Chaqueno Palavecino....going to be at the Festival of San Antonio de Areco

Roxana Suarez y Sebastian Achaval - Blog not taking text...sorry, but here is video from our Milonga

Burn

Burning the Post Midnight Oil in Buenos Aires

Los Cardones, the corner 'pub' where Folkloric Argentinean music and dance are 'on the menu' after about 10 p.m.

Midnight, and the kids are still texting, whilst their parents sing along with the popular chacareras and zambas

Feeling peckish? No problem, Buenos Aires Pizzas in all their richness are available ANYTIME - no closure of the kitchen even at 1 a.m.

Zamba, the favourite folkloric dance of rural and urban Argentina

They can sing, they can play, they have rhythm, and the lyrics are always concerned with 'corazon' - the heart.

The bandoneon is an integral part of tango, but it features often in folkloric music as well.

Starting to look like most Argentineans: a little tired, baggy eyed, and yawning...between tango and folklorico late nights are stacking up.

Back in the Buenos Aires Groove



Playing tourist guide to friends, a couple from California, we strolled the obligatory alleys of Caminito in La Boca. La Riachuela, a side arm of the Rio Plata, is still thick and mucuous as oil and crammed with junk underneath these bridges, and fills the air with the typical la Boca odours. But, the street scene of tango, open air food, chacarera dancing and tourist shops carries on despite the somewhat cool spring temperatures.



Heading to Plaza Dorrego in San Telmo, this lovely church facade rises on one side of a narrow street

.....and opposite, a typical tango orchestra entertains the passers by.

The Jardin Botanico, Botanical Garden, is pleasant and springlike now. Water lilies bloom, and most of the stray cats have been adopted - so it says at the entry gate anyway.

Calle Florida, the main pedestrian street downtown Buenos Aires is actually walkable now, that all the underground piping has been replaced, the manteros (illegal vendors spreading their blankets filled with good on the ground) have disappeared to parts unknown, planters on rollers insert small islands of green on this mile long shopping paradise

Instead of frequenting one of  the dozens of tango shoe shops in the city and its suburbs, I have now progressed to receive a personal invitation to a fabrica artesanal de zapatos de tango. Meaning, the man who makes my shoes to measure, lets me design my shoes, select colour and leather type, and height of heel right there in his work shop. Hard to decide with so many choices available. But that footwear fits so well, that an hour after picking up new shoes, one can dance in them for hours without a single pinch or blister anywhere.
And the price is right as well.....

All shapes, all sizes, all colours...shoe forms to mould soft goat leather or thicker cow leather, or maybe some lacy and colourful material into elegant shoes.

Various shapes which are used to cut leather to cover high heels

The first taxi break down...new car as well....

And an example of some of the little master pieces the master shoe maker creates, one pair at a time

Tigre Delta Farm

Before heading back to Togre Marina, cruising through another watery path amongst
islands and confluences, we wandered across the 'pasture' of Andres 'chacra'.



After last week's flood, the neighbour's sheep have joined Andres' small livestock herds: consisting of a retired race horse and a few half wild criollo horses as well as a couple of very tame ponies. His cattle aggressive as most Argentinean bovines, were relegated safely 'to the hinterland' of the farm, where they would not be tempted to gore any visitors. 



Much of the pasture was littered with fallen tree trunks and half rotted stumps. Floods and storms take their toll, and delta farmers keep clearing their pastures. Most of these islands are bowl shaped, with the lowest above water level right in the centre of them.

Yellow Iris, bane of pasture land and common weed

As soon as our little troupe turned up in the field, this little character jumped every tree trunk in sight to join up and be petted. Followed us around like a little dog, with his moist nose nudging everyone to get attention. What a hairdo!!!

No Wake, almost no shoreline, but still trees and green grass. A slow 'drive by' of a neighbour's front yard, before returning to Tigre proper and a drive back to Buenos Aires.

Picnic in Tigre Delta



Our Destination, a small 'Chacra' (farm) of about 40 acres located in a little remoter region of the Delta Islands. I sported an outside, covered open air patio to host guests and eat meals. One prepares to 'matear', drink the local strong Mate tea, and thus work up an appetite for a few 'picadas', things to pick at.



Historic family photos and an old Singer sewing maching stand in one corner. The whole patio is enclosed by a hip high wall without any entry openings. As the islands flood frequently, these 'rooms' are protected at least to the upper level of their enclosure.



El Trebol, the Clover Leaf is the name of this island home and farm. Just a week ago, these grazing field was innundated, despite the sizeable dam all around it.

Wetland cactus. At the bushy base it appears like a skinny leafed Century Plant, and its large six foot high flower stem looks like a massive bouquet of daisies. Go figure...



The dock at El Trebol, wooden stairs leading to the little boat (left, suspended between poles away from the dock) are fortunately only halfway under water.



Andres, who inherited his little house in the Delta (not quite Prairies or Pampas) from his parents. He renovated it and added a few conveniences, such as running water and inside plumbing. He pumps river water (hmmmm)  into a barrel on the roof of his house, where he adds unspecified chemicals to kill the bugs - I guess. After filtration it flows into this tank, and then is pumped to points of use, like the kitchen sink and the bathroom.
Easy to maintain, as all the pipes and wires and bits and pieces are fully visible.

Old tractor amongst yellow Iris. Yellow Iris is a detested weed here, it grows as abundantly as Broom on Vancouver Island, and is almost disliked as much.

Picadas...home cured ham, sugared carrots with ginger flakes, olives, cheese, tomato and home made salami. Andres showed photos of his salami making process, performed with old home tools and looking gloriously obscene - tasted great, though.

And as desert - a little tangocito....

It could not be simpler, it could not have been a warmer reception. Nothing but bird song and greenery around, interrupted by the odd growl of a passing boat along the adjacent Delta channel, a little Arienzo tango music, good food and a Quilmes, pleasant and agreeable companions. Life is good.

Tigre on the Rio Plata - cruising through Delta Channels

No 'Mind your Wake' in this neck of the woods. We charged along narrow channels of brackish brown water - the Rio Plata is starting to mix with the waters of the South Atlantic here. Surprisingly tall trees and lush underbrush grow on the myriad of islets of the Delta, many of them forming verdant tunnels overhead.

It is unbelievable, that these constant and agressive wakes do not erode everything in site along shore....

Typical island home and dock in Tigre Delta. The channels have names, just like streets on land, and most houses have a name. I suppose that is how the delivery boats find their customers. There are tidal influences as well as wind influences on water level. Most front yards appear barely above water level, any encroachment of global warming may cause them to disappear altogether. Houses are built on stilt, and the 'basement' usually serves as storage for kayaks, canoes and various items not suffering from a bit of water logging every so often.

Delivery barge slowly churning its way through the waters

One who did not make it, rusting wreck in a small side arm of a channel. Note reeds growing out of brown water, indicative of it shallowness.

Coca Cola, bottled water....customers buy by tender on the right and from their docks at the left. Boats, when not used to embark or disembark, are suspended by lines between two poles, to avoid being damaged by constant wakes crashing the boats against the docks.

As in every community, land or river based, there has to be a little church. It must be pretty interesting on a Sunday, when neighbourhood faithful arrive with their watercraft for Sunday Mass.

Not to be forgotten: The Beer Barge....Quilmes here we come....

Quite magical, these narrow channels, with their towering trees and glimpses of blue sky.

Tigre Waterfront Fruit Market

Tigre, the Tiger, the little town an hour's drive away by car or a little more time by 'historic' train. The town's claim to fame is as a place, where everything is either on the water, on an island, or beside the river side. As thousands of people seem to store and use their boats on the vast maze of channels between thousands of islands of the delta, these watercraft need to be stored somewhere. One sees the rare sailboat, but people mostly own powerboats, as the channels are shallow.
In order to store and launch these many boats, there are multi storied 'warehouses' along the waterfront, all with little coops, where boats are stocked like pallets in a Costco store. When an owner needs his boat, it is taken from its spot by forklift, and put alongside one of the small docks in front of the 'warehouse'. Each launching costs a fee, in addition to storage costs. But, it saves dock space and keeps boats safe when not in use.



The Tigre Fruit Market, a tourist attraction in itself, offers everthing from said fruit to almost any requirement in a normal household, during construction of a home, tools, artesans products, clothing and so on. It is the central supply for people living in the Delta, who need to have everthing they require delivered via small barge. There are even floating grocery stores, beer stores, which barge from house to house to do water based trade.



As there is not much 'entertainment' for Delta residents, being cut off living on theirs islets, many resort to producing various products, which are sold at the 'Fruit Market'

Prices for these artisan products, such as wooden spoons, spatulas and so on - whatever can be made - are very low as compared to Buenos Aires stores. Here for instance, one spoon or one spatula costs the equivalent of $Can 1.50 - at the 'blue market' rate....it would be $Can 2.50 at the Government regulated official rate.

Stores are not fanciful or 'touristy', and displays are practical if sometimes rather chaotic. Mate drinking cups, the preferred vessel to sip the ever present pick-me-up herbal tea, are sold here right from the man, who scoops out the gourds and turns them into cups.

Between ware houses, and storefronts, there are glimpses of one of the main channels of the Delta, where delivery barges load their wares and head out into the confusing web of water ways.



Please don't touch - it says. I am not sure whether this ancient piece of machinery displayed on the Fruit Market was used as a type writer or a grape press



Modern times have left their mark on the blank and windowless sides of the warehouses. Instead of presenting a bare featureless wall to a pedestrian, local artists have left their imagination free rein, as can be discerned by this mural of a lady with four arms caressing an elephant and a rhinoceros

Our canine friends are never absent, and this old doggie citizen quietly dozes away his days of retirement from active street dog life, to a life of being cared for by his human neighbours. This one rests on a bunch of carpet cut offs, under a stone bench beside the river, well provided with soft food and lots to drink.

All aboard, for three of us...friends from California had invited me to this side trip into Tigre and its famous Delta. There were only three of us, led, cauffeured and navigated around by a local Delta man, who works as a private guide, is a tango aficionado and lives on one of the many islets here on a 40 acre intermittently flooded farm with horses and sheep.
His name: Andres Miguel 
www.tangodelta.com.ar
Just in case anyone needs a city tour, estancia visit, delta cruise....

Next instalment: where did we go on our little boat?

San Isidro, pleasant suburb of Buenos Aires

Off for a day into the back country, meaning the 'suburbs' of Buenos Aires. First destination a little ton called San Isidro, one of the more wealthy areas of Buenos Aires. Years ago, most houses here were used as 'country cottages' by the Buenos Aires nuevo ricos. Now, it is a sleepy little town, which takes it's name from Saint Isidore, Patron Saint of Farm Workers




Beside San Isidro, the first Governor of the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) made his home - guess where - here. It may have been a little too chilly for him over on the remote Atlantic Islands. Well, that was almost 200 years ago, and global warming may have made them a little more attractive. 

San Isidro, Labrador. This is not our Canadian Labrador, but there must be a connection somewhere



typical example of one of San Isidro's historic country cottages, this one belonging to the first Governor or the Falkland Islands, Luis Vernet.



Lovely Courtyard tiled benches and adorned windows

Courtyard Well

Well, we are on our way to Tigre, a little town at the shores of Rio Plata. The River, almost 200 km wide at its mouth, meanders through a large Delta, dotted with thousands of flat islands. A paradise for birds, and until the last 'tigre' - leopard - was killed a couple of decades ago, the magnificent creatures roamed the delta as well. Is is now a Sunday excursion destination for pleasure and relaxation seeking Portenos, as well as home for many Argentineans, who do not mind commuting by water.
That's for the next segment...