A Three Hour Tour

We had a hard time getting going yesterday; I guess we were tired. We knew we missed breakfast at the hotel, so we got dressed and left, planning to stop at a cafe for a coffee and something quick. Once we picked one and sat down, we were surprised to be given full lunch menus. Apparently it was 1 30 in the afternoon; we had no idea! It worked out well for us, though. You can't find eggs early in the day, but at 1 30, we happily ate omelettes and fried eggs with ham (and fried banana--but that's another story.)

By 2 15, we finally got on our train to Tigre, a town about 15 miles north of the city on the river delta where the Parana and Uruguay rivers meet to form the Rio de la Plata. For a half hour, we walked around a bit aimlessly, until we were approached by a tourist guide offering us a private boat tour. I knew I didn't want to get on one of the large, impersonal 50-passenger catamarans, but I am naturally skeptical of tour salespeople. In the end, we are glad we let him talk us into it. It was a great tour!

The delta comprises thousands of islands, separated by a network of rivers and natural canals, none of which are very deep. The large ships can only travel on the largest ones along the periphery. Our guide, Fernando, took us everywhere: through poor and rich neighborhoods, seeing how the people live. Like Amazonia, they all have their houses on stilts, as the river rises sharply every 10 or 15 days. (We were there on an exceptionally high day ourselves.) There are no streets on the island; the natives use the streams as roads. Along the banks are gas stations, stores, bars and restaurants, each with its own dock. We motored past rowers, kayakers, jet skiers and tubers, as well as larger boats, anchored down to relax. Some boats have barbeque pits affixed to the side--very clever!


The highlight, though, was our stop. Fernando took us to a small, rustic restaurant owned by a friend of his. The place was tiny; there were only two other groups there. One left as were arriving, but we met the other family: a young couple from White Plains with two young, precocious children. The wife spoke Spanish, and the husband didn't, but he tried. We thought of Matt and Vicki traveling with their children-to-be, especially when the husband clapped his hand and yelled: "Ninos! Banos? Do we need banos?" We got to meet the owner's pet dog, Lara, who loves pecans, and her baby beaver that she rescued from the delta after hunters shot its mother. We also saw ducks, and her cat which wants to kill the beavers and the ducks. I don't like the cat.
After two bottles of wine, it was time to leave, so we headed back on our boat, and then back to Buenos Aires. We ate a small dinner and went to bed early. It was a good second to last day.