Tigre Delta

About 20 miles northeast of Buenos Aires is the Tigre River Delta. The delta is formed by the confluence of 5 rivers, where they flow from the Pampas to the Rio de la Plata. This marshy complex is full of silt and hundreds of tiny islands and is continuing to grow down the Rio de la Plata toward Buenos Aires. The Tigre Delta began development into a resort area in the 1870`s when the railroads were built.

Lina has a small house on one of the islands. She took us on a day trip for a picnic there yesterday. We took Lina`s car and a taxi to where she hires a boat to take her out to the island. We had to take the second vehicle as we had Magda and two new guests that had arrived yesterday. The new guests are friends and one lives in Brooklyn and the other on the Big Island of Hawaii. We stopped along the way to pick up a picnic lunch; a roast chicken, salad, and papas fritas (french fries).

We got on the boat and motored out to the island where Lina has her house. Many of the islands we passed had houses on them. We unloaded the boat and set up a table and chairs in the front yard. There were a couple of dogs who live on the island who joined us for lunch. They were pretty well mannered but eager to see what we brought to eat. We had a relaxing picnic with nice conversation and good food.

On the way back to Buenos Aires we stopped at a Panaderia that sold wonderful baked goods and coffee. The coffee here is very good. They serve it strong and very hot. We usually order cafe con leche (coffee with milk). This is about half coffee and half milk and tones the coffee down to what we are more used to. We got back to the hotel late in the afternoon. We had a few hours to rest before we went out dancing.