Feria de Mataderos

This past Sunday I went with one of my schoolmates and her friend (both from Washington D.C.) to the Feria de Mataderos.  This is a street fair that is located way on the outskirts of the city in a neighborhood that is known as Nueva Chicago.  This is because it's where all the stockyards (mataderos) were located in the old days, just like in Chicago.  We took a 45 minute bus ride to get there (coincidentally on the same bus route that was involved in a terrible train accident today) which actually wasn't that bad as it was a chance to see lots of other parts of the city.

At the fair there are about 100 different craft vendors with some cool things for sale, especially gaucho related items.  I wanted to buy Tess some baby gaucho shoes (Toms-esque espadrillres) but sadly didn't know her size!  There was also a stage with traditional music and a lot of people that were dancing along in the street.  The dances all seemed to involve waving handkerchiefs around and it appeared that certain dances went with certain songs.

There was also a lot of fair food - choripans, which are chorizo sandwiches, various forms of fried dough and sticks of fruit that were coated in a sugar glaze then rolled in popcorn, like a popcorn candy apple.  The coolest part was a gaucho competition which involved them riding their horses as full speed down the street, standing up in their stirrups, and trying to put a stick (knitting needle size) through a ring (maybe a touch bigger than a wedding ring) that was hanging from a pole over the street.  This was the best youtube video that I could find!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sniv_o7Sq7U&feature=related

Tomorrow I'll be back with our adventures at the horse track!