A visit to the Feria de Matadores

Corrida de sortija, Feria de Matadores, Buenos Aires

One thing that we had meant to go to previously, but hadn't got around to, was the Feria de Matadores. This Gaucho market is held in the suburbs of Buenos Aires, about a forty minute bus ride out of the centre.

There are lots of market stalls, some of which are very generic, but others have some good authentic goods, including mate cups and bombillas, and some - though not as many as we had expected - gaucho related items. There were certainly a lot of knives on sale.

Feria de Matadores, Buenos Aires

There are also food stalls, where we had a few more decent empanadas, but you could also get other traditional fare like locra, and there are a couple of nice old fashioned places to eat.


The locals enjoy the market, with live music and traditional dancing in the square, which generally draws a small crowds of onlookers, and a few hapless tourists may be tempted to join in.

Corrida de sortija, Feria de Matadores, Buenos Aires

But the main reason that we had come along was to enjoy the spectacle of the corrida de sortija, a gaucho sport that involves galloping your horse along and trying to collect a small ring, that is dangling at about head height, on a little stick.

We watched this for quite a while, and it is clearly not easy at all. Most people failed, either missing the ring altogether, knocking it off, or managing to collect it, only to drop it afterwards. But some did get it, and trotted back, proudly showing off the ring.

Child's play? Corrida de sortija, Feria de Matadores, Buenos Aires

They start them early at this sport, and we saw a kid of about twelve, (maybe, I'm lousy at judging ages,) and another that can't have been older than two, having a go at a lowered ring.

What is nice about this market and the corrida de sortija, is that whilst there are obviously tourists here, being a bit further out of town, the numbers are rather less than at San Telmo for example. Of course the vendors are used to visitors, and cater to them, but this is predominantly an event for local people.

Starting them young at the Corrida de sortija, Feria de Matadores, Buenos Aires

There were comparatively few people watching the gauchos tilting for their rings, and it was evident that they were doing this for themselves, not to entertain a crowd. In our eyes, that made this a very worthwhile trip out of the centre.

 

Corrida de sortija, Feria de Matadores, Buenos Aires

Success! Corrida de sortija, Feria de Matadores, Buenos Aires

Corrida de sortija, Feria de Matadores, Buenos Aires

Success! Corrida de sortija, Feria de Matadores, Buenos Aires

Success! Corrida de sortija, Feria de Matadores, Buenos Aires

Corrida de sortija, Feria de Matadores, Buenos Aires

Success! Corrida de sortija, Feria de Matadores, Buenos Aires

Feria de Matadores, Buenos Aires

Mate cups and bombillas, Feria de Matadores, Buenos Aires

Feria de Matadores, Buenos Aires

Feria de Matadores, Buenos Aires

Feria de Matadores, Buenos Aires

Feria de Matadores, Buenos Aires

Arriving in Kyoto and visiting the Nishiki Market

We took the incredibly cheap local train from Osaka to Kyoto, and then promptly walked off in the wrong direction - again - although this time because our hostel was shown in the wrong place on Google maps. In common with much of Asia, Japan has lots of little lanes, that aren't properly marked on maps and often don't have street names on them, so they can make it tricky to find your way around. Anyway, we spotted a postman, which I always think is the best person to ask for an address, and with no shared language, but a lot of pointing and gesturing, he was able to set us in the right direction.

Of course by the time that we got to the hostel, we had missed our opportunity to check in, so headed out in search of some food. Having already walked around unnecessarily, we didn't feel like lugging the packs too far, so we're happy to settle for whatever was nearby. We drew the line at McDonalds, but found a little Japanese fast food place instead.

It took us a moment to work out what to do. There is a machine near the door where you order and pay for your food, and it spits you out two little tickets for each item. You give one of each these to the staff, and sit down, and they bring everything to you. This is where I first discovered a liking for tonkatsu, which is really just pork in breadcrumbs, but somehow tastes so much better. Perhaps it's the panko crumbs, or how they cook it, I don't know, but I like it.

Now this place wasn't the best for tonkatsu, we had some really excellent ones in some proper restaurants, but for a fast food place, the quality was actually very good. And you can certainly fill up, especially if you like the extras. Most things come as a set meal, with the usual shredded cabbage and unlimited rice accompaniments, but also a bowl of miso soup, pickles and something a bit like a not so tasty panacotta. I never worked out exactly what that was, but except for one place in Nara, where it was very nice, I wasn't keen.

Hunger satisfied, and the hostel now open, we went to check in. Our hostel - more of a guesthouse really - was run by a lovely Japanese couple in what used to be their own home. It was our first, but certainly not our last, experience of sleeping on Japanese futons. They are actually far more comfortable that you'd expect - and much more so than some of the rock hard beds we had in China. It is only a thin mattress on the floor, but the floor is covered in tatami mats which are themselves quite cushioned, so not too bad at all. The worst thing for me, with my bad knees, was getting up and down from the floor.

We decided not to head straight out for temples on our first day, and instead went to the shopping area and the Nishiki Market. The market is quite interesting to wander through, looking at all of the different foods on offer. I tried a selection of gel like cordials, and took quite a liking to yuzu, a sort of sweeter lemon flavour. I also liked seeing, but didn't buy, the doughnuts decorated as animals.

Nic tried a few fishy things, although he passed on the tako tamago, the tiny octopus with a quail egg stuffed into its head. Neither did he choose to sample the fish eyes.

During our ten days in Kyoto, we did make a couple of souvenir purchases at the market, both of which were connected to food and drink. We decided to treat ourselves to a nice pair of chopsticks each, and spent ages in a shop with thousands of designs. We eventually agreed on some twisted wooden ones.

We also bought a nice little pottery sake set, so then of course, we had to buy a bottle of sake to christen it.

Havana - cars, cigars, chocolates and crafts

For our remaining three days in Havana, we reverted to wandering the streets and sitting in cafes.  For us, the charm of Havana is not in the museums, but rather in walking along and seeing the crumbling but still beautiful buildings, the falling apart but fabulous cars and the times-gone-by but still trading counter shops.


Vintage they may be, but most at least are still vibrant in their way.

The evidence of a once very wealthy society is all around, and it is fascinating, sad and yet oddly reassuring to see how little those symbols of wealth have  been so little cared for over time.

I am very glad that they are now working to preserve the architecture that is here but the reality is, had the country continued to develop and build during these post revolution years, many of these lovely building would be long since gone.

Similarly had there not been restrictions on the import and sale of vehicles, Cuba would not have the many Cadillacs, Pontiacs and other vintage cars that we see today.  We were concerned that with restrictions being relaxed, these old cars would be sold to dealers from the States and Europe and replaced by the more efficient but soulless new cars.

Happily, we heard that the UNESCO status recognises that these cars are a part of Cuba's heritage now, and protects them as well as the buildings.

But even we couldn't resist one museum - the museum of chocolate!  Not that it is really a museum.  It is really a cafe and shop,  where you can watch them make the chocolates and see a few cabinets with old chocolate moulds and other paraphanalia.  But the chocolate was quite tasty, so we weren't complaining.

Then of course even as non smokers like us, you can't come to Cuba without visiting a cigar factory.  We had tried the one in Santa Clara, but that was no longer doing tours, so we figured we'd go to the one here.  Except that was closed too.

But at least here there was a lady sat at a workstation in the corner of the shop making the cigars for the benefit of we tourists.  So we did get to see the process and it didn't cost us anything.

We also made it to the Almacenes de San Jose craft market where we spent some hours looking around at the multitude of paintings of old cars.  These are of course slightly kitsch, but I do like them, and we spent some time considering them before finally deciding we don't currently have any walls, and by the time we do again, we will have far too many pictures and photos for this one to get put up.  So instead, I bought a colorful paper mâché boot and Nic bought a Che Guevara wallet, partly because he needed a wallet, and partly because he liked the irony of it.
 

Beyond that we spent some time in a few bars and restaurants, often with a few rum based drinks and some (usually welcome) musical entertainment. Three places that didn't have any live music, but which we rather liked were La Imprenta, Palador Doña Blanquita and El Chanchullero.

The first, La Imprenta, was a state run restaurant, which was something of a surprise as unlike most, it was really rather slick.  The food was great, they had some good wines, it was good value and the service was impeccable, but the more remarkable thing was the design.  It was an old print works building, and the decor was built around that.  The seats and tables were all carved wooden typeset letters, there were old bits of printing machinery, and many other interesting, slightly unusual, and yet still tasteful touches.  Something of a surprise really.

The second , Palador Doña Blanquita, was not state run, but rather a small restaurant on the second floor of an anonymous looking building.  The food was good, and there was a nice view across the Prado, but what amused us here was that this is so clearly  a place that someone has opened where they live.  We could tell this because at the room at the back we could clearly see the old mum asleep on the sofa.

And the last, El Chanchullero, was a lovely but tiny little bar on Plaza del Christo.  It made great cocktails and although we didn't eat here the food did look good.  But the interesting element for us was that it was very different to what we had come to expect in Cuba.  It had excellent quirky decoration, including a tiny shrine inside and was very simple and cosy.  It was the sort of place that would have gone into whatever city we were in.

Perhaps it seems wrong that some of the places that appeal to us are those that are less traditional.  We do like to go to the traditional places, but we quite like to see what is new about a place as well.

Sometimes as a tourist it can feel like all of the traditional things are a bit false - done for the tourist market rather than because it is what they would still choose to do.

They are still interesting and can tell you a lot about a place's past, but we like to mix in a bit of the more modern culture too, and perhaps get to learn a bit about where the country and it's people are going rather than just where they have already been.

The Olympic Park

For our first day in the Olympic Park we left much earlier than we needed to for our evening tickets, as we wanted to look around the park and spend some time with the crowds watching the big screen.  Our Kentish Town location was ideal as we could get on a train straight to Stratford, and once there, we were quickly through security and into the Park.

After taking the obligatory photos of each other under the Olympic Park signs, and having a Gamesmaker take a photo of us with the stadium in the background, we got onto the important stuff, like taking pictures of the Aquatics Centre and The Orbit too.  We had seen pictures of the Orbit, and weren't convinced by it, and I can't say we were really any more enamoured of it in reality.

People have tried to compare it to the Eiffel Tower, which apparently many Parisiens disliked initially, so maybe one day I'll love it, but to me it just looks like a rather messy giant helter skelter.  The London Eye has become an icon, is in a good location and gives a great view; the Shard is too young to be an icon but also has a viewing platform, and is near London Bridge with the market, dungeon and other sites; do people really want another viewing tower out in Stratford?

First photos taken, our next task was a practical one - fill our bottles from the water taps.  There was a queue, but it wasn't too bad, and it meant we could multi task by taking it in turns to nip off to the loo while the other waited.

And for those of you who have been reading the blog for a while, and want to know where this would rank on our convenience scale, then on overall experience of the two days I would have to judge them as a 4.25 out of 5.  They lost half a point because they lacked any decorative touches or character, and dropped a quarter point because one time there was no paper, but in fact I was pretty impressed that at a venue of this size, with so many visitors, they managed to achieve a high standard of cleanliness and hardly any waiting time.

With our drinking water filled, we amused ourselves with the size of the queue for the MacDonalds, and headed off for the Megastore.  It was certainly a large shop, and very busy.  I wandered around the Tshirts for a while before deciding not to bother, as I would probably never wear it again after these few days, and set off to look for the two things that I'd figured I would buy.

They didn't have a silver charm that I liked, so that will have to be left for an online purchase if I get around to it, but they did have the box of Christmas decorations.

If you read my blog about souvenirs then you'll know that this is often my fallback keepsake, and I have for some while fancied having a London bus or taxi bauble.  Well the Team GB box set had a bus, a taxi, and a Big Ben, as well as a round union jack bauble and one like the lion's head symbol.  A bit tacky maybe, but you can get away with it at Christmas.

The queue to pay was fairly long, but they had cleverly hidden part of it behind a partition, so strangely it didn't seem so bad, and they did have plenty of tills, all of which were open, so it actually didn't take too long, and we were soon out and on our way to Park Live.

We had to wait a short while to get into the Park Live area, and it was fairly crowded, but we found a space off to one side and settled in to watch the live action from the various venues.

We had not been there long when we heard a small cheer rumbling it's way towards us.  We soon spotted the reason for it, Louis Smith was making his way through the crowds.

A while later, a similar, but much louder cheer went around, hailing the arrival of Sir Chris Hoy on his way to the Park Live stage for an interview.  The poor guy  must have expended more energy waving to everyone as he passed than he did on his bike to win his gold medals.  But he seemed genuinely happy to see everyone, and indeed in his interview he was full of praise for the support of the crowds - which obviously got him another big cheer!

We were somewhat amused by the couple of people that we saw walking around with hollowed out watermelon hats on their heads.  Not quite sure whether it helped to keep them cool or something, but it was an interesting look.

Dressage medal ceremony

We spent a very hot afternoon watching the women's open water swim, the dressage competition and some boxing amongst other things.  We may only have been watching a big TV, but the atmosphere was great and everyone still cheered and waved their flags when a Team GB person came on, especially when we won another gold medal.

Expecting a queue on the way in to the stadium itself, we set off in plenty of time for our evening session, refilling our water bottles on the way.  In fact we queued for all of about twenty seconds, so we had plenty of time to take in the stadium before the events started.