El Tigre

Yesterday, I went with a group of my friends from the program to el Tigre. All of us, for various reasons, didn't decide to travel anywhere far away for the long weekend. Some of my friends had already planned this, so for me, it was spontaneous but so worth it.
The train Station at El Tigre


At the beginning, the forecast was for overcast clouds and rain. I brought my umbrella just in case.


El Tigre is the delta region of the Paraná. It is famous for its myriad islands and waterways, most which host tiny summer homes. Many people from Buenos Aires come to escape the heat of the city for el Tigre, where they can fish, sail, sleep, row, buy crafts, or even visit the amusement park. There are a lot of rowing clubs situated in the area and many have boats, kayaks and canoes to rent for a couple hours during the day. The other popular option is the take a catamaran/boat tour down the delta.









I, with two of my other friends, decided to go find a kayak to rent. We walked up and down the dock for about a half an hour, trying to find a place that would let us rent a couple of kayaks for an hour or two. Every place we went to said that all of their boats were reserved, blah, blah, blah. Finally, after following a couple of leads, we found a place that was willing to rent us some kayaks. We were only able to rent 1 single and 1 double kayak for 3 hours, (which was the minimum for about 200 pesos). We kayaked across the river into one of the myriad inlets, where we saw many summer homes and camping grounds. There was even a small lake off on the inlets, where a lot of people went swimming. I did not go swimming, despite the fact that my skirt was already damp, mainly because I like seeing the bottom! (the river is brown and murky, not because its dirty, but because of the minerals in the mud). I thoroughly enjoyed my day at El Tigre. (Although now my shoulders are sore because of all the kayaking). There was so much sun that I even got a flip-flop tan, which hasn't happened in ages. ;)






To leave you with some words from Argentine author Jorge Luis Borges about El Tigre: "no other city do I know that adjoins a secret group of green islands, which get lost at unknown waters of such a slow river that literature called it frozen..."