Mataderos

Last Sunday I ventured outside my little Buenos Aires downtown bubble and visited the Feria de Mataderos. It's a pretty big street fair on the edge of the city, in the neighborhood where they used to slaugher cattle (hence the name- "killers"). It's so much fun because it's a lot less touristy than the other street fairs in BA- there are lots of tourists, sure, but also tons of locals just hanging out with their families, dancing, eating, etc. Callie pointed out that most people in the U.S. don't just drop everything and spend the day in the park- why is that? We saw so many families with picnic lunches, mate, and soccer balls having a great time on a gorgeous fall day.

The thing I really love about the Mataderos fair (as you might have guessed) is the food. Sadly, my favorite empanadas were not available this time, but I did get to have a delicious tamale, and this snack consisting of pieces of various fruits on a stick covered in honey and popcorn. Weird but delicious! The best was the strawberry at the top, second was the kiwi. Other food stands gave us samples of dulce de leche, olive oil, liqueurs, chocolate, and more. Besides selling food, the fair is chock-full of traditional crafts, jewelry, clothing, even knives. So many interesting, uniquely Argentine things to see!


As usual, we had a little issue getting home. The normal bus ride back takes maybe 40 minutes, but I (the genius that I am) got us on the wrong bus, so it took muuuch longer than that to get home. To be fair, we got on the 180 instead of the 180 route 155, and I was so excited to see a 180 that I didn't even look at the other number. The good news was that Callie used to live near the area we ended up, so it was pretty easy to grab the Subte back. Story of my lifeeeeee.


With only one week left in this country, it was nice to get to one of my favorite places one last time. It's weird to think I won't be able to go out there any time I want (I've only been 4 times total, but STILL).


ETA: Photos added!

ETA also: I forgot to mention that on this particular Sunday, everyone was celebrating some sort of festival from the area of La Rioja, and this required them to wear basil behind their ears and get covered in flour. No idea.