On a bright sunny weekend in Buenos Aires, right up there with leisurely strolling the elegant cobblestone streets, browsing one of the Argentine capital’s many buzzy flea markets and a lazy afternoon sipping yerba mate with the locals in one of Palermo’s sprawling parks, is, for us, a visit to La Feria de Matadores on Sunday.
Held in the Buenos Aires working class suburb of Mataderos (which means ‘slaughterhouses’ in English), La Feria de Matadores is a Sunday market and fair that celebrates gaucho (cowboy) life and all things rural. You may see a handful of tourists, nervously wearing their daypacks front and centre like parachutes, but La Feria de Matadores is a decidedly local event and a very down-to-earth affair.
Along with browsing Buenos Aires’ buzzy flea markets and strolling one of Palermo’s sprawling parks, one of our favourite things to do in Buenos Aires on a weekend is to take a taxi out to La Feria de Matadores for some gaucho fun and a taste or the countryside in the Argentina capital.
This is what to expect from La Feria de Matadores.
Gaucho Fun at La Feria de Mataderos in Buenos Aires on Sunday
There are few better ways to spend a Sunday in Buenos Aires than wandering around La Feria de Matadores, browsing the artisanal products for sale, sampling all the wonderful traditional food on display, and taking time to sit and enjoy some live music and dance.
While you’ll still find tango dancing at La Feria de Matadores, don’t expect to see the staged performances for tourists of the kind that you’ll see in el centro, with a beautiful couple striding across a cobblestone square, the woman wearing a skin-tight dress with high split, the man in a dashing black suit and unbuttoned shirt.
Rather, these are ordinary people, local tango lovers and learners, enjoying and practicing their moves in jeans and t-shirts, under the arches on the main square. They’re oblivious to whether they’re being watched or not. You certainly won’t find anyone carrying a hat around for tips here!
The highlight of La Feria de Matadores for visitors and locals alike is the informal traditional folk dancing on the main square. Anyone who knows how to do the dances can join in, and this is what Buenos Aires’ nostalgic Porteños come for, to watch and dance the romantic chacarera and chamamé.
We were happy to see the same faces dancing here when we visited this time, as we did when we were in Buenos Aires a few years ago. It’s a real delight to see locals holding on tightly to their treasured cultural traditions; living traditions that don’t look like they’re going to die, if the youth of many of the dancers is anything to go by.
There are stalls selling wonderful gaucho-themed arts and artisanal crafts, as well as practical goods. So you can expect to find anything and everything, from warming ponchos and hand-knitted socks to beautiful leather saddles and hand-crafted guitars, often made by the people running the stalls.
There’s also plenty of delicious, traditional Argentine food for sale – another reason everyone comes here, especially locals – and the smoky aromas of the asado (barbecue) wafts over the whole place!
While you can pull up a seat at one of the many simple local parillas (steakhouses) or laidback bars that dot the streets, many with footpath seating, it’s easily as much fun to grab a cerveza (beer), a choripane (sausage sandwich) and some empanadas, and eat standing up at the stall or while you wander around the fair taking everything in.
If you’re still hungry after grazing on Argentine street food and washing it all down with chilled beers, and you have a sweet tooth, look out for the stalls where local women sell slices of their home made cakes, tarts and pastries. They’re amazing!
The only thing we missed on our visit to La Feria de Matadores this time was one of the highlights of our previous trips here – the sortija. Handsome horsemen dressed in traditional gaucho gear, stand on their saddles and ride full speed down the street to spear a tiny ring dangling from a ribbon.
No hats are handed around after the sortija either, and no tips are expected. This is a gaucho tradition that’s re-enacted purely for the locals. And that’s what we love about La Feria de Matadores!
Feria de Mataderos
www.feriademataderos.com.ar
