The Tigre delta contains many islands. Many inhabitants of Buenos Aires spent their holiday here in their second homes. Some islands are privately owned. We visited a big island and had a short walk. I can imagine people like this place. It’s quiet, there are no vehicles, so you really can get your rest here. When we returned to the mainland, I thought I saw a building of the banned government of Falkland islands (Islas Maldivas), I was too late to take a picture of it.

Under construction

This was our last day in Buenos Aires and I have to say I wasn’t ready to go back. We have been enjoying the past days so much, that just the idea of going back to the normal life wasn’t my favorite. But, life goes on. The very first date we booked a tour. Yes, I know it goes against my style, but anyway we did it. We chose the tour across the Parana River Delta. We woke up early and did the check out. Veronica - the guide - arrived at 8:45 am and we left the hotel. We drove with the bus to “Tigre”, another city belonging to Buenos Aires Province. After picking up all the other members of the tour we arrived to Tigre around 10am.

We booked a tour that included sailing across the River Delta and visit another close town. Well, I have to say that Tigre is a small and nice town. But this is not only about inland, the biggest attraction are the islands at the Delta. Years ago this area was just a “vacation” area, but right now there are permanent residents there. The people who live in the islands (known as “isleños”) enjoy beautiful scenery and a peaceful environment. There are no streets or roads, just the river communicates one island with the other. Of course, there are no cars, just boats. They even have a “Supermarket” boat, an “Ambulance” boat, besides the "Bus" boat and "Taxi" boat, among others.  I couldn’t take a pic of any Supermarket boat. I wish I had… they were so funny. The isleños have their own school, church, library, clubs, etc. I have been told that the price of real state here is low. But it’s not cheap living there, why? Well, all the utilities are expensive. Also the groceries are pricier here.

Tigre is known as the “Rowing Capital”, there are a few Rowing Clubs and I could see a lot of people practicing this sport. There were men, women, old, young, everyone was there.

The houses at the islands don’t have numbers. They just have names and of course each of them has its own dock. If you wanted to buy something from the Supermarket boat, you just had to put a red bag as a flag at the dock of your house. So the Supermarket would now you want to buy something.

The tour started around 10:30am and lasted almost 2 hours. In the middle of the tour, the batteries of my camera run out! I was glad my mom’s batteries lasted a bit longer, but not so much. So first thing I did when we arrived to the harbor was getting new batteries ;). I was ready to keep on moving. Right now our next destination was San Isidro, a small and cute town. In order to go there we had to take the train. So we drove with the bus to the train station.

The next train was scheduled for 1pm, so we were on time. While we were waiting for the train, mom left for a couple of minutes and by the time she was back, I have already made new friends. A guy and his dad from Chile :)

The train arrived and we were sitting, when somebody came saying the drivers were on a strike, so the train wouldn't leave. What!?!? We left the train and another group came, went inside and took our sits. Oh! Veronica asked us if we would like to go, even if it meant having no seats at the train. Of course, we would. It was a short ride and I have been thinking the whole time about the idea of going to that small town, no way I would say no. And the rest of the people were thinking the same. So we went inside again and got ready to leave Tigre. Our bus would be waiting for us in San Isidro to drive back to Buenos Aires City ;)

The town of Tigre is about a 45-minute rickety train ride north of Buenos Aires along the Río de la Plata. It sits on the edge of the Tigre delta where the Río Paraná spills into the estuary of the Río de la Plata. It's a very pretty town, but many people live in the delta itself, where every house has a little dock with a boat, since the many delta channels are basically the only means of transportation. It makes for a nice day trip from the city.

My day trip to Tigre this weekend was somewhat surprising. We took what we thought would be a tourist type boat tour of the delta and river, but it ended up being a basic form of public transportation to take people to and from home. I enjoyed the experience though, because I feel I got to see how many people in Tigre actually live. I was immediately reminded of Venice, Italy though. Italy also has a public transportation system that is basically a bus on the waterways. The difference in quality is obvious though between the two cities. The ferry boat system in Tigre is slow and does not run often, whereas the boats in Venice arrive every few minutes and there are several lines. Surprisingly, there didn’t seem to be an alternate mode of transportation for the residents of Tigre that live on the river. I did not see any roads or paths to and from the outer houses to the central city. I also did not see many houses that had their own private boats docked out front. The resident of Venice have the option of walking everywhere in the cities if they wish to. This was a clear representation of the difference in living conditions in the two cities. The poverty was clear in Tigre. The houses on the outskirts were completely dependent on the boat system and our ferry even sold jugs of water to people waiting on their private docks. Some houses, at first glance, looked to be abandoned and unlivable, but at a second look I saw clothes lines and people in them. While the two cities had similar structures, they had bigger differences.