Buenos Aires, the capital city of Argentina, is composed of many “barrios“, or neighborhoods, from humble to wealthy; from drab to colorful. Few are as colorful or as well-known as La Boca, on the southeast corner of the city, close to the Riachuelo which feeds the Rio de la Plata. La Boca started very much as an Italian immigrant neighborhood, working class and fairly poor. It remains mostly so except that its center has become not only quite colorful but also a magnet for tourism with its famous street “Caminito” and the tango dancers all around. La Boca is deeply tied to Argentina’s music history and is a gem in this city of monuments, great architecture, and delicious food of all kinds.
How to Explore La Boca
La Boca can be easily explored by walking around – it is not a large area. I explored it as part of a bike tour of the city, something that would seem as life-ending in a city like Buenos Aires but that turned out to be a lot less scary than I thought (except when I ended up in the space between a bus and the curb… good thing it was on a side street with very slow traffic!). We biked to La Bombomera, the local football (soccer) stadium with its storied history full of great rivalries and then we biked to the heart of La Boca.
Once there, we parked the bikes at a local park in front of a large colorful mural and we went off on foot to explore some. Again, it is a small sector so there it is not tons of walking. There are cafes and the like in the area if you need a break. Once there, always be mindful of pickpockets or petty thieves that take advantage of the distracted visitor…
What to See in La Boca
Though La Boca seems a little over the top these days (code words for “tourist trappish”), it nevertheless conveys a sense of Buenos Aires’ past history and current charm. La Boca hosts the Boca Junior football (soccer) team at a stadium whose real name does not matter much. Its nickname is what counts: La Bombonera! (bonbon box) so perhaps catching a match would be in order?
Tourist souvenir shops, cafés, street performers, colorful buildings, tango performers, peddlers, and some historical markers all form part of this area of town. It is a great place to take pictures (as you can see below). Oh, and don’t miss the colorful figures that are perched on balconies, sidewalks, or windows – you may recognize Evita, Pope Francis, and Maradona (druggie, druggie!) among others. It feels like one is walking in a great outdoor museum of Argentine folklore.
Here are, as promised, the images of this barrio. Check it out if you go to Buenos Aires!
Click on the image for full-size viewing.
Muy pintoresco el barrio!
I have met many people from Argentina, and seems to me that there is a huge Italian influence, and not just on the poor barrios. I also know there is a lot of German influence.
The pictures are beautiful.
Indeed, Roxana. And La Boca was a poor Italian immigrant neighborhood back in the time.