Tinbergs on Tour: February 18, 2018 – Buenos Aires, Argentina

Our neighbors are quiet – not our usual experience with hotels in the States.

Today, we are going on a bus and boat tour of Tigre, a town about 17 miles North of Buenos Aires. We did this tour many moons ago and are eager to see it again; besides, we need to get to the outskirts of the city as we have walked quite a bit of the area during our say. I think the last time we did this we took some kind of public transport. Today, we are on a guided tour.

Down early again to have the same but still good breakfast – we are due to be picked up for our tour between 9 and 9:30 AM. We waited for our pickup in the lobby of the hotel.

Our guide, a young woman named Belen, arrived on time and took us to the van – already populated by about 10 people – we got seats in the way back but moved up a row so that I wouldn’t have someone sitting next to me. The bus picked up another two folks and we were on our way. The tour took us through some of the neighborhoods of Buenos Aires, by the football stadium, and then into the suburbs.

We stopped in the town of San Isidro for photos and facilities on our way to Tigre.

San Isidro

Belem told us that this is where the rich folks from Buenos Aires live. While the Recoleta Area looked pretty fancy to me, the homes in San Isidro have back yards and the people have cars (very few cars in BA due to parking paucity). The major sites here were the Cathedral (dating back to July 14, 1898)

San Isidro Cathedral

and the Artisan Fair at the Plaza de San Isidro across the street.

San Isidro Flea Market

The plaza is home to several statues.

We spent some time in the park – it was early and the vendors were just setting up their booths. The park was nice even though the pavement was sorely in need of repair – you really had to watch your step.

The nice coffee shop across the street from the Plaza provided the washrooms we really needed. Locals were enjoying their coffee and sweets al fresco.

From San Isidro, we went to Tigre – not nearly as nice as San Isidro. The town on Tigre gets its name from the jaguars (tigers – tigre) that were hunted in this area. Tigre is actually an island surrounded by the many bodies of water that make up the delta region.

We made our way to the dock area and after about a 30 minute wait, we boarded one of the river craft. I got a seat along the outside

On our River Boat

so I could get pictures. The river is muddy and just looks polluted – that doesn’t seem to keep any of the locals from swimming in it.

We spent about an hour navigating through the many of the five major rivers of the Parana Delta — Lujan, Carapachay, Angostura, Espera, and Sarmiento. Some of the homes were in good shape and people were having picnics and playing on the lawns. Other homes looked empty and run down. We were told that the homes have electricity but no running water – I guess they have to catch rainwater or get their water delivered. All supplies are brought to the owners via a “Supermarket Boat”. It is an interesting way to live.

Heading Out

Kayakers

Party Time at this House

Scuttled Boat

Another Tour Boat

Game Time

One of the more impressive sites we passed on the tour was the Municipal Museum of Art. It looks like you can either use a car or a boat to access the museum.