The River and Frogs
Trip Start
Feb 10, 2006
1
25
32
Trip End
May 31, 2006
Tigre, Buenos Aires,
Argentina
Friday, April 14, 2006
We woke up early Sunday morning and headed toward the Tigre Delta, one of the many areas in Buenos Aires visited by local and international tourists. We travelled by bus and then train, which altogether amounted to a 1.5 hour trip. The day was sunny and the weather was neither hot nor cold, and our spirits were high so it was a fun trip on the public transportation system.
We got to Tigre Train Station, which was not like other run down stations I had seen before in various parts of the city, rather a new construction which was well mantained. The mere architecture off the place depicted river-life. Ed and I commented on how we felt we were in another country, and moved on to find out why.
Outside the train station, which seemed to be an important point in town, was the Rio Tigre exalted with a catwalk of flags from all over the world. There was a police officer guiding traffic so that tourists could cross the street and unto the stone bridge over the river. There were trees and flowers everywhere, not growing freely, but put there by a master-hand at landscape and gardening. The grass was trimmed to perfection, all at the same level, no patches left untouched. There was no garbage lying around, no bottles or papers left behind. I instantly knew this was not the confirmation of a change of attitude in all people towards littering, but rather on a more rigorous and disciplined cleaning system in Tigre.
01 Please stop taking pictures of everything I do!
The architecture was unlike I've seen in Buenos Aires. The high apexed roofs of the houses and buildings that peaked out from the tree tops in the distance, reminded me of old summer river towns. As we later found out, that was exactly what it was.
As we crossed the stone bridge, one of the first thing I noticed as Ed was busy trying to get a perfect picture, was the horrible contaminated smell of this river. As I watched two young girls rowing in unison down the stinky murky waters of the Tigre River, I thought how much they must love to row.
Covering our noses and breathing in through our mouths as much as we could, Ed and I crossed the bridge to the west end of the river bank, to inquire about guided boat trips on the small canals and rivers of the Delta. We were directed to the east bank and so we moved quickly trying to escape the stench (we later found it was unescapable).
Just our luck, a one-hour boat excursion was leaving in 15 minutes, giving us enough time to go buy a cold beer for the river ride. For some reason, no one was selling beer that day, we hurried from shop to shop until we stopped at a bar that sold us two cans for 10 pesos. We couldn't believe how expensive that was but we also really wanted a cold beer, so we paid the lady who robbed us, and hurried back to the bank.
The closer you got to the water, the more horrifying the smell was and I started to wonder how we were going to survive the one-hour boat ride. As we waited, I commented to Ed how the putrefying smell of the water ruined the sights, the cleanliness and the landscape of Tigre.
02 Tigre Train Station
It's definitely something that all five senses have to enjoy. Our boat arrived and we boarded together with the other local and foreign tourists that had paid the cheap 9-peso fee for the ride. There was a nice looking tour-woman with a microphone ready to welcome us aboard, but the microphone was cracking her up. Ed and I looked at each other remembering the dreaded tour guide from Foz Iguazu in Brasil, who had started out the tour with the exact same annoying problem with the microphone. In our case, history did not repeat itself, as this tour guide quickly fumbled with the cable and resumed her welcoming speech.
I held my nose during the first 15 minutes of the ride on the Tigre River. Suddenly the river forked in two and the dark murky water together with its´ stench disappeared. It's not like it disappeared gradually though, you could actually see the dividing line between the clean water and the contaminated water, like they wouldn't mix. And so we drove down Rio Lujan.
As the woman spoke, I learned that Tigre had been exactly what I had come to realize: a summer river town for the elite and wealthy. She also mentioned that it had been and still is an important rowing town. The first rowing clubs were started here, mainly by cultural communities. The Italian, Swiss and German Rowing Clubs for example all had imposing rich architecture displayed on the club houses. This was another way for them to compete against each other, I assumed. These rowing clubs still exist today, and to be able to row down the river with the coat of arms of a certain rowing club, you had to be a member.
03 Brave Rowing-Girls
So I guess it is still very elitist. We drove past a casino that was under construction with a very Mississippi dixie charm to it. I imagined Scarlett O´Hara standing on the terrace overlooking the river during a Confederate party.
We sailed out of the Rio Lujan and made our way into narrower canals leading to private residential houses, which looked like a rural Venice. The homes were all built high on wooden columns to escape flooding. Most houses were small and simple but very picturesque, with their perfect gardens and small docks. I learned that some of our founding fathers had houses in these banks. Presently, although these are mainly weekend houses, there are families who live here all year round. There are schools which the kids go to on a school-ferry (instead of a school bus). Signs of everyday normal river life were everywhere, like a gas station on the water to fuel up your speed boat. There was even a park designed by Charles Thays, a famous 19th Century French landscape artist, well known for his landscape design in France and Buenos Aires.
We sped by families having their Sunday asado (BBQ) out in the garden while taking up some sun. I imagined how nice it must be to have a weekend home by the river, but then remembered how much I hate mosquitoes, so quickly discarded the thought.
The ride was over quickly and we were suddenly back in the black decayed stench of the Tigre River. We asked the tour guide why it was so contaminated and she answered that this river drags residue upstream from a lot of other neighborhoods and it all ends up here, so this is where the contamination is worse.
04 View from the Bridge
I noticed graffiti protesting against the water pollution and signs calling everyone to keep the river clean. After our boat ride, we decided to head over to the Mercado de Frutas (Fruit Market)well known for its flowers, fruit and artistry. The market was filled with people so it was really very hard to walk. We were very hungry so we were on our way to buy some fruit, when we saw a bunch of people with ice cream cones, and decided that would probably be better for lunch. So as we walked around with our semi-melted ice cream cones, I remembered what I had come to find in the first place. I asked around for some directions and after walking for what seemed forever we found the spot I was looking for.
My sister Paula has wanted little albino water frogs forever, so I was going to buy them for her and surprise her. The little froggies were no bigger than my toe nail, so I got her two. They were passed from the little tank unto a plastic bag with some oxygen and off we were.
We started our journey home with our froggies and I was careful not to move them around too much so they wouldn't get stressed. Ed slept all the way back to downtown Buenos Aires while I observed the cute little albino frogs. It was already getting dark, so we decided to stop off first at Paula's apartment to give her the surprise and then head back home.
She loved them and I helped her put them in a glass vase that would serve as their home until she got a proper tank for them the day after. The frogs were definitely stressed so we tried to feed them with the food I had bought for them, but they didn't want to eat, so we left them alone to get accustomed to their new home. We added a few blue marbles so that the vase didn't look too empty.
It was a long day so Ed and I quickly said goodbye to Paula and Ignacio, and started to get on the move on again towards home. Our beds and a good Sunday-night movie was waiting for us. After I got the river-stench out of my hair of course.
