Tigre and Delta Del Paraná
Article Date: Saturday, June 14, 2008
Written By: Russell Rawlings
The famed Pink Palace |
From Deborah L. Hildebran-Bachofen and Dan Martin
(Saturday, June 14)
On our way, we passed the Clock Tower which was a gift from
England. It is ironic that it was placed across from the Falkland
Islands Memorial for the soldiers who died in the Falkland Islands
War in 1982. We passed through neighborhoods on the northern part
of town where the wealthy families moved after an epidemic outbreak
in the early 1900s. They had their main houses there and then they
went to Paris for one season and then in the summer season, they
went to Tigre.
Since we had been talking about gauchos earlier in the week, our
tour guide described how the gauchos descended from the Spaniards
and Indian people. Their job was to take care of the cattle. They
had special clothing. They were not normally accepted in the city
and due to their clothing, they would stand out if they ever went
to the city. We passed by the University and our guide commented
that there are no dorms at the universities. We also passed by the
local soccer stadium which he said held 75,000 people.
On our way to Tigre, we passed along some of the neighborhoods
with beautiful houses that are located on the waterway. This is
where Christina, one of our delegates, had lived for a few years as
a child. We then went to the Cathedral at Isidro. It reminded me of
the Cathedrals in Europe. It was very beautiful to look and it had
stained glass windows.
We then arrived in Tigre for our tour. We boarded a boat which
was operated by the Sturla Company. We rode the boat down the
waterway and passed in front of the most beautiful building in the
town, which was built as a casino, but is now used as a museum. The
Paraná River Delta ends up flowing into the Rio de la Plata. On the
Rio de la Plata, which means "river of silver," the average depth
is about three meters. Argentine, in Latin also means "Silver."
When the Spaniards came to Argentina, their goal was to take the
silver from the land back to Spain. The Paraná River Delta is made
up of more than 5,000 waterways. The delta has a population of
about 3,000 permanent residents.
In the delta, the houses are built on platforms due to flooding,
much like our houses at the beach. One of the houses was a replica
of the summer home of Sarmiento, the prior President of the country
in the mid 1800s who was instrumental in the implementation of the
public educational system of Argentina. Since the people have
limited access to transportation, other than by water, there are
water taxis that pick people up if they wait on their docks. If
they need food, they place a grocery bag on their piers and a food
barge will come by. There were many rowing clubs along the
waterways.
We then left the water tour and ended up at the market where
many of the local artisans sell their goods. I ended up buying a
leather belt and a wooden flute. Many of the items were very
colorful and they were fun to look at. Overall, we had a great
outing and then we rushed back to the city. Some got dropped off at
Recoleta to do last minute shopping while others finished
sightseeing. Some bought suitcases in order to pack all the items
that seemed to multiply while we were there. My last meal was
really good at one of the local pizza shops. It was unusual in that
it had heart of palm, egg, ham, and tomatoes. At 6:00 PM Alejandro
Kazanietz met us again and we loaded up on the bus to travel to the
airport. (Deborah L. Hildebran-Bachofen)
A late Fall day in Buenos Aires . . . clear skies with a
temperature of 50°F . . . actually feeling more like 40 as the wind
is blowing about 20 MPH. But, a good day for several of our group
to be visiting Tigre and Delta Del Parana'. The remainder, well,
perhaps sleeping in a little, but looking forward to additional
time to explore the city and get in that required last day of
shopping.
The city enjoys extensive public transportation facilities, the
most impressive of which is the subway called Subte by Portenos
(local term for residents of the city). The initial subway was
constructed with help of the British in approximately 1917, and is
known as Subte A. The steel supporting systems are old style beams
and riveted instead of the more modern style I-beam with welds. The
cars in Subte A are still the original ones with beautiful, but
worn, wooden interiors. Under the supervision of a most
experienced former Bostonian (MTA rider), I rode the Subte A
from start to finish, ending at Plaza de Mayo. Great experience for
the price of 1 peso - 30 cents.
As is typical on any given day in Buenos Aires and Argentina,
upon surfacing from the subway in the Plaza, we were greeted
by demonstrations in front of the Pink Palace - the President's
office building. This is the same building containing the now
famous balcony where Eva Peron' made her speeches to the
people.
Meanwhile, the others who elected to stay in the city
today were on their shopping missions. Custom made leather
coats were going through the last fittings, paintings were being
eyed for the final decision and Tiffany's was dutifully invaded.
The last push was strong for two of our delegates (shoppers) to
determine the ultimate "super shopper" - good job Richard!
Realizing that our time was rapidly coming to an end in a
beautiful city, and in anticipation of a long, long flight,
the festive mood of our group was a little dampened as the time
approached for the final trip to the airport. We also were sad to
leave our guide, Alex, but did so with gifts and promises of return
to Buenos Aires. (Dan Martin)
End of Day 8 in Argentina