Life on the River

As mentioned in the previous post, we had scheduled two excursions on our day in Buenos Aires. The morning excursion was supposed to end at 11:45, and the afternoon excursion to begin at 12:30. We thought 45 minutes in between would give us enough time to dart back to the ship, grab a quick bite to eat, and then queue up for the next adventure. Unfortunately, that thinking didn't take into account that excursions typically run late and the meeting time for excursions are sometimes 15 or 20 minutes before the scheduled excursion time. We arrived back at the port from the morning excursion at 12 noon, and needed to meet at 12:10 for the afternoon excursion. So much for lunch.

Our afternoon excursion took us about an hour away from the city, where we boarded a catamaran for a cruise down the Parana Delta and River. Our tour guide's name for this excursion was Gabriel. That's right - Gabriela this morning and Gabriel this afternoon. We're surrounded by reminders of angels (Archangel Gabriel!). 

Our route from Buenos Aires to the town where we began our delta and river cruise took us on the Pan American Highway. This very long highway runs from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska to Ushuaia at the southern tip of South America. It is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest motorable road in the world. Fortunately we only rode on a small part of it today. When we got close to our destination, the area was very scenic.

We arrived at the small quaint town of Tigre where we boarded the catamaran. 

Our catamaran

The cruise took us through a stretch of small canals as we traveled to one of the world's largest deltas. Along the way, we enjoyed views of riverside homes, with many built on stilts and accessible only by boat. They reminded me of camps in South Louisiana, except these weren't getaway camps but homes where people lived. The way of life on the river would obviously be very different. For one thing, there are no roads; all transportation is by boat. Gabriel told us that they have electricity and gas (propane), but no drinkable water. They can use water from the river, after filtering it, for washing dishes, clothes, and showering, but even after filtering, it's not safe to drink. They have to buy bottled water for drinking. Fortunately there are supermarkets located on barges along the river where they do their shopping, which they travel to and from by way of boat. Also along the waterway are libraries, schools, and parks. The children's transportation to school is by way of, not school bus, but school boat. 

School "bus" boat

School

View of Buenos Aires

Marsh - reminded me of South Louisiana

When we were on the boat, we were told that there was a lot of activity on the water as people were preparing for the upcoming holiday weekend. Tomorrow (Friday) is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception - a Catholic holy day - and is a national holiday in Argentina (and maybe all of South America). South America is very Catholic, and so it is not unusual for a Catholic holy day to be a national holiday. Gabriel said that they love their holidays (who doesn't), and that they have 3 day weekends every month or so. 

When we were back on the bus for the return trip to Buenos Aires, Gabriel told us about a drink that is very popular in Argentina and some other South American countries. This drink is called mate (pronounced ma-tay). It is drunk from mugs, or gourds, typically made of ceramic or stainless steel. Dried and grounded leaves are placed into the mug. Then hot water from a thermos is poured over the leaves. It is very similar to tea this way. The mug has an attached metal straw, and the mate is drunk from the straw. The drink is very high is caffeine. The drinking of mate is a social activity, and it was very common in Argentine culture to share mate with a friend, passing the cup back and forth. But during Covid, sharing of mate was forbidden and each one drank from his own mate cup. 

Gabriel demonstrating mate

Also, Gabriel was passing out water bottles on the bus. However, the water bottle looked a little different than a typical water bottle. Here's a picture of it.

Care for a carton of water?

While we were on the catamaran, we were given a ham and cheese sandwich. It was exactly like one that we had been given on the flight from Rio to Buenos Aires. However, when they gave it to us on the flight, they didn't say what it was. It was wrapped in cellophane, and they just handed it to us with a granola bar. Since it doesn't look like a typical American ham sandwich, we weren't sure what it was. It almost looked like a sponge or wash cloth. We didn't know whether to eat it or wash our face with it. We finally figured it out when we saw everyone eating it, knowing that they do things differently from us, but pretty sure that eating wash cloths was not one of those differences. 

Seriously, would you eat this or wash  your face with it?

And speaking of flights, the Rio and Buenos Aires airports are a little unusual in their configurations. Getting to and from the gate for your flight requires a lot of walking. So there's nothing unusual about that. However, almost all of the walking goes through one long - really long - gift shop. There is a colored walkway or path from the gate to the baggage claim area that winds around, twists and turns, and takes you through this whole long gift shop with merchandise on your left and right. (Follow the yellow brick road!) We think that the airports are not really airports in South America, but rather are shopping malls that happen to accommodate a few gates for flight arrivals and departures. 

Our time in Buenos Aires has come to an end, so we took one final picture of the city of Buenos Aires in our rearview mirror, so to speak. Here's a beautiful sunset picture of the capital of Argentina, taken from the cruise ship as we were departing. 

"Don't cry for me Argentina" (from Evita)