Catamarn cruise in Tigre

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We had heard about a small town north of BA called Tigre. We heard that it was picturesque and worth a visit for the day. The subway ran from near our hostel to the train station so we decided to get that instead of the bus. Our train tickets to Tigre were a little under €1 each return, for a one hour journey. We passed through many towns on our way out of BA and saw a huge racing track called the Hippodrome. When we got to Tigre we went looking for a tourist office to see what there was to do. The town itself is on the river Tigre and takes its name from there (obviously!). Most activities are based around either taking a walk or a cruise along the river. We chose to take the 2hr long catamaran cruise along the river. For €8 each it wasn’t bad value and soon we were on our way down the river Tigre. The area itself is known as Rio de la Plata and has hundreds on little rivers all inter connected.

All along the river side were houses and obviously owned by wealthy people. The houses were not big or anything but they were certainly fancy and I can only presume you would need a bit of money to buy one. Also, there were many mini resorts along the way and some looked like they would be really expensive to stay there. From what I could see the only access to these places was by boat. The girl in the tourist office told us that we could also take a public boat along the river. Along the way we could see people at their piers waiting for the public boat to come and pick them up and bring them to town. The boat journey itself was nice and was more relaxing than anything else. They served food and drink on board and other than looking at the different designs of the houses we passed there wasn’t much else to look at. The weather was beautiful and there was a nice breeze to make the warm sun bearable. After the boat returned we found a nice little place to eat and shared half a pizza. The train station was only a block away and when we had finished we decided to get the train home. It was quite busy at this time as everyone was finishing work.

People are allowed on to trains here to sell all kinds of stuff. And stuff is exactly what it is. Markers, chewing gum, sweets, pens, phone credit, socks, books and even some people sing. They place the item on your lap regardless of whether you want it or not. When they have to whole carriage completed they start again and pick them back up. If someone wants to buy it they buy it. If not there is no guilt trip or a ya will, ya will, ya will to force you to buy it. They just pick it up and say thank you regardless of whether you buy or not. Lots of people actually do buy the stuff and I noticed one guy just couldn’t say no to any of the sellers. Socks, chewing gum, whatever he could get his hands on. Sometimes beggars come and leave a note on you lap. They repeat the same process as above and don’t guilt anyone into giving them money. One guy came on and sang a song. Each time you thought he was finished after holding on to a long note he would start again. I could see some of the locals wince at his singing and I can tell ya it wasn’t that good. He gave himself a big round of applause and then moved to the next carriage.

Last night we didn’t fancy eating out again so we got bread, eggs, milk and made French toast. Both of us said it was the nicest meal we have had so far! The street that we are staying on seems to be the Broadway of BA. It is not until night that you see all the shows lit up and right next door only two nights ago, Phantom of the Opera opened up. There were camera crews and all sorts there and it seemed to be a big deal. All the people were very well dressed for the night as you would see at any premiere. We are now getting ready to go watch Ireland v Wales in Sullivan’s bar in Palermo, an area of BA. Hopefully the next blog will be about the great night we had out after Ireland winning the you know what! Please, please, please.

In a bit. DH

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