Tigre

Bozena, Diane and I went to Tigre today. Diane's sister was not feeling well, so she didn't join us. I set off using the information from Larry's blog, thinking I knew what I was doing. Turned out I didn't. But the day turned out perfectly. According to Larry's blog, he took the train from Retiro to Mitre station and then transferred to the Tren de la Costa. We went to Retiro station, I asked for the Tren de la Costa and got three tickets, which cost us $1.00 (for all three together). We just made the train, which was a little run down and packed with people who didn't look like the folks I normally see in the Recoleta. Looking up at the map for Mitre station, I realized that Retiro is called Mitre. So it seemed to me that we were going to take the regular train all the way to Tigre. But about 1/3 of the way on our trip, Bozena pulled out her guide book and I read about Tigre. I found out we could get off at Olivos and take the Tren de la Costa from there. We were just approaching Olivos station. Expecting to get off and find this bridge to take us to the Tren de la Costa that Larry described (and I had read about elsewhere), instead I found us at a lonely little station out in the provinces. We asked a woman on the platform how to get to the TDLC (I can't keep writing Tren de la Costa) and she said, "you go up, you go down, you go up...." or something like that, implying that we had to walk a ways to get there. So we went into a grocery store and I asked the clerk and her directions were a little more clear. We walk to the end of the street we were on, turn right, then make a left and we'll come to the station. That's what we did and we arrived at a cute little station called Borges. We had enough time to get a little refreshement at a cute cafe at the station and as the train approached we ran across the tracks to get on. As we stood there out of breath expectently waiting for the doors to open, the conductor yelled something from the front of the train. Diane started banging on the doors, thinking that would open them, and someone, Diane or Bozena spotted a button outside of the train that she pushed, and the doors opened. What a silly system! We enjoyed the rest of the ride on this very comfortable train. As we arrived in Tigre, I went to a little information booth to find out about a short boat tour. They offered us a tour of 1.5 hour through the delta with a stop for lunch. It was expensive (180 pesos each) but we were all ready and willing to pay because it sounded perfect. And it was. Our boat driver was a young guy named Christian who was formerly a radiologist, and now lives in Tigre and drives a boat. He loved taking us down little inlets and pointing out animal tracks, turtles sunning themselves on branches, or birds flying above. He took us to a little house where his girlfriend cooked for us and then took us to the Rio de la Plata and showed us a newly forming island (the picture is of him walking on the sand that is collecting forming this new island). He wanted to continue the tour, which was well over 1.5 hours by now, but I was worried about getting back in time to finish packing and take a shower and get ready for my flight. He brought us back to land and drove us to a station that was a few stops in from Tigre. So, the correct way we should have gone was to take the train to Vicente Lopez from Retiro (Mitre) station, then cross the bridge to Maipu station, which is the end of the line for the Tren de la Costa. It was nice to get out of the city a little and see a very different way of living. Apparently many people from Buenos Aires have homes in Tigre and go there on the weekends. There is also a growing number of people giving up city life altogether and moving to Tigre for a simpler way of existence. I don't think I could live there, but it was a nice place to visit.