When you leave a city, there is always the wondering if it may be the last time you ever set foot in that place again. I somehow think Buenos Aires won't be that for me, I think I may be back through this huge hub of Argentina at some point in my future. I finished my time here with a day spent seeing another whole new side to this capital city. Early this morning I took he Subte from San Telmo to Retiro bus station (AR$1.10/€0.20) then from there, put the bags into a storage locker and took the suburban light rail (AR$4.25/€0.78) an hour north to the town of Tigre, the start of the huge Tigre Delta, an inland system of waterways & wetlands.
The Tigre Delta is home to a huge number of people who get too and from their homes by boat bus. It reminds me of a combination of Venice in Italy and somewhere like in Washington State. It's full of small houses, each with their own pier, with small boats tied up outside. Anyway, I took the boat on a 90 minute journey, 13km into the heart of the Delta to a early 20th century house and ecofarm. (AR$150/€30 for the whole trip)
There are geese, chickens, baby chicks, turkeys and a big friendly lazy dog wandering around the garden of the family who run the place. Only one of the people there speak English, the 13 year old son, who welcomes me and tells me that we'll be starting with a barbecue for lunch, Soon, a sizzling hot tray arrives with various cuts of beef and chorizo sausage. After a very long lazy time eating & doing some digesting whilst lying in a hammock, the horses make an appearance and we mount our horses for a leisurely walk and trot around a dusty track into the huge space they have as a back garden. The sun is blazing down and there's not a cloud in sight, nor even a breeze, so whenever the horse speeds up the cooling effect is a huge relief. Big colourful dragonflies, buzz around the small ponds and marshland areas and luckily there's no sign of any mosquitos. After the horse get us back to the stables, it's back to the hammock for a bit more chilling to the sound of hummingbirds buzzing in the trees above my head before a cup of tea and chunk of home made cake & a quick display of horsey skills by the owner. Back onto the boat and back to the gritty Retiro bus station before finally finding my bus to spend the night on. Heading due west to Mendoza now, the bright city lights fading behind me and the huge Argentinian pampas to cross and hopefully I'll have woken up a lot closer to the Andes and a whole new set of adventures.
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