Tigre... a visual diary!

Tigre was a beautiful retreat from the hustle and bustle of Buenos Aires, from smog and horns to horizons and humming birds. Our first day brought its usual doubts and worries, but all of them came to nothing. We had a beautiful, relaxing and happy time. No crazy stories or insightful anecdotes in this blog, just a record, mostly visual, of our happy days.

The house we were staying in was just under 200 years old, beautiful original floorboards, wooden staircases and antique furniture. It wasn't quite what we expected a Bed and Breakfast to be, but then nothing here is quite as we have expected. We can not say a big enough Thank You to our host Julia (en espanol, pronounced 'Hulia') who welcomed us into her home, cooked for us, took care of us, taught us Spanish, and gave us a wonderful insight into Argentinian life. We found Julia and her bed and breakfast through helpx.net, we spent a couple of hours each day cleaning the bedrooms or sweeping the floors, hanging out the washing or helping to cook. It wasn't hard work at all. 

Tigre is very picturesque, its located in the banks and islands of the worlds 5th largest Delta, formed by the Parana river. It is by no means a small country town, in fact it's in no way separate from the urban sprawl of greater Buenos Aires, but it's streets are wider and tree lined, there are parks and gardens along the river and the pace is slow, especially during the week. Every second or third house seemed to be a 'weekender', you can tell the homes of locals by the two or three dogs in the yard... Have I mentioned the amount of dogs in Argentina? Strays and pets.... that is another story entirely!

The Town

Town Center

The flagpoles - on weekends the flag of each country is flown along the riverbank

James watching the crazy traffic. Only one collision!

Me, the train station in the background

The river in the center of town. The brown boats are like buses,
they service the houses and people who live in the delta.

Those trees along the riverbank are gum trees, a little bit of home.

The Delta

Parque De La Costa (Park of the Coast) is a big
amusement park on the bank of the river. We are
regretting that we didn't go, it looked like good fun!

All along the river bank there are the hulls of old, unused boats. These three
are in quite a good state.

The little jetties all belong to houses on the islands of the delta, a little
landing platform for each house, serviced by the 'bus boats'.

A rower on the river, there are many many rowing clubs. In this picture
you can see how built up the delta is.

Some of the houses are grand, some are not so.

This boat made me think of childhood,
and growing old. Imagine growing up with the
delta as your playground and a little boat in which
to spend the day.

There are many small barges on the river, carrying everything from timber to
garbage!

Eucalyptus!

I want this one!

One of the more grand houses.

The Parana River.

A view of Buenos Aires from the delta!

...and another.

I have no doubt that this photo will end up on www.AwkwardFamilyPhotos.com
It was so windy and cold and the sun was in our eyes!

Some people fishing from the hull of a rusted old boat.

Man and his dog. Jack Riley, when I took this photo I thought of you. Happy.

James and I after a feast of cheese and cold meats, which we later regretted,
at a funky little restaurant on the water front. The couch/table was made of an
old wooden boat!

The first 'Big Thing' we have found in Argentina!
Fittingly it is a giant 'Mate' gourd (pronounced
'Mah-tay'.) It is the drink of the nation, the locals
go and sip mate on the river bank in the evening.

The Asado!

 We were so lucky to experience a traditional asado, or barbeque, with our hosts. The food is cooked on a grill, under which is hot coals. Very Argentinian! So much meat, vegetarians, perhaps its best not to look!

Lighting the fire Argentina style, yes, that is a gas blowtorch...

Hungry? Guess how many people this meat is to feed.... Five people! Seriously!
All of this meat cost $190 peso, about AU$35. That is Walter, the chef, in the background!

Walter preparing the coals. Walter was the maintenance
guy at the bed and breakfast, he had fun teaching us to swear
in Spanish, beating me at chess and laughing at James
 when he was sick.

Walter, en chapilota (pain in the arse!) and Carlos, one of the guests at the
Bed and Breakfast, an ex-cop who told me that he is buying an island, this was
later clarified to be 'a block of land on an island'.

The cooking of the feast.

But the big bits of meat are still on the asado!

Our wonderful host Julia, who I will miss greatly.
She is a wonderful cook, a wonderful spanish teacher
and a beautiful person. I will also miss dear Gata Gorda
(Fat Cat) who managed to wrangle her way into our bed
for a few nights!

 Culinary Delights!

Julias dad came over to teach us to make candied nuts and easter eggs, then he made me 'Tortas Frittas', an Argentinian food, like a fried pastry, that is generally made on a rainy day. Delicious. We had a wonderful day!

Candied Nuts... mmmmm

On the boil!

Ingredients:

1 part sugar

2 parts nuts (raw almonds or peanuts)

8 parts water

Method:

Place all ingredients in a saucepan (or copper wok, as in the picture) and bring to the boil. Keep boiling and stir occasionally until the water has reduced to just a small amount. Keep the pot on the heat and stir vigorously, making sure the nuts don't stick to the bottom, until all of the water has evaporated and the nuts are looking quite dry (I noticed a bit of a burning smell, but not overpowering). When the nuts are looking mostly dry, a tiny bit of moisture left, tip them into a cold pot and remove from heat. Let them cool and then enjoy!!!

Candied nuts, the finished product!

Making Easter Eggs!

We may, or may not have eaten spoon fulls of melted chocolate in the process....

Tortas Fritas

An Argentinian delicacy. I didn't catch the recipe as it was all thrown together pretty quickly from memory, but you can find a recipe  here... Tortas Fritas. 

They were delicious.

Rolling out the dough.

Deep fried delicacy!

And a few treats from Australia!

Mmmm Pavlova, this one was almost perfect!

It was Julias Birthday while we were there, so we treated her with our
Australian family favourite... mud cake... yum!

We had such nice, relaxed time in Tigre it really was hard to leave. But here we are now in Rosario for a few days, and I have quickly fallen in love with this city too...