Trip along the Delta

On Saturday afternoon we pay a trip to Tigre, 35km north of the capital in Buenos Aires province. I went to Tigre on a tourist train called the Tren de la Costa in 2007 the first time I visited Argentina, so we look up how to get there. We find out we can catch a train from Retiro near the Microcentro and change at Mitre before getting the coast train all the way to Delta, so we head to Retiro in a taxi.

Inside the huge and confusing Retiro station, we work out which queue we need to be in and wait before speaking to a ticket officer, who sells us a ticket for 2 pesos - unbelievably cheap. However, there's some problem with the train to Mitre and we can't actually get to the station to board the Tren de la Costa, so we eventually decide to get the train straight to Tigre from Retiro.

Unfortunately, the train suffers huge delays and it takes us two hours in a hot, sweaty carriage with no available seats before we eventually reach Tigre. I am convinced I can find my way to the Puerto de Frutos, the main market area from which all the boats along the Delta depart, but it turns out we've arrived at a different station from the one I came to in 2007 and I get us both lost. When will I learn?!

Half an hour and a trip to the tourist information office later, we arrive at the Puerto de Frutos, which has shops and stalls selling everything from wicker baskets to trinkets and lampshades. There are also coffee shops, cafés and restaurants. It's a scorching hot day and the whole of Tigre is absolutely heaving with people.

We pay for a boat trip with NatVenture and jump into a small vessel with a box of empanadas - small, fried, meat pasties - from a stall for lunch. We spend the next hour and a half travelling up and down the incredible Delta - a network of waterways amid marshland.

I am absolutely amazed by this place! The water is murky but apparently it's clean, as we see families, dogs and children bathing, swimming and frolicking in the Delta, with others sunbathing and picnicking happily on the riverbanks. 

Bathers in the Delta

There are speedboats, houses on stilts, hotels, a school and even colonial mansions on either side of the waterway and you can even stay here for a little holiday break.

A speedboat on the Delta

Our little boat takes us down a narrower waterway surrounded by weeds so that we can witness the wildlife, flora and fauna up close. The trip is a real eye-opener.

We finish up with a piece of brownie cake and a coffee in a little café before finding out way back to Delta station for the Tren de la Costa. The train dumps us at Olivos, where we discover an enormous antique market that only opens on certain days of the week. We have to get a taxi back to Palermo from Olivos and there's a little time to relax before dinner.

I had never been on the Delta before and it's definitely going to be one of my top recommendations for things to do in Buenos Aires!