Up the River Plate

Now where shall I go today. I set off while I decide. I realise that thunderstorms are predicted but they have been for each day I’ve been here. Maybe today will be the day so I had better be prepared.  I go back to hotel, swap the sunnies for umbrella and parka and head off to buy a sube card (snapper/myki). The Sube card is needed for all public transport and I have decided to catch a train and go to Tigre, northwest of the city, exploring.

I find the sube office at the train station easily. They ask for my passport then send me to the ticket office or a kiosk. The man in the ticket office, by pointing, tells me to go to the sube office. The guy in the kiosk abruptly says non.

I go to the i site who tell me to go to the ticket office so I go back to another window and like an immaculate conception a bit of magic occurs and a smiling, pleasant english speaking young lady gets me a card. No passport, no questions, nothing. 25 peso for the card ($3) and 50 peso to get me through the next three days of travel.

So now Im on the train shielding my eyes from the bright sunlight because of course I now have a parka and brolly and no sunnies.

As I boarded so did a guy with guitar who later played and sung beautifully. Then the collection hat came out. A number of blind people followed soon after, also collecting; something we don’t see at home but I have seen in many other countries. Sad but good on them for trying. From what I understand the current govt is stripping benefits and making life even more difficult for the already desperate part of the population.  The train is clean, comfortable, not very full and slowwwwww. There is maintenance happening so maybe that’s why.  

The scenery is nothing different to start with but once we get further out it changes from drab concrete apartment blocks to areas of single level homes with lovely gardens in the suburb of Martinez. Further out the homes are even grander and rather beautiful. The stations newer and cleaner, and the streets wide and well maintained.  

We arrive at Tigre in an hour and I am blown away. The most beautiful green, lush, palm tree filled city.  

A hop on, hop off awaited at the station exit and I quickly bought a ticket and boarded; the commentary keeps me updated but I am too busy taking in the prettiness.  It was stinking hot, blue sky and no sign of rain.  I need my sunnies and I don’t need this damn bag of rain gear I’m dragging around. 

The bus trip lasted about an hour, taking in the city’s sights. I hopped out and wandered for a bit but it was too hot to do too much. We passed a few sites that may have been interesting but too hot, feet sore, can’t be bothered and I was quite happy sitting and relaxing. The local market looked really appealing but by the time I had decided to go there it would have been too late for me to catch the boat to go home. Mainly too late because our ten minute stop turned into a 30 minute stop as we waited for the driver who later took us off the beaten track to a garage out of the city. He dropped something off then continued with our drive. Oh well. The market probably wasn’t that good anyway.

We passed many beautiful properties and parks. The parks were mainly well maintained and on each were a number of men with weed eaters cutting the lawn, meaning the labour intensive job looked like someone had been chewing the lawn as inevitably there were patches missed all over the place.

Once aboard the boat we were taken up through the delta, one of the largest delta’s in the world, where we could see all the homes built on the many islands. The islands are all shaped like plates, so higher round the edges with a bowl shape in the centre. The centre floods, the edges are eaten away by the tides so houses are built, closer to the edge but on stilts. The islands are quite small and no vehicles exist so everything is transported (including the residents) there is even a school on one of the islands.  

Medical practices visit by boat and there is a supermarket that comes round too. Fascinating but must be really inconvenient. Property and homes are cheaper than on the mainland and  the further down the water way (including down some creeks) the cheaper property is.

Eventually the boat turned into the River Plate and we slowly cruised back to Buenos Aires eventually docking in the area I sussed out yesterday. As we cruised along we were treated a coffee and an alfajor, the first one I had tasted.  

Alfajores are as famous in Argentinian cuisine as empanada, parrilla, dulche de leche and malbec. They are two biscuits sandwiched together with dulce de leche and the one I had quite yummy, but not sure I would rush out and buy more.