Scary playgrounds

Playground at Vicente Lopez train station - TBA Mitre line to Tigre.

The train tracks at Colegiales station, TBA Mitre line.

Chu-Chu goes the mini-train alongside the real one on the carousel.

A little see-saw by the tracks perhaps?

Playground @ Florida station.

Peek-a-boo through the barbed wire. Eye the donkey on the left-hand side.

This time the playground is slightly before the station, at Belgrano R - TBA Mitre line.

Choo choo!

Colegiales again, showing proximity between playground and the tracks.

"Mummy, can we go home?"

Marge and the horsey on Carousel @ Florida station - TBA Mitre line.

Back to Belgrano R, this one actually has a mini-train track next to the real one, isn't that fun?

Yippee!

Another view of Belgrano "R" playground.

Tired of waiting for that train ? Kids giving you a hard time ? Look above and you'll see a perfect solution...

Cue the spooky music ladies and gents. You've just seen the perfect setting for a new Tim Burton movie. Just picture unsupervised little children from the 1900s skipping about singing "laaa laaa laaa laaa" faintly.... yes thats right. Starting to catch my drift?

This something I absolutely should have shared way before right now however, c'est la vie, and well folks, here it is. Scary playgrounds. I had never seen anything like this before prior to moving to Buenos Aires, but then again, perhaps on previous trips I simply didn't have my eyes open.

All along the TBA Mitre line (which is pretty broken and decrepit as it is) there is a lovely playground to take your kiddywinks to when you have a spare moment. It's particularly appealing when it's cloudy, and cold.... (rah!).

(The train lines were designed by the British in Argentina, for those who didn't know, waaay waaay back in the day - 1850s according to trusty Wikipedia - and where the trains are relatively new since then, they perhaps haven't been replaces in many cases for about 10 or more years, nor have they received adequate maintenance. Makes you feel secure putting your child in a swing next to the tracks now, doesn't it?)

The TBA (Trenes de Buenos Aires) Mitre line runs from Bartolome Mitre station in Olivos, (yes that counts as Buenos Aires province) all the way to Retiro station.

Now, not every station is blessed with a playground right next to the tracks, and some are perhaps not so bad .... Olivos station's actually got a little park and mini-square for kiddies, with the tracks out of arms reach, however those that do have countless rides to choose from and normally offer a Simpsons-themed carousel surrounded my rusty barbed wire. The trick is, to not look the Simpsons characters in the eye.....

The next station to boast a wonderful play area right next to the platform is Florida, followed by Saavedra, Coghlan, Belgrano "R" and Colegiales. 

So, next time you find yourself on the Olivos-Retiro line or the Tigre-Retiro line, take a peek outside your window. Better still, if you've got kids and you wish to show them a fright, head down to one of the stations mentioned above. 100% Fright-guaranteed. Scaredy-cats, however, should probably steer clear.

Hasta pronto!

M