This weekend we had a quiet get away outside Buenos Aires. The city is located on a giant river called the Rio Plata. If you travel not far outside the city, you get to a delta of mangroves. We took a train to Tigre, a port on the river, and then we got on a little boat that took us an hour and a half up the river into the mangrove swamp. We stayed in a hostel in the delta for the weekend. Just outside our window was a huge pond with hundreds of frogs chatting with their different croaks. There was one type that sounded like rhythmic symbols, another had clapping sounds and there were at least four other different frogs mixed in with normal frog and toad sounds. It was quite a symphony that we listened to all night long.
Yesterday, after we got off the train and before we took the boat, we spent the day at Argentina's Disneyland. It a large amusement park in the town of Tigre. It hardly measures up to Disneyland but that is how they refer to it. It is more of a cross between a county fair and Six Flags. In the whole day we were only able to do four rides because the lines were so long. Xander and I waited for 2 hours for this crazy roller coaster where you hang under the car with your feet dangling and then you do some ups and downs and then do a cork 7 and go upside down again. We waited one hour for a bumper boat ride where each person had a round innertube with a little Suzuki engine. You could spin in circles and go full force and straight ahead into the other boats. It was pretty hilarious. The line was nutty because only 8 people could go at a time. Almost every time, someone got stranded out in the lake because their engine died and then the workers would hop in a boat to go rescue them. You can imagine how crazy it was. The third ride was a traditional bumper car and the fourth was a boomerrang roller coaster, again an hour wait. Don't tell the boys, but it was a pretty torturous day. They loved it though.
Today was a rainy day so we were mostly inside playing pool, ping pong, and hanging out. The boys went outside to play soccer for awhile and then they jumped in the river for a swim. The locals were raising eyebrows, but they loved it! I decided to stay dry and study Spanish.
They prepared a giant asado for lunch which is always perfect for the boys and not so perfect for the veg heads, but we make do! We have a tradition that I have an obligatory bite of every steak/lomo they have. I have to admit it is quite delicious! The boys are loving the Argentine asados......sausage, chicken, steak, ribs, intestines....all in one sitting. Veggies are optional.
As the day wore on, the river kept rising. Early in the day the water was about four feet below the pier. By the end of the day we were wondering how we were going to get out to the boat! The walkways and the stairs to the pier were under water! When it came time to catch the boat there was a lot of scurrying around and talk about boots. In a mad rush (the collectivos don't wait), they started pulling out plastic bags for us to put over our shoes and then they wrapped the bag around our legs with electrical tape. At this point the front pier was about a two foot deep wade out to the stairs so they directed us to the back pier.
We all laughed as we waded across the walkways to the pier in back where about 15 of us were waiting for the 5:00 boat. When we got to the pier all but six of us were asked to wait in the water because only 6 people could be on the pier at a time. This is one of those Argentine things. They are very good about following rules of capacity (except at futbol games). They won't put more than the allowed number in an elevator.....looks like the same goes for the pier.
