La Feria de Mataderos

This week was the first week I've gotten sick, but I must say...it pays to live with doctor's. Jose retired 2 years ago but Alicia works out of the house. She has her own consolatory in the first floor, which is quite convenient for both her working and for me, being sick. So being sick, not much happened this week

 My host parents always take their host students to La Feria de Mataderos (a flea market in the barrio of mataderos in buenos aires) and buy them a Mate gord and bombillo. The flea markets here are really cool to walk through and are always packed. This particular flea market puts on a show every sunday which includes a flag ceremony, music, horse races and lots of dancing. El Matadero in english translates to "the slaughterhouse" and is a place where meat is processed and sold. El Matadero is also the name of a very important literature work by Esteban Echeverria which takes place in this city and was critical in the construction of the nation. El Matadero talks about a tragic encounter between a young Unitarian (which represented civilization) and a band of federals (which represented the church and government) who assassinated the Unitarian in el matadero. The story represented the voice of the public in that era and showed the passion and spirit they had for their country as argentina at that time had just separated from spain and was trying to gain their own identity. (I know all this because it was the first work of literature that we read in my Latin American Literature class and was the topic of the essay which I had to turn in on my birthday).

 

 El Matadero

Choripan is VERY popular in Argentina and VERY good.

The people on the left taught me how to dance El Gato, a traditional dance of Argentina. My host mom also had fun dancing as can be seen on the right

Besides the history/literature lesson it was really cool to go to this feria because it was right in front of the original matadero in which the story took place. The flag ceremony was also cool to watch because all of the people surrounding me were screaming out the national flag song with a passion that I don't see often in the united states for our flag. The amount of passion and pride that these people have for their country amazes me and makes me want to take part in it. No matter what happens in their government, these people will always love the land of their country and things they represent.

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As I had stated in a previous blog, Mate is a traditional bitter Argentine herbal drink that is similar to tea and has a ton of caffeine in it. You will see Argentine's drinking Mate EVERYWHERE and they usually will bring a thermis with them to keep the water hot which they pour into their mate. It is a custom that if you are drinking Mate and are in a room with someone else that you offer them some. While I was drinking Mate this week, I spilled the "right off the stove" hot water in the thermis on my hand, causing it to blister up, resulting in a pretty bad burn.

Also I will no longer complain about having to pay 2 dollars for a load of laundry anymore as here, it cost me 100 pesos ($20) to do this duffel bag full of laundry.

Until next time...CHAU!