A Breath of Fresh Air in Tigre

Train station - but ours was next door

The last couple of days in BA have been beastly hot and humid.  We planned a little excursion to Tigre - the river delta at the north edge of town - away from the skyscrapers and crowds - well, sort of.  We arranged to meet our friends, Shirley and Gary, at the train station.  They took the subway there and we found our way easily by bus.  However, there are actually two train stations next to each other.  We, of course, went into the wrong one to begin with but not seeing our friends and not seeing any signs to Tigre, we asked and yes, the other train station was the one we needed.

Shirley and Gary were already there to greet us and we went to the ticket window to buy our round trip to Tigre - about a 50 minutes train trip and with the SUBE card, it was really cheap - practically free - at less than 3 pesos each.  We had read that the trains depart every 10 minutes or so.  But, perhaps because this was a holiday (Constitution Day) in BA, we waited a half hour or more for the train.  As we boarded with the masses, we were jostled out of all getting seats so Shirley and I sat while Gary and John, being the gentlemen that they are, stood.  Shirley and I had a great chat - Gary and John did not have such a pleasant ride - no a/c and surrounded by sweaty bodies.

Exactly like the one we were on

However, we arrived and almost immediately felt a refreshing breeze from the water.  There were lots of people wandering along the river deciding what to do - where to go.  There were collective ferries that you could take - long lines at the ticket counter and waiting for the boats.  There were private excursions available and then we noticed a booth advertising a restaurant we had read about - El Gato Blanco.  We paid them 60 pesos per person round trip on the collective - a nice profit for them - but we were taken immediately to the head of the line to board.  The ferry cruised along the various rivers and branches for about 50 minutes until we were let off at El Gato Blanco.  The trip there was quite interesting - viewing lots of weekend cottages, campgrounds, an amusement park at the edge of Tigre, restaurants and parks.  We only traveled part of the area - there were many little rivers branching out of Tigre.

The restaurant looked even better than the pictures we had seen and I would say we were pleasantly surprised.  We had a comfortable table overlooking the river and enjoyed a lovely meal and good conversation.  John and Shirley had the flatfish with shrimp on top - good but somewhat lacking in flavor, they said.  Gary had a pink trout with black butter and capers - he liked it.  I ordered the lomo which was the best I've had here so far - covered with Hollandaise and they cooked it on their huge grill exactly right.  We paid a lot more than usual for this lovely lunch but can understand why - everything has to be boated in.

A ferry was due around 4 p.m. for the trip back and we were on it.  It was less crowded than the trip out and seemed to be faster.  We walked around the town of Tigre a bit - not much open because of the holiday  but Gary thought it would be fun for them to come back another day and explore a little more - they will be here another two weeks.  We just missed a train but that turned out to be a good thing since we were first on to the next train and all had seats together.  But, it was very hot and humid and we were ready to go home.  It was a nice little new adventure and we're glad we did it.

It was overcast all day - not the best for pictures but maybe a little less warm than it would have been without the clouds.  HERE ARE THE REST OF MY PICTURES - A LOT, I KNOW, BUT I CAN'T HELP MYSELF. You don't have to look at them or maybe just a few.