Bomberos de Tigre

I haven't posted a blog for a while, I've been too tired after big days out. Also, I came down with gastro for a few days last week. It was not fun at all. I'm ok now, and have been walking around 10 kms a day since around the town. 

The places here are magical at night time. So many lights and sounds. We are in a very nice hostel in the middle of the city, where it's quiet and peaceful. I booked in on very short notice. The place we were staying at before was a hostel on the other side of the city and a complete dump and the other guests were very inconsiderate of anyone but themselves and thought it would be a great idea to start a party at 2pm while we were trying to sleep. Needless to say, we left the next day and got this great place.

But that is neither here nor there. The main reason that I wanted to post a blog was because I had a very special day last week. I went to the Tigre Sociedad Bomberos Voluntarios. Thats Tigre Volunteer Fire Brigade in English. It was AWESOME!. I walked up off the street, and with limited spanish tried to explain to the man I met that I am a volunteer firefighter back home.It turned out that the man I was speaking to was the Chief of the fire station, Comandante Mayor Rodolfo Sebastian Vandolino, and he was more than happy to show me around. He asked me about the Australian fire brigades and I asked him about the bomberos and stations in Argentina. Some of the things I found out were really cool. There are 70 bomberos in the stations around Tigre, and there are four stations in the municipality. When they get a firecall, their mobile phone rings and sends a message. They also have a siren, which we could hear from where we were staying.

When I was talking to him he showed us the Command Center of the whole Municipality. He showed the button that is used to sound the siren. When he pointed to it he made a sign of the hair on his arms standing up, patted his heart, and then pointed to his ear. I laughed and said the word 'Adrenalin!' and he laughed too and said 'Si, si, adrenalina!' Some things are the same the world over. 

He showed me over the trucks, which are enormous when compared to any fire fighting truck in Australia, he showed me the turnout room where they use the same gear as we do at the station at home, only a different colour. And I tried on Argentinian BA, which is very heavy and old when compared to an Australian set. Funnily enough the same company supplies them and the CFA. 

Most of the time we used hand signals and gestures, as well as my limited Spanish, however Google Translate is fantastic in situations such as this!

I went back the following week as I thought that he had invited me back, he had, but just not on the day that I rocked up! He meant the next week... Google Translate Fail... It was okay though, I met the administration officer, a lady who had been working at the station for around 8 years, and could speak English. She told me that Rodolfo was out but she made a phone call and told him that I was there, he promptly came down to the station, from his home, to see me, which made me feel great. Unfortunately we couldn't do anything, like visiting the other stations, like he wanted to, but he sat with me for another two hours while we talked about fire brigade. Before I left, again, that day we promised that if I return to Tigre he would cook me a parrilla with all of the bomberos. Hopefully as my Spanish improves, I will be able to call him up and arrange it when we come back to Argentina towards the end of our travels. That would be fantastic. 

Below are some photos that Brenna took on our first visit to the station. Brenna didn't come with me the second time I visited, 2 hours of fire brigade talk was enough for her!

Tigre Sociedad Bomberos Voluntarios - a very impressive building to look
at from the outside, however when you go inside it is just like any other
fire station (apart from the grand ballroom on the top floor!)

The turnout gear in the turnout room, all bomberos
wear the same gear, however the Chiefs wear a white
helmet, the sub officers wear a yellow helmet and the
bomberos wear red. The helmets are the same as the
one I have back home.

This is a close up of the big Ford 300 that the Chief gets around town in. Its
also used as a support vehicle for big fires to get supplies and take bombers
to the call.

Me inside the American style ambulance which was
donated 3 years ago to the brigade from a brigade in
America. They take this out mostly to fire calls and
some medical emergencies. Ironically the ambulance
station is next door to the fire station.

A line up of some of the American big rigs.  The truck on the far right was
also donated by a brigade in Florida, USA.

The ambulance looks more like a truck and is much bigger when compared to
the DAF water tender which holds 18,000 liters.

A beautiful old Mercedes Benz, at least 40 years old and still in service. Its a
pity I couldn't go out for a drive in it.

The giant grand ballroom on the top floor of the building, above the trucks.
It is used for weekly dances, weddings and other community events. It can sit
300 people, with standing room for another 200.

Rodolfo and I in our "station gear". I wore my CFA
shirt which I then gave to him. He was very happy
at this gesture.

In return he gave me this commemorative flag, the 100 year anniversary of the
Tigre Bomberos, and a trophy which is given to all brigade members. I felt
very proud and honored to be given this.

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...