Tigre is a neighborhood about 40 minutes outside of Buenos Aires. Elizabeth, Jordin, Stacey and I took a Metra train from Retiro to Tigre the other day to explore this cute little city.
The four of us in front of the río
The unique thing about the town of Tigre is that a good amount of the homes are lined along a series of rivers. We started off the afternoon with a boat tour to have an opportunity to see all of these adorable homes. It took us down Río Lujan, and turned through some of the smaller paths throughout the tour.
The Museo de Arte (Art Museum) of Tigre, what a beautiful building!
This was my favorite home on the tour!
The homes in Tigre vary from residential boat homes to weekend or vacation lakehouses. They are very conducive to people who live there full-time, with things like colectivos/buses uptown so each family does not have to use their individual boats, and a "hospital flotante," floating hospital, as well as many community schools which we got the opportunity to see. Each house has a little dock where they park their boat (instead of their car), and especially with the vacation homes, most are named so you can identify them by their name and river instead of with a house number on a street. Rich families own their own islands, and there are a lot of public parks in between the homes that were very foresty.
A typical Tigre home
One thing the tour guide mentioned as the boat turned onto a richer river was how we had approached the line of homes with the best-functioning internet and electricity. It's cool that communities like this, specifically the residential aspect, still exist and that the town is as successful as it is. As touristy as some parts get, the people who live there must really respect a relaxed sense of living where water travel is prominent. I was very glad we took this boat tour to immerse ourselves into this world!
After the boat tour, we walked down Paseo Victoria, which lines Río Lujan, to see some of the things we saw on our tour again. We walked near a popular casino and Parque de La Costa, a large amusement park, but chose to return later for these attractions. One promising factor was that it only cost us 2 pesos round trip to Tigre (50 cents for a 45-minute trip each way) and the amusement park only costs 60 pesos ($15 USD) for adults. In the US, that would be $60 USD! Craziness. Tigre, because it's a far-out 'suburb,' generally has a lower cost of living than Buenos Aires (in terms of food and supplies, not necessarily boat materials).
The tour guide and the man preparing her mate the entire time.
Imagine that as your full time job- a mate server!
Speaking of mate, walking back from the river area, I noticed this huge mate sculpture and joked to Jordin that we should take a picture with it. We soon realized that it was the world's only mate museum, and it only cost 10 pesos to get in! An hour listening to this guided tour and lesson on mate history was an hour well-spent.
Upon walking in, in addition to just mate cups on display, we learned that there are 40 different types of calabazas, or gourds. The museum has been open for 33 years but the family that owns it began collecting the mates 40 years ago, so there was a phenomenal collection of mates from Europe and all over South America. These ranged from glass to animal-skinned, hand-crafted to chocolate, just about everything you could think of. The owner walked us through the museum with Spanish explanations on everything, and I was very impressed with our comprehension. They end the tour with an eight-minute video clip from the "Instituto Nacional de la Yerba Mate," which 1. exists, and 2. explained to us that mate provides you with potassium, vitamin B and magnesium! Why get caffeinated on coffee when mate is an option?! 
After the video, the owner walked us to his hut in the backyard that is lined with these mates. He built it himself, and said it only took a week but it took him forever to clean each and every gourd up here. What patience! As any successful museum, they ended the tour in the gift shop...where for only 12 pesos, I bought mate BREAD. This torta (cake) contains yerba (herbs), orange flavoring and sugar, so I was obviously in. It's pretty good, and is a great replacement for 5-hour energy shots (just kidding, but really). Too bad it's not more popular in Buenos Aires!
Me and the mate bread, the green color looks appealing, right?
After a nice ravioli dinner in the main area of Tigre, we went to "Waffles del Mundo" at the recommendation of the other girls on our trip. We saved up for this dessert: a waffle with dulce de leche, chocolate, bananas and cream. I don't think it gets any better than this.
Our postre/dessert of the evening :)
After a quick roam of Puerto de Frutas a market area on the port, it was time to take the train back to Buenos Aires! One lesson I learned from the commute there and back was the negative connotation of suburbs in large cities like Buenos Aires. We took a Metra train in and out, and the living conditions get progressively worse the farther you get. People who can afford to live in the city are fortunate. Being in Tigre for a day also reminded me of what it's like to live in a neighborhood rather than a city. It's nice to walk around without honking cars everywhere, with the lovely view of a lake at your disposal as well.
Tigre at night, what a peaceful town!
If you go to the traditional Fruit Market, you will find decorative articles in wood and cane as well as other items typical of the region. Lake excursions and the Coastal Park (an amusement park well worth a visit) are other attractions. This green oasis is only one hour from the city. I decided to get Argentina apartments and I used to go to the Tigre Island every weekend. It was close and I had a lot of fun, so why not?
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