We decided to go to the "countryside" of the Buenos Aires Province - Tigre. It is a day trip distance from the city Buenos Aires and it's reachable by train from the city. It is a town sitting next to the Rio Lujan, with historic museums and nice scenery. It is not only a tourist attraction, but a relaxing weekend day trip for locals. There are two train routes to get to Tigre. You can take the Linea Mitre Train, starting from Retiro Station to Tigre Station, or you can take the Tren de la Costa (train of the coast). In order to take the Tren de la Costa, you will need to first take the Linea Mitre train to the Maipu Station, then change to the Tren de la Costa and take it all the way to the final stop Delta. It is a little more expensive to take the Tren de la Costa, but the name probably already gives it away that the train ride is along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. There is a little ocean view and it is a pretty nice train ride, so I would recommend taking it one way and taking the simpler route the other way. Seven out of the eleven stations are original, and these stations have history, art displays, and entertainment.
Tigre is Tiger in Spanish, and apparently in the early years, tigers were hunted in the area, hence the name. There are Boat/Bus tours of the area, and it was quite nice. It brought you to different museums and attractions of the city, such as museo de arte, museo naval de la nacion, etc, It is definitely a beautiful place to walk around on a Saturday/Sunday. One thing to keep in mind, Monday is a bad day to go there, because everything is closed! Guess how we found out? We went on a Monday! We couldn't get inside of the museums and there are very limited activities on that day. Bummer..... Still, it was a nice day.
On the way back to the city, we took the Tren de la Costa, which passed by the Chinatown in Buenos Aires (Belgrano). We took a little walk around to see what the Chinatown looks like in Buenos Aires. I was very surprised to see a Chinatown in South America because I didn't know there is a Chinese population here. I guess Chinese are everywhere. (lol) This Chinatown also has the typical Chinatown "gate", and a few blocks of Chinese restaurants and stores. That night, we planned to go to a Tango show. Well, Tango originated in Buenos Aires, how can we not go! There are a few places people recommended, and we went to this place called "Cafe de las Angelitos". It is around USD 80 - 90 per person and it is a package including transportation, dinner and the show. I was super excited! The food was okay..... a little disappointing (unlimited refill of wine though). But the show afterwards was AWESOME. I was expecting a few dances, but it was 2 hours of singing and dancing, and it was absolutely marvelous. I, personally, do not know Spanish, so it was very difficult for me to know what is actually going on. But, it looked like the show was telling a story, with occasionally solo singing, and tango dancing. It was such an enjoyable night.
