This is a brand new four-day holiday weekend for Argentina in conjunction Carnival. To kick it off, we spent a quiet Saturday catching up on some work and reading and then went to the amazing park a few blocks from here to relax, take in some sun and an amazing collection of people.

But today we will adventure to El Tigre about 28 km north of here. What makes Tigre especially interesting is that it is the jumping off point for the Parana Delta. We will catch the #130 bus shortly to the Retiro train station and then our first train ride — on to Tigre!

Here is a bit more of what we know to expect… more later.

It was a short bus ride to the Retiro train station. Our first thought was that the reports of a busy extended holiday weekend were exaggerated.

But as we made our way to the ticket counter, that thought was quickly dispelled. Two long lines extended outside the station. The lines moved quickly, the purchase (about 5,60 pesos  for two) went smoothly and we made our way to the tracks where this scene unfolded. It seemed like a large percentage of Buenos Aires’ 15 million residents had the same idea as us.

Once the train was in position with doors open, any concept of lines was broken as a rush to the front seeking a seat for the 45-60 minute ride ensued. Unfortunately, we did not play the game well and ended up standing. The train made its way through the city and out into the suburbs.

This was the scene as we left the train at El Tigre. We traveled in the last car so we had a unique vantage point.

We held the rear position as this mass of humanity made its way for several blocks to the amusement park, market, water-taxis into the delta, the casino and lunch. The group was like a quarter-mile human snake.

We stopped at the local tourist office and gathered some much needed intel. It was confirmed that the boat rides to the delta are reasonably priced with lots of options like how far and long you want to travel. The catch was, this weekend was a holiday so the wait times for tickets were exceedingly long. We decided to save that excursion for another day.

The river scene was amazing. This is one of my favorite shots.

And another…

Our destination was the popular market (mercado) in Tigre so we were able to follow the crowd to the entrance.

Along the way we stopped in the Casino, both for a bathroom break and to put a few pesos into the slots. The casino was familiar and similar to an American casino in setting and style. I mentioned earlier there are several things to do in Tigre.

Our 50 pesos ($12.50US) in the 25-cent machine lasted longer than expected, but the end result was to skip the buffet (about $12.50) and move on to the market.

Right next to the casino is the local amusement park which from the looks on some of the faces of the children (hijos) must be pretty cool. All we could make out from our vantage point was the roller coaster.

Following the crowd that had not dropped off on either the boat rides to the delta, the casino or the amusement park we found the entrance to the market. The market was large (grande) and the temperature rising as we wove our way through the vast market.

This market had a much different flavor than the ones we have previously visited. There were many small specialty stores much like you would think of in the United States. There were only a few fruit markets while there were scores of household item specialty shops. Kitchen, furniture and decorative shops were the most prevalent, along with a few leather shops, baby shops, a couple of nurseries, gift shops, etc.

The flowers (flores) below were one of the more popular items of the day. Lots of people purchased them and we were tempted. They were really well done, bright, and cheerful.

Waffles on a stick.This was the first time we had seen waffles this way. We tried one filled with apple (manzana) and it was tasty. The options were fruit filling or ham and cheese and others. Did I mention chocolate?

After shopping a while we decided to break for lunch. We found a small restaurant where we could sit at the bar. Menus are still difficult to fully translate.

Here are just a few more river scenes. The boats below are loosely called grocery boats and make their way up the delta to the various islands, restaurants and communities.

The river scene caught our attention because it is so unusual.

 

Our feet were sore and the afternoon was getting on so we decided to make our way back to the train station. I know some of you will be skeptical, but on the way Betsy suggested a quick stop in the casino for the bathrooms and 10 more pesos for the slot machine. This time we sat down at a $1 peso machine. It was literally a spin or two later that the machine started to flash and the Argentine man next to us got very animated, Spanish spilling like a waterfall from his mouth. We were clueless, catching only a few of his words. He became more animated in the next few seconds, his language faster and more intense. Finally he indicated we should push a slightly obscure button.

Oh boy! Now things were happening — the lights flashed and large “dollar” tokens, bigger and heavier than a 50 cent piece started pouring from the machine and making a banging noise that added to everything else going on. It was wildly exciting. Two hundred of these coins spewed out but in spurts of 10 or so, the man was laughing and we were laughing. He kept talking. The money tray was filling up. He indicated to Betsy she needed to do something. Well that something was to go get some of those plastic coin cups you have probably seen. Half understanding she took off to find one. Meanwhile we had drawn something of a crowd as Betsy returned with dos cups and we starting scooping. Coins were spilling on the floor as we scooped, everyone was laughing at our good luck, and we were having too much fun.

We spent another hour or so there and walked away with $188 pesos, enough for a good dinner. It is times like these that not speaking the language takes away from – and at the same time adds to – the experience. It would have been great to know what the man was saying. He was more excited than we were and it was contagious. It was all the more humorous that we had no idea what people around us were saying. The whole scene was hilarious.

Light-footed from our good luck, we made our way back to the train station but decided to take the #60 bus home instead. On the way we couldn’t help but notice this magnificent building.

The ride was long but brought us right to Avenida Sante Fe, a few blocks from our apartment. We bought some bread (pan) and a brownie and then stopped at the apartment briefly to put our feet up. About 9 pm we went to the local parrilla (grill) for some dinner.

We both had sandwiches that were delicious and decided we would come back again.

It is now Monday here, late in the afternoon (la tarde). We had a conversational Spanish lesson today with Azul, who is much fun, for about an hour and a half that was very helpful. We talked about restaurants, vocabulary, the alphabet and worked on pronunciation. Come to find out Mollejas on the menu above are a personal favorite of our young Spanish tutor and she insists they are not to be missed. She confirmed what we were learning — that in Argentina they eat all of the cow.