Buenos Aires, Argentina - The Colors of La Boca

When I was planning to spend the year traveling, I had a long list of places that I wanted to visit.  Full disclosure, Buenos Aires was not on the list.  There were other places in Argentina that I thought might be interesting to see, but my knowledge of Buenos Aires was embarrassingly limited and nothing that I had read in books or seen in movies had ever ignited a strong desire to visit.  My six days in this beautiful city is the result of pure happenstance.  I have always wanted to see Antarctica and I knew that my bank account couldn’t support an expedition cruise. Through much sleuthing and internet searching I managed to last minute deal on a “sail by” cruise to the Antarctic peninsula departing from Buenos Aires on January 7.  Since I was going to be using frequent flyer miles to cover the airfare and award tickets can often be hard to come by, the best deal I found left Regan National on December 31.  I thought, okay, I’ll spend six days in Buenos Aires.  It’s summer there so the weather should be nice and I’ve heard that even with the rapid inflation the US dollar goes a long way.  So I dove into the blogosphere and scoured YouTube to learn about the adventures of other travelers to the city and arrived with a general list of things I wanted to see and do. 

Buenos Aires is a large city and I wanted to get myself oriented before attempting to navigate via public transportation. So, for the first day I went the tried-and-true method of the Hop-on-hop-off tourist bus.  A few clicks on Viator and I had my 48 hour pass for the reasonable cost of $30.00.  According to my email confirmation there was a stop close to the Recoleta Cemetery located about a 10-minute walk from my Airbnb. 

I ventured out early, stopped for a coffee and tostada at a café next to the Cemetery.   Finding the correct bus stop wasn’t as easy as I had anticipated but I managed with minimal frustration.  I consulted my list of places to see and decided my first stop should be La Boca. 

Located near the Riachuelo River, the La Boca neighborhood is probably the image that your mind conjures up when you think of Argentina.  Its origins go back to the 1880s as a working class neighborhood populated by Spanish and Italian immigrants who migrated to work in the warehouses and meatpacking plants.  If you’re familiar with the history of the Lower East Side of Manhattan, La Boca shares a similar heritage.   The once active and bustling port area saw a steep decline during the first half of the 20th century until a revitalization occurred in the late 1950’s when a local artist, Benito Quinquela Martín, turned the neighborhood into a canvas.  Other artists and musicians followed and a true grassroots tourist attraction was born.

The bus stopped right in front of the large blue and yellow stadium that is home to the La Boca Juniors football team, locally referred to as La Bombonera.  The team was formed in 1905 by five Italian immigrants. As the story goes, the team wore a few different colors early on and had settled on a shirt with vertical blue stripes.  The Nottingham de Almagro club had similar shirts and the teams agreed to play a match to decide who could keep the colors.  Boca lost. The club then agreed to adopt the colors of the first ship to sail into port.  Turned out to be a Swedish ship so the blue and yellow was adopted.  The story varies depending on the source but if you’ve ever walked into an IKEA, you’ll probably agree that the Swedish flag had some influence. 

La Boca is also the birthplace of the tango.  The details vary slightly depending on who is telling the story but the consensus seems to be that the origins of the tango came from the immigrant men who used the dance as a means to entice the very limited number of women available.  Think dance halls and brothels and many lonely, single men and the passionate sensuality of the dance makes sense. 

The main street of La Boca is El Caminito (little walkway). It is a lively and crowded pedestrian street and even something of an open-air museum.  The buildings are painted in vibrant colors and the walls are covered with interesting and appealing street art.  I had read that it wasn’t recommended to venture far from El Caminito as the surrounding area has a reputation for being a bit dangerous, especially after dark so I made it a point to stay in the center of the action. 

It would be easy to consider La Boca a “tourist trap” with all the souvenir shops, performers and photo ops, but I had a wonderful afternoon wandering about.  Yes, it’s crowded and yes, the restaurants in the center are overpriced with average food but the one I stopped at had tango dancers and singers and it was fun.  The whole area has an upbeat vibe, and you’ll find most of those you pass are smiling even as they navigate the crowded street while holding tight to their belongings.  As I walked along after my lunch, I occasionally ran into a tour group with an English speaking guide and would eavesdrop for a minute or two in the hope of learning some random fact or historical context. 

After several hours of exploring this charming neighborhood, I made my way back to the bus stop and was grateful for the opportunity to sit down for a while and take in more of the city.  It was nearly 5:30 when I did my final hop off and made my way back to my Airbnb, with a clearer idea on how I wanted to spend the rest of my time here. The list just keeps getting longer.