South America: Buenos Aires Argentina Cityscapes Part 4 - La Boca District
Mar 18, 2022 15:22:14 #
We drove by motor coach to the famous and colorful La Boca barrio for an interesting walking tour.
La Boca (Spanish: [la ˈβoka]; "the Mouth", probably of Matanza) is a neighborhood (barrio) of the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires. It retains a strong Italian flavour, with many of its early settlers being from the city of Genoa. As one of Buenos Aires's 48 barrios, La Boca is located in the city's south-east near its old port. The barrio of Barracas is to the west; San Telmo and Puerto Madero are to the north.
In 1882, after a lengthy general strike, La Boca seceded from Argentina, and the rebels raised the Genoese flag, which was immediately torn down personally by then President Julio Argentino Roca.
Among sports fans, Boca is best known for being the home of the world-renowned football club Boca Juniors. The club plays their home matches in Estadio Alberto J. Armando, popularly known as La Bombonera (Spanish for "the bonbon box").
La Boca is a popular destination for tourists visiting Argentina, with its colourful houses and pedestrian street, the Caminito, where tango artists perform and tango-related memorabilia is sold. Other attractions include the La Ribera theatre, many tango clubs and Italian taverns. The actual area visited by tourists is only a few blocks long and has been built up for tourism very actively over the last few years, with many market stalls and restaurants catering to tourists. Outside this tourist area, it is a fairly poor neighborhood that has had many regular occurrences of petty crimes reported.
It has also been a centre for radical politics, having elected the first socialist member of the Argentine Congress (Alfredo Palacios in 1935) and was home to many demonstrations during the crisis of 2001.
As of 2016, the health of over 1,000 La Boca citizens is threatened by the pollution of the Matanza-Riachuelo River (which contains high levels of arsenic and lead due to centuries of unstopped pollution).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Boca
From Fodor's: https://www.fodors.com/world/south-america/argentina/buenos-aires/experiences/news/inside-the-most-instagrammable-neighborhood-in-buenos-aires
"La Boca (“mouth” in Spanish) was once quite literally the mouth of Buenos Aires. It’s located on what used to be the city’s biggest port, where products, goods, and immigrants arrived by the shipload in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Those immigrants set up shop in the surrounding vicinity, working the docks and building homes from the scrap material leftover from ship-building. You’ll see this in the haphazard shanty houses that still line the streets here, made from sheet metal and wooden planks; in addition, nearly all of them are painted in very bright colors.
The houses weren’t always quite so bright. It wasn’t until the 1960s, when local artist Benito Quinquela Martín decided to use his neighborhood as a canvas, painting one abandoned street that quickly became a meeting place for other La Boca artists. The rest of the neighborhood followed suit, and a homegrown tourist attraction was born.
Today, La Boca is a presentation in contrasts. It’s still a highly working-class neighborhood; this isn’t where the city’s young and wealthy are living. Locals will tell you to avoid it at night, and even when walking the streets during daylight, you can sense the mood change on certain streets. Tourists are often targeted for pick-pocketing. But on the other hand, on weekend afternoons, the neighborhood is swarming with tourists. Many people, locals, and newcomers alike, will tell you the area is a total tourist trap, filled with overpriced eateries and pushy owners.
For more images and a narrative on Buenos Aires, please see my previous posts:
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-732104-1.html#12994158
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-732211-1.html
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-732546-1.html
I hope you enjoy them!
Mark
La Boca (Spanish: [la ˈβoka]; "the Mouth", probably of Matanza) is a neighborhood (barrio) of the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires. It retains a strong Italian flavour, with many of its early settlers being from the city of Genoa. As one of Buenos Aires's 48 barrios, La Boca is located in the city's south-east near its old port. The barrio of Barracas is to the west; San Telmo and Puerto Madero are to the north.
In 1882, after a lengthy general strike, La Boca seceded from Argentina, and the rebels raised the Genoese flag, which was immediately torn down personally by then President Julio Argentino Roca.
Among sports fans, Boca is best known for being the home of the world-renowned football club Boca Juniors. The club plays their home matches in Estadio Alberto J. Armando, popularly known as La Bombonera (Spanish for "the bonbon box").
La Boca is a popular destination for tourists visiting Argentina, with its colourful houses and pedestrian street, the Caminito, where tango artists perform and tango-related memorabilia is sold. Other attractions include the La Ribera theatre, many tango clubs and Italian taverns. The actual area visited by tourists is only a few blocks long and has been built up for tourism very actively over the last few years, with many market stalls and restaurants catering to tourists. Outside this tourist area, it is a fairly poor neighborhood that has had many regular occurrences of petty crimes reported.
It has also been a centre for radical politics, having elected the first socialist member of the Argentine Congress (Alfredo Palacios in 1935) and was home to many demonstrations during the crisis of 2001.
As of 2016, the health of over 1,000 La Boca citizens is threatened by the pollution of the Matanza-Riachuelo River (which contains high levels of arsenic and lead due to centuries of unstopped pollution).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Boca
From Fodor's: https://www.fodors.com/world/south-america/argentina/buenos-aires/experiences/news/inside-the-most-instagrammable-neighborhood-in-buenos-aires
"La Boca (“mouth” in Spanish) was once quite literally the mouth of Buenos Aires. It’s located on what used to be the city’s biggest port, where products, goods, and immigrants arrived by the shipload in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Those immigrants set up shop in the surrounding vicinity, working the docks and building homes from the scrap material leftover from ship-building. You’ll see this in the haphazard shanty houses that still line the streets here, made from sheet metal and wooden planks; in addition, nearly all of them are painted in very bright colors.
The houses weren’t always quite so bright. It wasn’t until the 1960s, when local artist Benito Quinquela Martín decided to use his neighborhood as a canvas, painting one abandoned street that quickly became a meeting place for other La Boca artists. The rest of the neighborhood followed suit, and a homegrown tourist attraction was born.
Today, La Boca is a presentation in contrasts. It’s still a highly working-class neighborhood; this isn’t where the city’s young and wealthy are living. Locals will tell you to avoid it at night, and even when walking the streets during daylight, you can sense the mood change on certain streets. Tourists are often targeted for pick-pocketing. But on the other hand, on weekend afternoons, the neighborhood is swarming with tourists. Many people, locals, and newcomers alike, will tell you the area is a total tourist trap, filled with overpriced eateries and pushy owners.
For more images and a narrative on Buenos Aires, please see my previous posts:
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-732104-1.html#12994158
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-732211-1.html
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-732546-1.html
I hope you enjoy them!
Mark
Leaving the Plaza de Mayo
(Download)
(Download)
Memorial to "The Disappeared" hidden under a freeway overpass
(Download)
Entering the barrio
(Download)
(Download)
(Download)
(Download)
(Download)
(Download)
(Download)
Mar 18, 2022 15:32:03 #
Mark, always look forward to your beautiful photos and the detailed descriptions that you include in your posts. I was beginning to wonder if all of Buenos Aires was so modern in appearance and so clean, and now you present a slightly different view of some older sections of the city. Still, they appear to be quite clean and well-kept and very colorful.
Mar 18, 2022 15:33:23 #
Mar 18, 2022 15:34:41 #
Mar 18, 2022 15:34:49 #
Mar 18, 2022 15:59:23 #
Nice again, Mark. I’m really enjoying your city and other scenes; they let me be there vicariously. Nice narrative again, too.
Mar 18, 2022 17:27:23 #
Mar 18, 2022 17:57:59 #
FL Streetrodder wrote:
Mark, always look forward to your beautiful photos and the detailed descriptions that you include in your posts. I was beginning to wonder if all of Buenos Aires was so modern in appearance and so clean, and now you present a slightly different view of some older sections of the city. Still, they appear to be quite clean and well-kept and very colorful.
Thanks very much Rodder. This is a tourist area and well cleaned. I'll post some of the surrounding streets which are not so nice.
Mar 18, 2022 17:58:34 #
angler wrote:
Another superb set Mark.
Thanks very much Jim. So pleased that you liked them!
Mar 18, 2022 17:59:01 #
Mar 18, 2022 18:00:12 #
UTMike wrote:
More excellent cityscapes, Mark! (you tried to hide her)
Thanks verym much Mike. I would have led with her but the set would have been out of sequence.
Mar 18, 2022 18:02:00 #
jaymatt wrote:
Nice again, Mark. I’m really enjoying your city and other scenes; they let me be there vicariously. Nice narrative again, too.
Thanks very much John. I'm so glad that my posts have this effect since that's what I aim for. I'm also glad you like the narratives.
Mar 18, 2022 18:04:55 #
Mar 18, 2022 18:05:40 #
kpmac wrote:
Another fine set and narrative, Mark. And you didn't forget to include Gail.
Thanks very much Ken. Mike accused me of trying to hide her but that's where she was in the sequence and I love to include her!
Mar 18, 2022 18:06:44 #
Cwilson341 wrote:
Great adventure series, Mark. Love all the colors.
Thanks very much Carol. The colors were vivid and a bright sunny day helped. More to come.
If you want to reply, then register here. Registration is free and your account is created instantly, so you can post right away.