Advertisement
Published: October 21st 2008
Today we are off to Tigre…the New Orleans of Argentina. Well maybe not quite that sophisticated but it is a delta town about an hour outta town.
Our class meets up at the Belgrano train station. This is the same train system that we didn’t take to La Plata because of its decrepit status. I have to agree it’s not the Ritz but it gets you there. What do you want for 80 centavos. We had to stand most of the way looking out at some of the northern burbs that the affluenzer BA’ers are moving to in droves to get outta the pollution, both atmospheric and audi-ale.
Tigre gets its name from the jaguars that lived around here once…they call them tigres in South America. We jumped off the tren and moseyed over to the Estacion Fluvial…the boat dock. Four bucks gets you a round trip ticket on the boats the locals use…lanchas colectivas out to Tres Bocas. I hear there are more remote areas we cudda got out to but we wanted to do some walking and were time limited. It was very relaxing place to be on a Monday. I also hear that Sundays during the summer
this place can be a zoo with the porteno tigers the main inhabitants. So we settle in for a nice little ride reminding me of the Mekong delta in Vietnam. We stop here and there dropping off people and supplies as there are about 3000 full time residents out here.
Like I said we decide to take a little hike before lunch so we head out for our 6 mile walk. Who said this was gonna be easy. Maybe we will be back for dinner. The first part is fairly civilized with weekend cottages scattered here and there. Looking for some more indigenous plants but human civilization decided mother nature did not have an eye for plant beauty and brought out numerous varieties of flowers and trees to decorate their properties. These plants indiscriminately spread throughout and now the jungle is like the Home Depot flower department.
We move into the path less traveled and are having second thoughts about the extinction rumors of el tigre. I see a twisted branch in the water below and tell Kazuko to check out the snake just as she is making a river crossing. I didn’t know she could still shift
into first gear so fast.
We get back to the café where we started this jaunt in about 2 hours. Either those jaguars had more of a psychological effect on our movements or the difference between miles and kilometers was lost in translation. Had a filling lunch just before the colectiva collects us for the lazy ride back to Tigre and a train ride home.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.112s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 7; qc: 44; dbt: 0.0818s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Linda & Rich
non-member comment
el tigre
Your el tigre comments put me in mind of the rumor down here that jaquars occasionally make an appearance this far north. They call them black jaquars or panthers due to the color of their coat and the fact that they sport those black jaquar spots. Apparently, they migrate out of FL when conditions are just right. Meg's Dan swears he has seen one or two in so. GA. Linda