September
2006 In early August the azaleas and the jasmine started blooming
in Buenos Aires. In the Southern Hemisphere, springtime doesn’t officially
arrive until September 21, but these beautiful flowers know otherwise.
With the warm, sunny days, I started exploring Greater Buenos Aires. The
town of Tigre on the outskirts of the city is only 45 minutes by train
from downtown, and is a great place for sightseeing or a riverside lunch.
There is an amusement park, a produce and handicrafts market, a casino,
places to rent canoes, kayaks, or boats to sail along the river, and many
different water sports schools, including rowing. A lot of people
upon arriving in Tigre go directly to the Casino. It has more than
1500 slot machines. I used 20 pesos, under $7 US and won enough to
pay for lunch for my husband and I!
We
ate at the 'all you can eat' buffet at the Casino that includes made to
order omelettes and grilled beef steak and sausages. The dessert
bar was my downfall. There were at least eight different types plus
ice cream. I tried half of them ...plus the ice cream. Perhaps
I should mention that I won 30 pesos, about $10 US but that was enough
to buy a large meal for both of us.
We picked up free maps and information
in English from the Tourist Information Office in Tigre. There
are several different walking routes around the town to show off impressive
buildings over a hundred years old. Tigre was the summer playground
for the wealthy people in Buenos Aires during the last part of the 19th
and the beginning of the 20th century.
One of the walking tours follows
the street, Paseo Victorica, with its beautiful street lamps, benches,
bars, restaurants and many of the more extravagant buildings in Tigre.
It follows the shores of the Luján River. We saw families having
picnics, dogs playing, and speedboats, catamarans, and rowers going up
and down the river. It was quite an entertaining stroll. One of my
favorite places in Tigre is only three blocks from the Casino - the
Puerto de Frutos, or Fruit Market. It is a quay where, in the early part
of the 20th century, produce from the Delta was unloaded and
taken into Buenos Aires.
Today
the warehouses on the quays are stores that sell furniture and handicrafts
in wicker, rattan, and flax, fresh fruit and vegetables and dried flowers.
There are also leather goods, candles, lamps, and plants. We found
very reasonable prices compared to those in downtown Buenos Aires.
In fact, there are few tourists in Tigre. Most of the shoppers are
Argentines looking for bargains.
The town of Tigre has several
stores selling antiques and rustic furniture made from wicker and different
woods, including carob, quebracho in Spanish. We bought a double
size bed made from solid quebracho for 300 pesos, about $100 US.
It has a headboard, footboard, and frame with the supporting boards for
a mattress. I am sure that it will survive our lifetime, and we can
pass it on to our son. It feels like it weighs a ton. Fortunately,
it was delivered to our house and set up for a charge of 20 pesos, under
$7 US. In the Puerto de Frutos I also bought half a kilo, about a
pound, of pecans grown in the Delta area for 6 pesos, about $2 US, but
only about half of the pecans were good. Pecans are harvested in
the fautumn, and these had been stored a bit too long.
When we got thirsty, we stopped at
the juice bar in front of the catamaran at the Puerto de Frutos.
Only
fresh fruit, in season, is used for these natural fruit juices and they
are delicious. One of my favorite was the mixture of honeydew melon
and pineapple. They only add water to the juice, but will add ice
and/or sugar if you want it. The town of Tigre is also the departure point
for what seems like another world; the Delta, a maze of islands and
rivers about 10,000 square kilometers or 3,860 square miles in size.
We took the local public transportation
around the islands in a boat called lancha colectiva in Spanish.
It was a long, narrow, wooden boat that holds almost 100 people and has
large windows - essentially a water bus to transport people around the
islands. A three hour trip cost under $5 US each and we saw a part
of the Delta that few tourists see. In the Delta area there are no
roads and only a few footpaths with narrow bridges between the islands.
All supplies and the mail are delivered by boat. Even the paramedics operate
bright orange motorboats.
Six thousand people live in the
Delta area. If they do not have their own motorboat, they use
the local public transportation, the lancha colectiva, to get between the
islands and back and forth to the town of Tigre.
Taking just one of the lanchas colectivas,
we saw one of the several elementary schools, a few of the stores, and
one of the several churches. There is only one secondary school.
All of these buildings and the houses for the six thousand residents are
only accessible by boat.
Tucked away on the islands are places
to eat, drink, and stay. There are recreational areas with sandy
beaches, playgrounds, swimming pools, and volleyball courts. There
are hotels with private docks, restaurants, and even heliports. There
are hostels and campgrounds for young people. Friends of mine stayed
overnight, renting a private cabin without electricity. Another day
my husband and I took a taxi boat to a restaurant for lunch and it picked
us up a couple of hours later when we had finished our meal. It is
wonderful having an escape from the city so close at hand.
For more information about the town
of Tigre and the Delta area of Buenos Aires, see
http://www.tigre.gov.ar
Also purchase Delores Johnson's fascinating
E-book: Moving to Argentina. Click on Moving
to Argentina.html
September
2006 In early August the azaleas and the jasmine started blooming
in Buenos Aires. In the Southern Hemisphere, springtime doesn’t officially
arrive until September 21, but these beautiful flowers know otherwise.
With the warm, sunny days, I started exploring Greater Buenos Aires. The
town of Tigre on the outskirts of the city is only 45 minutes by train
from downtown, and is a great place for sightseeing or a riverside lunch.
There is an amusement park, a produce and handicrafts market, a casino,
places to rent canoes, kayaks, or boats to sail along the river, and many
different water sports schools, including rowing. A lot of people
upon arriving in Tigre go directly to the Casino. It has more than
1500 slot machines. I used 20 pesos, under $7 US and won enough to
pay for lunch for my husband and I! 
