The Tiger

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Sergio, Joaquín, and I decided to visit one of the areas considered the favorite natural playground for “Porteños” wanting to get away from the glass-and-concrete surroundings of Buenos Aires during the weekends. “El Tigre” (or The Tiger, in English) is the destination and had been highly recommended by our various book guides and also by at least one of the many taxi drivers that had volunteered information to us.

Our point of departure was Retiro Station, just a quick walk across Plaza San Martin (three city blocks from the Marriott). The place was very busy with travelers and commuters coming and going. Some of them were carrying heavy luggage in tow; some others just whatever was needed for the day. We quickly located a ticket window and paid for our fare. The attendant pointed us to the track where our train was to depart from and we got there just a couple of minutes ahead of departure time.

We had purposely chosen to take the standard train to El Tigre (for the benefit of time and expedience). We had the option to change trains somewhere in the middle of the route and go via a more “touristy” train following the coastline, but for us, sharing the ride with more normal commuters was an equally appealing prospect, especially since we were planning to tour El Tigre from the water.

The fifty-or-so-minutes from Retiro to El Tigre Station gave us the opportunity to appreciate the suburbia-equivalent in Argentina. The various stations had a familiar-yet-foreign “flavor”, reminiscent of other countries in Latin America, certain regions in Spain and even the JR train and metropolitan subway stations in Japan. At the same time, each one had its own unique identity. Even the faces of people seemed to distill this “duality” between familiarity and unfamiliarity; at least this was the experience for the three of us.

As soon as we arrived to the end of the line, we ventured out of the station and started to walk in what appeared to me to be “the right direction”; straight out of the main station gates, across a green plaza and into a block of buildings featuring several businesses, including a McDonalds restaurant. At this time, both Sergio and Joaquín started to complain that I did not have the benefit of any information or directions about El Tigre and therefore they felt that I was not qualified to decide where to go. They were so insistent, that I agreed to go back inside the station and ask the station master for directions. I had to laugh to myself when the station master advised us to head straight out of the station and head for the block of buildings where the McDonald’s was… “Once there”, he said, “You should be able to see a tourist information office where they would be able to help you”... I was completely vindicated.

The person at the tourist information office was very helpful. She explained to us the general layout of El Tigre. The fact that the area was one of the biggest river deltas in the World and that all transportation within the area was done almost entirely using boats. For this purpose, there was a public “boat-bus” system that supplemented the private boats used by residents. She even had models and pictures of the various vessels serving the community. She told us also about a catamaran tour that departed periodically from a point nearby that may give us a “big-picture” view of the area prior to going on more specific trips. After giving us a map of the area, we parted ways. The only requirement for getting such great assistance and information at this office was to provide our country of origin, which we did.

After leaving the tourist information office we headed for the point of departure for the catamaran tours of the area. According to the information that we had received, we only had ½ hour or so before the next tour departed. We crossed the channel over a road bridge and about ½ block beyond, arrived at the ticket booth, where we secured tickets for the 11:00 AM tour.

Since we still had a few minutes before departure, we decided to take at least a short walk following one of the walking tours on the map that we got from the tourist information office. On the road that crosses the channel and heads directly to the train station we headed the opposite direction into a more residential area. Some of the houses on this road were old mansions that had been abandoned for some time and in spite of the disrepair still conveyed their former air of grandeur. To our surprise, we crossed a road named “Estrada”, which without doubt was named in honor to a local celebrity or benefactor. The general atmosphere in this part of El Tigre was that of a relaxed small town, where time goes by with intent and without any pressing deadlines. This place transported us to a different planet from our dynamic but very stressful Atlanta.

By the time we returned to the departing point for our catamaran tour, boarding had already started. As we were going for the stairs leading to the ship’s upper deck, a stewardess invited us to go into the ship’s restaurant, where according to her, we would have time to enjoy a nice lunch and their extensive wine selection prior to the catamaran leaving the dock. We could also remain in our table while enjoying the tour through the large floor-to-ceiling windows facing the front of the vessel. She was very convincing and the three of us decided to give it a try. In reality, we had had breakfast relatively late and 11:00 AM was still very early for our normal lunch schedule in Argentina. We ordered some aperitifs and a bottle of red wine to start.

Marta, our stewardess was very friendly and gave us even more information about El Tigre than the lady at the tourist information office. In spite of having just had breakfast, my two heirs quickly put away the aperitifs and bread that Marta had brought to us. The bottle of red Argentinean wine that she had recommended proved to be a great find.

Once the catamaran got going, we started to appreciate the complexity and size of the river delta. As we went through the main river branches close to downtown El Tigre, we saw the amusement park mentioned in our travel guides (apparently closed during this time of the year). Some distance beyond the park, our catamaran took a narrower river branch on the port side of our boat. This channel was totally populated by private houses, all of them featuring small docks in the front of their properties. Most of these houses had been built on stilts to prevent damage when the water level rises. According to Marta, all of the activities in El Tigre are conducted using the river as the main means of transportation. She pointed out that even schools in the area need to collect the children using large school boats and the local hospitals are actually housed in large ships that go around the area to deliver needed medical services.

At some point during the tour, Marta draws our attention towards a small house completely enclosed by a glass and steel structure, which our catamaran was approaching. This structure was, according to her, one of the first houses ever built in the area and belonged to former Argentinean president Domingo Sarmiento (1811-1888). The house is now a museum and the community still recognizes President Sarmiento as a strong benefactor and supporter of the community. Marta actually gave us plenty of advanced notice so that we could go to the upper deck and take photos of the house from that vantage point. Only Sergio and I left our table; Joaquín decided to stay behind and shoot video from there. Due to the wind generated by the catamaran’s speed, the upper deck was considerably colder than inside the boat’s restaurant. In spite of not having any warm clothes, Sergio and I quickly acclimated to the cold and continued enjoying the tour from the upper deck.

We continued our voyage through the serpentine and narrow channel until eventually we came into a much wider branch of the Paraná. At this point, Marta had told us that we would reach a vantage point where it would be possible to see the tallest buildings in downtown Buenos Aires. The view was actually a dichotomy between the more primitive, natural river delta environment and the modern and artificial world of the big city in the horizon. Sergio especially appeared to be enjoying this riverboat tour from the upper deck.

After a while, we rejoined the same river branch that we had taken out of the departure point in El Tigre, but in a location beyond the point where we entered the first narrow residential channel. This time around, we were able to appreciate other features of the area, including a segment of the river where several large ships had encountered their final resting place. These large ships were partly submersed in the murky waters and only portions of the rusting decks, bridges, and masts protruded above water level.

Before long, we were back at the Catamaran’s dock. We said goodbye to Marta and resumed our exploration by foot. By this time both Sergio and Joaquín were getting concerned about returning to Buenos Aires in time to go to Dalla Fontana and try their custom made new leather jackets (Promised to be ready after 2:00 PM when Adriana, our sales attendant, was to start her shift). One other pending item was to go to Asatej to pick up our documentation for the trip to Iguazú the following day. We did one last quick exploration of El Tigre and then headed back to the train station and boarded the next train departing for Buenos Aires’ El Retiro Station.

When we arrived at Buenos Aires, we were very close to 5:00 PM, so our priority was to walk as fast as possible to reach the Asatej Travel Agency’s offices before they closed. Joaquín and I led the way with Sergio trailing us (You would never guess that he was the captain of his high school’s cross country team). We arrived to our destination just a few seconds before 5:00 PM and after a short wait we obtained our papers from Natalia.

With our travel to Iguazú secured for the next day, we were now free to walk to Dalla Fontana and check those custom-made leather jackets. It was certainly very convenient for us that Dalla Fontana’s main store was located nearby our Marriott hotel (we had actually found another Dalla Fontana store elsewhere in Buenos Aires).

When we arrived to the store, Adriana, Susana, Yolanda and the rest of the team were happy to see us. Since we did not arrive at 2:00 PM as they were expecting, they assumed that we were already at Iguazú. The fitting was done quickly and both Joaquín and Sergio found their Jackets to fit perfectly so we completed the transaction. Our Dalla Fontana friends were a little surprised when they learned that we wanted to leave the jackets at the store during our trip north. We were not planning to take our entire luggage with us to tropical and very warm Iguazú and had decided earlier that it did not make any sense to leave the jackets stuffed in our already tight suitcases. It made more sense to leave them at the store. To ensure that we were getting them before Dalla Fontana’s closing time on Saturday, they offered to deliver them to the Marriott on Saturday afternoon, just prior to our arrival.

In the course of our transaction we told our Dalla Fontana friends about our problem obtaining Brazilian visas in time to secure a visit to the other side of the falls. In sensing our disappointment, they suggested that we visit either the Jesuit mission ruins or the Wanda mines. Yolanda (Dalla Fontana’s owner) was so kind to offer us the telephone number of her brother, who lives in Iguazú in case we needed any assistance. We promised to contact him once we were there. After that, we parted ways.

Since we needed to organize our luggage for the following day’s trip, we decided to eat at the hotel that night and go to bed early.

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Photos

Riverscape
Colorful boats on main river branch

Catamaran Restaurant
Pensive Joaquín and Sergio prior to departure

Pte. Sarmiento's House
One of the first private houses in El Tigre