorary crawler for the night is how outwardly friendly people are. From working in bars for so many years, I understand that this has a lot to do with alcohol. However, there truly is a sense of comeradery with these type of events. No one goes on a pub crawl to be a fly on the wall. We're all foreigners, mostly new to the city, and looking to be social. A few blue shots and 2 for 1 Fernets later, and you're practically best friends. Or at least that's how you feel, and that's the goal.

So far, the crawl operates 3 nights a week. Thursday nights in Palermo, and Friday and Saturday nights in San Telmo. I went on the Thursday night crawl. There were about 20 crawlers and 7 employees. We went to 3 bars, and finished the night at a club, or boliche, as they call it here. The bars were cool, and very different from each other.

The first bar, 8077, was more of a lounge, with art-deco influenced furniture, white linen-covered chairs, and an L-shaped loft. The next bar, Tazz, felt like a hybrid Argentine/American pub. It had high ceilings and a long bar which stretched almost half of the length of the entire place. The theme here was beer, beer, and more beer. Once again, opening up with the obligatory free mixed shot. You could see some of the less seasoned drinkers getting a bit tipsy. I met some cool guys from Philly, so I knew I was with a crew who could power on. Next stop, Sullivan's Irish Pub. Thankfully there were tables and chairs. Surprisingly we hadn't lost anybody. The whole group was in tact, and at long last we powered through to our final destination, Limbo Club, which was packed and steamy. It had been raining heavily for the past hour.

By this time, honestly, I'm surprised half of these kids were still alive. Hence all of the pizza and empanadas before the tour starts. Going to 4 bars in 4 hours may seem like child's play, but it's not. It's important to pace yourself, eat, and cut yourself off if you need to. The craw hosts want you to have a good time, but they are insistant on being somewhat responsible. Once you puke, fight, fall down, you've not only wrecked your night, but you just became a 20-person buzz kill. Bottom line, don't be that guy/girl.

You can get more info on the Buenos Aires Pub Crawl through their website www.pubcrawlba.com . Check in regularly as they are constantly expanding their tours and opening up in new neighborhoods. Cheers.