River Bus
Hey there! Come on, Jump aboard!
Join me in this tour up the waters of the Paraná Delta in Argentina.
Its 8:00 am. The river bus is leaving.
Not many people in the river bus. Ticket was 150 pesos because I was with argentine friends that bought them. If not a tourist would pay 700 pesos. Its a nice wooden boat the bus, and has a quite loud engine. We sit close to it anyway because its warmer inside from the middle to the front -to the "bow" as proper naval languaje refers to the front-.
At the back the windows are open and in late May at latitude 34 degrees southern emisphere the temperature hits about 6 degrees celsius. Its not that cold for some peoples, but for me who has been avoiding winters for years, it is f#c'n freezing!!
Anyway, I'm so happy to be here now about to have a glimpse at this dreamy river ecosystem from inside, and more; to live in this place for a while.
The Delta is special in many ways.
In MANY mAnY Many ways!
One is (in the so called "1st Seccion") that you are so close to the busy city, at the same time that you are so distant from it.
Buenos Aires is a big capital city. Big big big city. Noisy, busy, traffic jams and so. But if you make your way to "Zona Norte" to the edje of the River "Lujan" and get a boat you will be paddling in 10 minuts in the middle of nature.
"Parque de la Costa" -Tigre, Buenos Aires
Last views of the continent
Rowing Club
Another amazing thing is that the Delta is a magical blend of Venice together with the jungle and a farm in countryside. Similar to a horse is the Canoe in many ways in "the island" -as locals call their place.
It's a hugh grid of mazy rivers and channels where the canoe is the first thing necesary to live here. Through these pics you will see many different styles of boats being part of the landscape.
Gambado stream, Bs As being left beind at the back.
Pava rests on a sunken boat.
With the high tide sailing little streams is posible, then with the low everything changes, you might even get stuck in the mud on your boat. Or canoe.
Nearly all houses are built over pilars called "palafito" that hold the homes of the people above the highest water line. In the so called "first seccion" of the Delta you find stuffed neighbourhoods with one house right beside the next, all with their boats tied to the docks, colouring the green and brown tones of the winter with orange, white, blue and red painted hulls.
Continuing up river towards the north-west heading to "Second Seccion" things change.
Bigger ships start to appear, cargos called "chatas" go for the riverbed sand of the Paraná River and come back down with the waterline kissing the deck:
Huge iron animals displacing tons of water that slowly make their way on waves that comb the watergrass growing by the bank.
The gentleness and lightness with which they move contrasts with their size and stamp.
Wrecked ships are spooky, aren't they? Like ghosts they appear here and there and I imagine how was their life? what did they carry? how many people built a life around them? where were they built? where did they go? is the captain still there waiting for the tide to rise to head to the next port? When coming closer you can listen to strange noises that seem coming from another dimension.
Finally we we arrive to my friends hut that seems in the middle of nowhere. Its only us and the river and its natural habitants. The day is sunny and calm, there is silence only disturbed by a powerboat that cuts the mirror of the water with its fast planning.
And then again, absolut peace. I belong here I feel. I listen to the trees sing their song in a blend with the breeze. The colours are amazing. There are fruit trees, oranges, mandarines, pecan nuts, growing by the riverside. Time has just stopped. We feel the wholeness and let ourselves melt into natures rythm.
Going back home
After two days in the isolated hut, its time to go back. We fill many bags with fruit and nuts and pumpkins and wait on the dock for the last river bus. Inside I hope the bus doesn't come, so we would stay another day. But it arrives, and in hour and a half we are back in the city.
We change transport, back to our canoe that we left in the canoe parking by the lujan river, and start paddling back to our little Venice neibourhood to lit a fire and have a hot soup. We know we are close and we will go back to explore the hundreds of corners this amazing place in the world has for us to discover.
