This sunny Sunday in May, Gardey is partying. This rural town of almost a thousand inhabitants 26 km from Tandil celebrates 110 years, and Plaza San Martín is a spectacle of color, music, families.
Many people dance on Tapia Street, a few meters from the stage, and a block away, in front of the church, an exhibition of vintage cars exhibits from a Ford A of 1928 to Fititos of various colors, BMW and Alfa Romeo of the 60s and more.
People come and go from the church and the old school-turned-cultural center, and they come and go along Independencia Avenue between the square and the most famous corner of the place, a construction older than the town itself.
Exhibition of old cars in the Plaza San Martín for the 110 years of Gardey. Photo PB/Travel
On the access road and opposite the old train station, the historic Vulcano warehouse is the center of attraction, something like "the soul" of Gardey.
Meeting Center
And for a long time, because towards the end of the nineteenth century the merchant Juan Gardey, who had a warehouse in Tandil, attentive to the arrival of the railway, hurried to open another in front of the then new station.
Floors, counter, original shelves in the Vulcano warehouse. Photo PB/Travel
In 1902 he opened the "Almacén y Tienda Las Horquetas", as its original name, the same as the place, in a kind of fork between the small and large Chapaleofú streams.
Gardey, like other immigrants in search of opportunity, was a visionary; The place was transformed into a town by the hand of the warehouse, which provided everything necessary and was a meeting point to have a few drinks, socialize and get entangled in card games.
It became one of the most important general stores in the area along with Lasarte, in the place De la Canal -it is worth visiting, 28 km north of Tandil by the RP 30- and the pulpería of La Pastora -37 km from the city by the RN 226, a little further west than Gardey-.
Bondiola al disco with fries, the great must-see of the warehouse. Photo PB/Travel
In 1922 it was bought by the Vulcano family, who baptized it with its current name, and passed through other hands until it reached Juan Ignacio Liverotti, better known as "Panchi".
Flavors of countryside and mountains
Today Panchi opens the Vulcano on Saturdays at noon and evening and on Sundays at noon, when behind the long wooden counter -original, like the pine floors and shelves-, he dispatches empanadas, picadas, sandwiches, milanesas and more, although almost everyone asks for his great specialty: bondiolas al disco with fries.
Gardey is 26 km from Tandil. Photo PB/Travel
The menu ($3,900) is completed with entree (a juicy, generously sized empanada) and for dessert, flan. Although in the menu there are also empanadas of ham and muzza or bondiola al disco ($ 300), milanesa of meat or chicken with garnish ($ 1,900), various pizzas (from $ 2,000 to $ 2,700) and chopped: $ 1,600 for one, $ 3,000 for two, $ 5,400 for four.
It also does events on some special dates, such as International Tea Day (it is May 21), when this year it invited to have tea with homemade puddings and alfajores later between 16 and 19 pm.
An afternoon of tea at the Vulcano warehouse. Photo Instagram @historicoalmacenvulcano
Behind the warehouse, the Malvinas Museum exhibits more than 500 objects related to the islands and war, and 11 km south of Gardey, the municipal spa of Vela is a great plan for the afternoon: a beautiful green space where the Chapaleofú chico runs between large rocks and in the shade of old trees.
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