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Published: September 4th 2008
At Retiro station
Waiting for a train to TigreMonday (Aug 25 08) we went to Tigre, which is a small city just outside of Buenos Aires. We took the train from the Retiro station and though we'd heard it takes about 25 minutes, with all the stops it seemed longer than that. The trains were busier that I expected but weren't so bad. We had heard that Tigre is popular with the locals but since it was a Monday we figured it would be a good time for us to go.
When we left BA it was cloudy and cold, but the scene was completely different in Tigre...sunny and warm. Tigre is a holiday spot for locals and tourists alike. It is known for it's many rivers and has a very laid back almost island like feel. Across the train station they have a cluster of small buildings and a little park right by one of the rivers where boats embark from to take you to some other part of the area for a short visit. Not really knowing what else to do there (we didn't do much research before we went), we bought tickets and hopped on board one of the boats headed for "Tres Bocas" or
"three mouths"...it's an area where 3 rivers meet up. The ride up the river was nice...it felt great to get out of BA and breathe clean air again. With the breeze it was chilly, but felt great since the sun was out too.
All along the river there were houses scattered about, they all had a pier/dock and stairs that led down to the river. The boat we were on (Interislena II) essentially served as a water taxi, as we made several stops to either drop someone off or pick folks up from their homes. There were also public "stations" along the river. The houses were so cute and for a minute I tried to imagine living there...must be very peaceful and so exotic. it just felt like a wonderful place. Our stop was a public stop at Tres Bocas right by a restaurant. It was one of 3 restaurants in the area and we decided to look around a bit before eating. Hard to describe the place, but there was a small pretty mild looking river and along it's banks there were quaint homes. There was a bridge at certain intervals that allowed you to cross over...or of
Resto/bar along Rio Tigre
all houses/restaurants have their own private dock and there are public stations as well for people to use course you can use a boat or canoe to get a cross. There were also gas stations for boats which stayed fairly busy. It was quiet and there weren't many people around which was nice, but didn't seem like a "vacation home" kind of place...seemed like there were families living there year round.
We crossed over one of the bridges and a girl was standing there handing out fliers to a restaurant- The Hornero. We decided to stop there for lunch. We sat on the patio of this humble establishment right by the river, playing old Sinatra type music. We sipped our Quilmes and had very tasty "chori-pan", which are chorizo sandwiches...yep, even I tried it and was savoring every bite. After eating some bland meals, we were happy to finally get some spicy and flavorful food!
Full from our lunch, we felt like we needed a nap, but alas we pushed on and walked around a bit more. It was kind of surreal walking along the "sidewalks" of the neighborhood...they consisted of wooden planks or small old bridges or concrete. Sheldon used to make me walk ahead of him in case one of the little creaky bridges
gave out... what a gentleman. The sidewalks lined the river and on either side were houses...just a really surreal place. One of the dogs there seemed to like us and followed us for quite a bit...we couldn't shake it, but then we realized it wasn't following us, just going home. At least we had some companionship for a while 😊
We left shortly after that...back on the water taxi to Tigre. We didn't stick around much longer since I wanted to get back to to BA to catch a tango show at Harrods. Back on the train to BA, it was so much more packed but we were lucky to get a couple of seats vs. having to stand the whole way. Something about being in a relaxing and chill place like Tigre and 3 Bocas made us very tired and sleepy on the train...or could it be the big lunch we had?? Either way, I dosed off for a bit and Shel was fighting to stay awake...there were people standing all around us so one of us had to stay up to keep watch 😊 I made sure not to carry a big purse with me the entire
time we were in Argentina and kept the purse between Shel and I the whole time. We only carried around essentials which made things easier and had less chance of getting stolen. Happy to report that nothing was stolen the entire time!
Back in BA, we walked over to Harrods and were surprised to find a lot of activity on Florida St. for a Monday night...guess things stay that way every night due to the year round tourists. Anyway, back at Harrods, things were quiet, but there were still amatuer tango dancers on one of the dance floors going at it. On the main stage, a small crowd was gathering and so Shel and I got a couple of good seats and waiting for the "work in progress" show to start. It was later than the schedule showed, but by the time it started, the place was packed, with some people sitting on the floors in the aisle. The show itself was not terribly impressive, but it was fun and hey, at least we saw a free show!
We decided to go straight to dinner after that in Palermo Soho again...thought we'd try the Mexican restaurant that was
packed Sat night when we first tried to go. The restaurant is called Cielito Lindo and was thankfully open and not too busy that night. Our waiter was really nice and explained the dishes to us in English...was amused by the way they pronounce certain words... like "tortilla" as "torti-sha". In Argentina, they pronounce the double "l" as "sh" instead of "y" like they do in Mexico and Spain. That took some getting used to 😊
Dinner was fine...Shel loved his chile relleno, but not so much for me...my entre was basically 2 huge chicken breasts smothered in cheese. I had 2 bites and that's all I could handle. Silly me...I expected the Mexican food there to tast like American style Mexican food...guess it was just wishful thinking.
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