The subte lines in Buenos Aires are ungodly easy to understand. The only trouble is that a city map will orient the river as "north" and true north then becomes south-east on a given city map. Google Maps and Subte Maps (subway, tube, metro, circular, whatever you call it wherever you're from) show the system using true north. Confused yet? It's really all pretty easy, just don't think about which way is north.
I took a train for the first time this week. It is 80 peso cents (which is less than $0.20) compared to 2.50 pesos for the subte. It's a pretty good option, but it's more confusing than the subte (lines are harder to identify unless you're starting from the end of the line station from where everything branches out) and stops are not labeled - from what I've seen anyway. Also, trains only indicate the route that they are on at the very first car (not on the sides), so this creates confusion as people waiting for trains pop their heads in and out of the cars asking passengers already in the train which line it is on. We are lucky enough that the subway stop near our apartment, Ministro Carranza, doubles as a train stop, so nice and close. We are also only two stops in from the end of the line, which makes it easy to take two stops in to the main station and then switch to the line we're really looking for. One strange thing about the train is that in the 6 or 7 times I rode it this week, I never had to show my ticket anywhere. The turnstiles don't lock or require you to scan your ticket, and theoretically you can be charged a 10 peso fine ($2-something) if authorities come on the bus and find that you don't have a ticket. But nobody has come on the train asking yet.....hmmmm.
I'm coming to realize that transportation information is difficult to come by online. I can find most of what I need for Buenos Aires online, but I'm now working on travel plans, and it's difficult to find any solid information on using public transportation to get from the Argentine side to the Brazilian Side of Iguazu falls, for example, or on what exactly, "take three bus transfers" means in terms of getting from the Florianopolis airport to the southern beach 5-7 stops in from Lagoa da Conceicao. It would be plenty easy to take a taxi for all of these things, but public transportation here is so cheep that it would be silly not to try (seeing as how I'm on a grad school budget). Soooooo, I hope my Portuguese holds up!
Today we visited to Tigre, a big river delta area about an hour outside the city. Almost everyone who I've talked to here has recommended visiting before I leave. It ended up being quite easy to get there and back, though it took several steps--
1) We took the train from the nearby Carranza stop to the Bartolome Mitre stop the end of the Mitre line. 80 peso cents.
2) At the entry way of the Mitre station, there are sliding glass doors to the right. Through the doors, up the escalator, through the antique market, there is the Tren de la Costa boleteria where you can buy either one way (16 pesos) or roundtrip (32 pesos) tickets to Tigre. The train is a hop on/hop off style journey, and Delta is the 10th stop from the start. The mid-way stop with the most touristy options is San Isidro (a big cathedral, lots of restaurants/coffee shops, etc.)
3) At the Delta stop, there is a amusement park, a casino, and the puerto de frutos market. Closer to the river there are several touristy shops, companies that offer little boat tours around the river delta area, and a local TBA train station. We took the less-secnic (off the coastline) TBA route back into the city. It was 1.35 pesos to take the train all the way back into the main Retiro station.
4) From Retiro, we had to catch a different line and ride two stops out to Carranza to get back home. This was another 80 peso cents. Because we had already seen the best that the nearby towns had to offer with the hop on/off train on the way out, we decided that a 2 peso return was a better option than the 17 peso return. Either way, very cheap, very easy. Tigre was a quick and easy escape from the city, things were much greener, more relaxed, and it was nice to go sit up on the docks next to the water. If it had been warmer than high 40s today, more things probably would have been open, but we pretty much had San Isidrio and the delta area at Tigre all to ourselves!
1) We took the train from the nearby Carranza stop to the Bartolome Mitre stop the end of the Mitre line. 80 peso cents.
2) At the entry way of the Mitre station, there are sliding glass doors to the right. Through the doors, up the escalator, through the antique market, there is the Tren de la Costa boleteria where you can buy either one way (16 pesos) or roundtrip (32 pesos) tickets to Tigre. The train is a hop on/hop off style journey, and Delta is the 10th stop from the start. The mid-way stop with the most touristy options is San Isidro (a big cathedral, lots of restaurants/coffee shops, etc.)
3) At the Delta stop, there is a amusement park, a casino, and the puerto de frutos market. Closer to the river there are several touristy shops, companies that offer little boat tours around the river delta area, and a local TBA train station. We took the less-secnic (off the coastline) TBA route back into the city. It was 1.35 pesos to take the train all the way back into the main Retiro station.
4) From Retiro, we had to catch a different line and ride two stops out to Carranza to get back home. This was another 80 peso cents. Because we had already seen the best that the nearby towns had to offer with the hop on/off train on the way out, we decided that a 2 peso return was a better option than the 17 peso return. Either way, very cheap, very easy. Tigre was a quick and easy escape from the city, things were much greener, more relaxed, and it was nice to go sit up on the docks next to the water. If it had been warmer than high 40s today, more things probably would have been open, but we pretty much had San Isidrio and the delta area at Tigre all to ourselves!
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