On May 25, Argentina celebrates the May Revolution of 1810, which marked the beginning of its independence from Spain. (There’s another celebration on July 9, but we’ll talk about that then!) In any case, although there are numerous local fiestas, I wanted to go to Mataderos. It is still technically a barrio of Buenos Aires, but quite far out of the centre — almost an hour’s drive. My friend Sally had arranged for her friend Liz to drive Sally, Venetia and me there and we arrived around 2 pm — the worst possible time for finding a parking spot. Eventually we paid a young guy 20 pesos and he gave up “his” spot — just a public spot on the street but you always find these enterprising folks claiming spaces and renting them to late arrivals like us!

Catedral Tango

By that time we were really hungry, so we went to a parilla that came highly recommended, Catedral  Tango. We all decided to make lunch the main meal of the day, so we went all out and had steaks and red wine. Here are some pictures of the place.

It was so busy because of the holiday that they had set a table up on the stage, which is where we sat. The owner said anybody who sat there had to do some kind of performance, but we managed to escape before that rule was enforced!

It really was a great parilla, and the steaks were excellent. Here’s a picture of mine. When I saw it I thought I’d have to have a doggy bag because it would be too much for lunch, but it was so delicious I ate it all — as well as the french fries! We could have had salad, but come on, what’s a steak without chips really?

The focus of Mataderos is really the gaucho culture, so I was quite surprised to see so much tango — until Liz explained this was yet another place credited with the beginnings of tango. There were huge pictures on the walls of the old tango masters. In fact, I made this video to show you.

La Feria

Once our hunger was well and truly satisfied, we ventured outside, where there was a huge feria going on, with lots of artesanal food and jewellery and clothing and candles and … you get the idea. I’m a sucker for those places, especially when I can buy stuff from the artists who made it. Did I buy anything? Well of course! Venetia and I egged each other on as usual and we both bought stuff. If you know me, you know the first thing on my list — earrings. These are what my mother used to call shoulder bruisers!

There were several stalls selling honey, but although I do love real honey I didn’t need any as I have plenty right now. But I couldn’t resist this photo. Quite often you’ll see stallholders with honeycombs — but these ones had actual bees!

There was a great festive atmosphere because of the holiday, which you can see from these photos of the stage show and the flags around the streets. We all bought little blue and white rosette things to pin on our jackets. Here’s mine, which I was glad I kept on this morning because the waiters in the cafe where I had breakfast were all wearing theirs!

We missed it!

One of the main attractions of Mataderos is the gaucho show, in which gauchos display their horsemanship skills. I’ve seen it before at another place and was keen to see it here. However, we spent so much time at the feria and the stage show that by the time we found the place where it happened, the show was over and they were packing up! Oh well, we’ll just have to go back! There’s a fair here every weekend even though not quite so festive, so we will do that one of these days.

Venetia’s pictures

Just as I was finishing this post, I received this photo of a yummy smelling asado from Venetia, as well as some others which I’ve interspersed with my own. I love her video of an aging gaucho and his lady dancing in the street — enjoy! Thanks Venetia.

So all in all it was a lovely, festive day out, and an opportunity to join in the national celebration of my new adopted country — amazing Argentina!