La Boca

Buenos Aires - Argentina

La Boca neighborhood is one of the most visited tourist attractions in Buenos Aires.

More specifically, tourists flock to the Caminito part of it. Caminito (which means small path in Spanish) is a pedestrian street of about 5 blocks lined with cafés, restaurants, art galleries and tango dancers doing live performances on the street. It is a colorful neighborhood full of life and culture.

If you are a football fan, you may want to visit the Boca Juniors football stadium, the home of Maradona. They have all times of souvenirs and there is usually a Maradona look-a-like to take photos next to (and he really does look just like him). You need to pay separately to enter the mini museum and then the stadium itself. The stadium is quite impressive where the stands seem to be hanging imposingly over the playing field. You can take tours of the stadium when it is empty but if you are a little more adventurous, you can try and attend a live game.

WARNING: Do NOT stray into streets around Caminito or the stadium. They are NOT SAFE and it is highly likely that you will be robbed, often at gunpoint both during the day and night. The area is very poor.

Did you know?

La Boca literally means "The Mouth" in Spanish due to it being the old port area at the mouth of the Riachuelo river.

This area was the first port of call in Argentina for the immigrants that arrived here at the end of the 1800s, mostly of Italian descent (and more specifically from Genoa).

The first residents of the area used to paint their houses with the leftover paint from the boats. Since there was never enough to paint the entire house, they would have to use different colors.

In 1882, the area was an independent republic with its own flag. Yes, it started as a work conflict that led to a strike. A group of immigrants from Genovese (Italy) decided to become independent from Argentina. They signed an act in which they let the then King of Italy know that they had constituted the "República Independiente de La Boca" (Independent Republic of La Boca). However, the then President of Argentina Julio Argentino Roca went to the area, with his army of course, took down the new republic's flag that had been raised and that was the end of that conflict.

Photos of La Boca Neighborhood

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