Buenos Aires, Argentina - La Boca

La Boca is an old immigrant neighborhood by the docks in Buenos Aires. It is known for its bright colors, souvenirs, art, and tango. Immigrants from Europe found their way to La Boca from Italy, Germany, Spain and France. These immigrants didn't have much and many families lived under the same roof. The houses were sectioned off with makeshift walls of wood or roofing sheet metal to provide a small room for each family.







Just steps away from La Boca are the docks where massive ships would come to port. It is said that the people of La Boca would take the leftover scraps of paint from the docks and use what was left to decorate their houses. Donations have been made over the years to keep the neighborhood brightly painted and attractive to tourists. Statues and murals have also been contracted through donations to bring an exaggeration of creativity to this small neighborhood. The colors, art and expression all come to a head on the main walking street that is aptly named Caminito (little way). This is the center of this artistic neighborhood and many tourists gather on the famous corner of this street to peruse the artists works and try and get a glimpse of a tango performance. Caminito is also the name of a typical Argentinian tango.




Tango is the other popular attraction in La Boca. There are dancers performing in the streets, mostly at restaurants where tourists pay for a meal and a free show. This makes the food somewhat expensive here compared to other parts of the city but it's not crazy. There are also tango dancers walking the streets offering to take a picture with you, as well as cardboard cutouts of tango dancers that you can stick your face in and snap a picture for a small fee. We sadly didn't take any of these hilarious pictures, but I did manage to get this picture of a tango performance.

The famous corner of Caminito

The soccer stadium in La Boca (La Bombonera) is home of the Boca Juniors, a world famous soccer team that usually ranks among the top 25 club teams in the world and is one of the most dominant teams in all of South America. Another claim to fame is that it was the home stadium of Diego Maradona. This stadium is designed with more vertical seating than most stadiums which gives fans a closer feel to the field and louder than normal acoustics. In addition to the structural advantages, the fans here are known to be die-hard and crazy. The working class fans and the stadium itself provide one of the best atmospheres in the game. 

La Bombonera