Welcome to La Boca

With its brightly painted houses and open air art, the southern immigrant neighborhood of La Boca is both enchanting and irritating. How much you enjoy yourself depends on when you go, and how allergic you are to kitsch.

La Boca Neighborhood Buenos Aires

La Boca was settled by Italian immigrants, mainly from Genoa, and became a tourist draw in the 20th century when local artist Benito Quinquela Martin decided to bring life into his stagnating neighborhood by creating El Caminito: a tiny street which exhibits the best of La Boca: tango, brightly colored buildings and quirky art. Today, El Caminito is one of the most heavily visited places in Buenos Aires.

Tourists in Buenos Aires

We went on a Sunday afternoon, which proved to be a mistake. Thousands of tourists were stepping out from hundreds of buses shielding their eyes against the bright sun, crushing our feet, stumbling into our pictures, smacking us with their fanny packs, and crushing our souls. Their flashing cameras and mindless mirth brings out the worst in La Boca’s locals. Every couple meters someone tried to hustle us into a store, sell us some piece of junk, or wrangle us into a picture.

La Boca Buenos Aires at night

To escape the crowds, we ducked into the Wax Museum. We didn’t expect much, but were pleasantly surprised. Very small and cheap, and the exhibits did a decent job of introducing Argentine history and culture. Besides, one can never see enough wax anaconda dummies.

Soccer Republica de la Boca

In 1882, residents of the neighborhood seceded from Argentina and declared the República de la Boca; it was a short-lived rebellion, but the spirit of independence remains. La Boca associates itself heavily with Boca Juniors, the working man’s football team, whose blue & gold color scheme dominates the streets.

The main tourists sights in Boca center on the Vuelta de Rocha, where the Riachuelo river curves briefly inland. It’s an interesting geographical phenomenon, but the lack of movement in the water and the heavy industry all around lead to an often unpleasant smell. Depending on which way the wind is blowing, a walk along the river promenade can either be charming or nauseating.

La Boca Bar at night in Buenos Aires

Once you get away from the Vuelta, La Boca shows its less friendly side. In the barrio’s east, painted houses more authentic than those of the Caminito abound, but crime is frequent. Poverty is widespread and, if you must pass through at night, you’ll want to get a taxi. Four different concerned locals warned Juergen to keep his camera hidden, during the hours we spent there.

La Boca is an interesting place, home to utter destitution and crass touristic exploitation, but also possessing a unique, working-class spirit which makes it one of the must-see areas of BA.

More La Boca Photos:

  • El Caminito La Boca Buenos Aires
  • La Boca Architecture
  • La Box Taxi Buenos Aires
  • Pink Stairs
  • Dogs in La Boca Buenos Aires
  • Buenos Aires out of a movie
  • Viva la Bocao Fileteado
  • Holy La Boca
  • Tango Deco Buenos Aires
  • Pink House Buenos Aires
  • Playing soccer la Boca
  • Yellow house la Boca Buenos Aires
  • La Boca Second Hand Shopping
  • Museo de Cera La Boca Buenos Aires
  • La Boca El Caminito: Buenos Aires
  • Headless Street Performer
  • Buenos Aires El Caminito
  • Diego Maradona Buenos Aires
  • Photographer in Buenos Aires
  • Blue on blue bust
  • Colorful La Boca neighborhood
  • Little Kid looking la boca
  • Familia la Boca Buenos Aires
  • Colorful Benach Buenos Areis
  • Tourists in Buenos Aires
  • Prostitute in Buenos Aires
  • Saturated Buenos Aires
  • Little houses La Boc Buenos Aires
  • Spring in Buenos Aires
  • Boca Soccer Team Buenos Aires
  • Asado Argentino Sign
  • Wax Museum Buenos Aires
  • Wax Museum Buenos Aires La Boca
  • Accordeon Buenos Aires
  • Ronoldinho Street Art
  • Maradona Street Art
  • Coca Cola Bottle Fileteado
  • Man and woman art Buenos Aires
  • La Boca Map restaurant
  • Sidewalk Asado La Boca Buenos Aires
  • Harbor La Boca Buenos Aires
  • Street Grilling Buenos Aires
  • House of the people la Boca
  • Boca Boat Buenos Aires
  • Crane La Boca Buenos Aires
  • Street Bathtub
  • Pizzeria Carlos Buenos Aires
  • Skinny building and bus Buenos Aries
  • Eye is watching you building
  • Late night snack Buenos Aires
  • Water La Boca Buenos Aires
  • Oldtimer La Boca Buenos Aires

This Post Has 8 Comments

  1. Robin

    Love the vibrant colors in the City. Looks beautiful, yet a little scary in some places. Hope yall are having a great time. Savannah misses yall!! LOL

    1. Juergen

      And we miss Savannah. Spring must be right around the corner there. Thank yo for still reading our blog 🙂 Going to the St. Patrick’s Day Parade? Would like to see some pictures.

  2. Brian

    Awesome. Really awesome. I’ve always wondered which BA team I should pretend to like. La Boca wins so far, but I need to know what Belgrano is like before I completely discount River Plate. What river is that boca is the boca of? That isn’t part of Rio de la Plata right?

    1. Juergen

      My guess it’s part of La Plata, not really sure. I think La Boca is the team to follow. We are probably going in 2 weeks, which makes me a little nervous.

  3. Jimena

    Hey!! Great chronicle and photos! I personally really love guys playing futbol and chinese happy dudes too 😀
    I see you like “fileteado” and I remember when I was younger, buses where like all fileteados and where each one of them unique, now it’s not the same, but if you look, you can find someone hidden.
    I looked for photos but I could’t find any as good as I wanted to show you, but I find this ones:
    http://sp5.fotolog.com/photo/37/38/117/glaychris/1291615080127_f.jpg
    http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3041/3063122707_a789947fdf.jpg
    http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4009/4186850363_4cd3a38747.jpg

    Kisses!

    1. Juergen

      Thank you for the complement…. It would be so much fun to do a whole photo series on these old buses. I will keep looking. Any neighborhood you think there are more common?

      Also, do you know of an Fileteado artists? I would love to visit one in his studio.

      1. Jimena

        I found this page of this guy Alfredo Genovese
        http://www.fileteado.com.ar/index.php
        I think he really knows about filete 🙂

        I found this guy too
        http://www.pablopeisa.com.ar/elfileteado.htm

        And here, in the gob of BA city you con find some information like history, designes, cool quotes..
        http://www.buenosaires.gov.ar/areas/ciudad/especiales/fileteado/

        Here another blog of a great fileteador Elvio Gervasi
        http://www.gervasifileteador.blogspot.com/

        I think you can find lots of filete in Abasto neighborhood, it’s a great place 😀

  4. Angela

    These photos are amazing! The best I’ve seen of La Boca. And the wax museum. Who knew? I’m learning tons from you guys. Keeping a list of places I really need to visit.

    Besos!
    Angela

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