Day 4 - Thursday November 23, 2023 - Thanksgiving Day - On Our Own in Buenos Aires

 

The tour company we're using, Odyssey Unlimited, gave us a 'free day' here in BA. We knew this in advance and after playing on the internet for a while, I found a tour on the Get Your Guide website that looked interesting. They called it "Tigre Delta". It was a small group tour which provided hotel pickup at 9:15 am this morning and took us by bus (there were 10 of us) to the boatyard in BA. We boarded a boat that took us and many others from other tour groups on a ride of the Rio de la Plata. The boat ride on the Plata river was about an hour and then we reached the Delta region of Buenos Aires Province. It's like saying Maricopa county instead of Phoenix. It's the outskirts of BA.

The boat ride continues through a series of narrow channels and islands which is a popular weekend getaway for BA residens and also is an everyday home to thousands of islanders. You can only reach these islands by boat. The scenery is very different and you get to see the houses they live in along these quiet channels (during the week).

This is much like going to the beach for the weekend in NJ. Everyone crowds these islands for the weekends. But today being just another week day here it was relatively quiet.

We landed in Tigre. There is what our guide referred to as the 'continental' Tigre vs. the islands of Tigre. What she meant was that you can actually reach the 'continental' Tigre by car, bus or train. It's connected to the rest of Argentina.

We all stopped at a restaurant for the 'included' snack and a drink of empanads. I've had quite a few since arrival. They're hand pies; savory, not sweet. So, dough which is wrapped around a filling of choice. Mostly they are beef empanadas. Today we had beef and cheese and onion. The flavor is in the restaurant's ability to season the meat. Some, obviously more flavorful than others. We've had some with a sauce but today, the restaurant provided only olive oil and balsamic vinegar. For my northern friends, you might think of pasties. The restaurant we went to was historical in that it belongs to the Italian Rowing Club of Tigre City. With all the water here, rivers, channels, etc., rowing is very big with more than 10 rowing clubs competing against each other.

From the restaurant, by bus, we went to the "Fruit Market" which didn't really sell much fruit at all. I only found one stall that had any fruit. The name goes back in time to when they did sell a lot of fruit. Now it's more of a bazaar where locals shop for home goods and souvenirs. Mainly the different stores and vendors sell home goods. This area is known for their wooden products as well as a lot of wicker products made in this area. We browsed for about a half hour but I couldn't see me trying to bring back a chair on the bus or get it on the plane home.

We made one last stop at Victoria Avenue and their coastal walkway that borders the Lujan River. We took a short walk through the gardens that surround the Tigre Deliberative Council and the Tigre Art Museum. This is just the beginning of their summer; actually summer begins December 21st; our first day of winter. The gardens were pretty but not much in bloom with only perennials to see.

Tigre spelled backwards is Tigre :)

Bench #2

At the end of our little walk, the bus took us back into the city of BA and dropped us at our hotel.

Tomorrow is a very early morning. Our 4 am flight to Ushuaia requires us to leave for the airport at 1 a.m. We meet in the lobby tomorrow morning at 12:45 am and load up for the airport. We have a 3 1/2 hour flight to El Calafate with a 50 minute layover and then another flight to Ushuaia. We arrive at 9:25 am and will have breakfast together as a group. We have free time until we board the ship for the next four days.

I'm told that we'll have no internet on the ship which will be interesting. I'm thinking I might have cellular reception at the "end of the world " and may be able to use my phone as a hot spot. Only time will tell.

So it's early to bed tonight and early to rise for certain.