¡Què lindo! Tigre
July 30, 2005 – Sat
Today was such a perfect day. Yesterday, Angie and I had said that we wanted to go to Tigre today. We decided…when we wake up, we´ll see and play it by ear.
We met up in the common area around 11am. The Brazilians were sorting their stuff out, so we said our goodbyes to them and left for Tigre.
Going by our guidebook´s advice, we went to the Retiro train station. We stood in the ticket line for Tigre — which was the last stop. Bought our tickets and immediately hopped on the train that was ready to depart. 95 centavos for an hour long train ride…that´s less than 30 cents!!!
The train had a really funky odor about it. I couldn´t place the smell, but it was a bit wretchid at times. I had to breathe through my mouth for fear of getting sick. Sometimes, the smell would get stronger. I was so glad when we finally got to Tigre!
We went to the info booth in the Tigre train station, got a map of the area. We were thinking of getting lunch and renting kayaks or canoes for the day. It was a sunny day — a first for my stay in BsAs, so far. And it was warm — upper 60`s to mid 70`s.
We headed towards the waterfront first, to find canoe or kayak info, then to eat. We ended up finding a kiosk that sold boat tickets, which would take us to a restaurant called Akù Akù, where we could eat lunch and rent canoes. ¡Perfecto!
The boat trip was 10 pesos for ida y vuelta (round trip). We went down the river, passed an amusement park by the river, cute houses, jospedajes, and restaurants. You can flag the boat down from a dock. It´s like a bus..but on water. Going down the river was nice — so beautiful. It was har to believe that we were so close to BsAs.
Akù Akù was quite a ways down the river, and we were both so hungry. About an hour later, we arrived, hopped on the dock, and were greeted by a waitress. Akù Akù was quiet — only a few patrons — a cute restaurant that reminded me of beachy colors — aqua blue-green and bright yellow.
Angie and I sat outside on the patio. We both ate quite a bit and were so stuffed afterwards. I had some sort of chicken skewer with peppers and onions for about 20 pesos. This place was so perfect — quiet, a great view of the river, large trees surrounding us.
After lunch, we went out to the hammocks that were calling our names, took off our shoes and took naps in the sun with the sound of boats going by. We stayed there till the sun was starting to go down, then flagged a boat down to go back to the mainland. I think everyone else had the same idea, as the boat returning was quite full.
Tigre is the perfect getaway from BsAs! If I had known about it, I would have split the week up and spent a few days in Tigre instead of BsAs.
We went to the station, rode the train back to BsAs — standing room only. All the way back to BsAs, we thought about Munchis (ice cream). Our hunger for ice cream became so desparate, that, when we finally got to Retiro, we walked very fast over to Munchis. Definitely dam good ice cream!!!
Angie and I decided to take Florida back to Viamonte. We encountered a dance show – a man and his family performing. One guy danced with a little girl, about 5 years old. They did the tango and were awesome! The little girl was so cute. Whenever someone would give a tip, she would say where they were from. One tip was from a few old ladies from Israel, and the little girl said, ¨Las abuelas (grandmothers) de Israel.¨ The whole crowd laughed as did the ladies.
The next gourp of dancers were 3 people — 2 scantilly clad girls and a young man. They were shaking all parts of their body to a Brazilian dance. They were pretty good. And had some guts to wear the outfits they had on.
Tags: Buenos Aires, Travel
Marisa
August 13th, 2005 at 4:45 pm
Hey girl!!
You are having fun, having a nice time, and is costing you very little :); sounds like a perfect combo 😉
Regards from Mexico
August 14th, 2005 at 7:10 pm
Yes, I love your country!!! Maybe we can meet again when I return to BsAs at the beginning of Sept! 😉