by We got picked up by a mini-bus that took us and some other tourists to the start of the boat tour. Our boat had two levels and we chose to sit at the top as this had the best view and while the breeze was nice and cool at some points it almost blew us away. While the tour guide and the audio commentary describing our surroundings said that we were in a river it felt like the ocean as the river is around 220km wide, the widest river delta in the world. This river then narrowed and became another which had small colourful houses with jetties lining the banks. These houses ranged from $30,000 to $100,000 US in price. All of these colourful houses were built as holiday homes on the river which is their version of our beach houses. This is the Venice of Buenos Aires, there are no roads and as all the houses are only accessible by boat groceries and rubbish are transported via water. Along this river there is a museum which had a glass box surrounding a house which was the original house in the delta built in 1860 in the American style which was made out of timber. This box was built to preserve and protect the house from rain, humidity and wind. This was a really different side of the city.
After exploring the Delta we disembarked at the town of Tigre. The early settlers thought the native jaguars looked like tigers, hence the name of the town which was never corrected. We saw boats refueling at the dock, the extremely grand rowing clubs and had lunch by the river. It was a much wealthier part of BA than we had seen before.
San Isidro is 30km from the autonomous city of Buenos Aires and it ranks as Buenos Aires province’s most affluent neighborhood. The center of San Isidro is a historic area with cobbled streets and old single-story houses. At the heart of Plaza Mitre is the neo-gothic San Isidro Cathedral built in 1898.
