The Mouth of the City

La Boca is the equivalent of New York’s Bronx or Chicago’s South Side. It is the part of the city that you want to avoid at all costs when the sun goes down, when you’re alone, when you’re a woman, and when you’re not feeling confident in your ability to talk your way out of a robbery. When I toured La Boca last Wednesday with a group of about 7 people and our tour guide, it was before the sun went down, my tour guide was not alone, and my tour guide was not a woman, but he was still robbed right in front of us. Apparently he wasn’t feeling confident in his ability to talk his way out of the robbery because he handed over the money immediately. Later, they tried to take my backpack but were unsuccessful, as I talked about in my previous post on June 4th. I didn’t get a chance to talk about La Boca though so that is what this post is for.

The name La Boca means "the mouth" in Spanish, and in many ways, the name is fitting. La Boca has a lot of ugliness on the inside where the plaque corrects and cavities occassionally develop, but it looks beautiful at first glance, just like a nice pair of lips conceal the depths of the mouth. In reality, though, La Boca is probably actually the most recognized part of Buenos Aires because of the touristy section (pictured above this post) that appears on the cover of nearly every Buenos Aires tourist book. Personally, when I picked up my copy of Frommer’s and saw the photo, it was one of the parts of Buenos Aires that excited me the most. For some reason, they don’t show pictures like the one displayed here at left. Perhaps it’s because that layer of darkened water you see at the front is actually a mixture of oil, tar, and general waste products from one of the most polluted towns in the entire world. Argentina does not have as many strictly enforced pollution restrictions as many other countries, and the result is that you have blackened cesspits and murky shores of the Rio de la Plata (despite the fact that Uruguay’s side is clear). The scary part? According to the tour guide, many Argentines used to swim in bodies of water like this. Who knows where those people are now and/or how many fingers and toes they may have?

In contrast, the distinguishing thing about the part of town that you’ll find on the cover of your Frommer’s is the vast amount of COLORS that you see throughout the main streets. The reason for the great breadth of colors (even on a single building) is really quite funny. When the buildings were originally painted, there was never enough paint to go around, and people never knew what colors of paint would be brought in on the next trading vessel. As a result, they painted their buildings with whatever colors they had, and then completed them with whatever colors were included in the next paint shipment. Since then, the variety of colors has been preserved to allow La Boca to retain its original character (and probably also to ensure that the guidebooks have a good front page for the tourists who are more than willing to pour their money into this otherwise neglected part of town).







One of the main attractions in La Boca is La Bombonera where the Boca Juniors soccer team plays. The name for the stadium comes from the Spanish word for candy box, supposedly because the fans' singing reverberates as it would inside a candy tin. We did not get to actually go into La Bombonera and visit its museum because the robbery detained us and our tour guide did not feel comfortable proceeding on, but we did get a view of it from afar, as you can see from the picture, above-right. We also got to see some soccer being played at a slightly less professional level near one of the street markets (displayed here at right). This is not an uncommon sight throughout Buenos Aires.




La Boca is also known for its arts and crafts vendors. You can find a very fine artist’s store in many parts of the city, but I noticed that it is very hard to find paintings and drawings in most parts of Buenos Aires. Artists’ specialties normally include sculptures, leatherworks, and a special type of oil painting called “fileteado.” (You can find more information and pictures of this style of artwork here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fileteado.) But, in contrast, La Boca is home to many painters and drawers and their works are displayed out on the streets of the touristy parts of town (as shown here at left).






Later on in the tour, we went to San Telmo and Puerto Madero, two parts of town that I had already been to but which were even more fascinating to visit with a porteño to explain their historical significance. San Telmo is the older part of town I described in a previous post. It is the place where tango is said to have originated. Specifically, thisw it apparently came about: families rented rooms in a common building such as the one di is hosplayed here at right. (In fact, this is the EXACT LOCATION OF THE EXACT BUILDING where tango is said to have originated.) The problem was that each family had very little room because approximately 5-7 family members were routinely cramped into a single, small living space. As a result, they would crowd around in the common area and out in the streets, and they each contributed their own dance styles unique to their own, diverse ethnic backgrounds to a common dance that we now call “tango.”




Puerto Madero is the exact opposite of San Telmo. Whereas San Telmo has become antiquated, less populated, and somewhat unsafe at night, Puerto Madero is the part of town where all the young executives and wealthy residents are now moving. Located on the shore, this part of town is comprised of many high-rises, as in the picture at left. Some of the finest restaurants in town can be found here, though I have yet to try any in this part. There is also a bridge across the water connecting Puerto Madero to the main part of the city that is considered an engineering masterpiece (pictured below). Look at the shape of the bridge very carefully and see if it reminds you of anything in particular. Actually, you probably have to get a sideview like this one: http://www.danheller.com/images/LatinAmerica/Argentina/BuenosAires/PuertoMadero/puerto-madero-bridge-6-big.jpg to be able to see it fully. Anyway, the bridge's design is supposed to depict a couple dancing tango. With the woman leaning backward in the arms of the man. The idea is that two people become one when the dance tango because they are so synchronized with each other's movements that they essentially become one entity.

In a way, it is fitting to see this bridge connect the old and new parts of the city that we saw today. Many aspects of the city have changed, as was evident from our tour, but tango has remained a constant. The dance, important for both cultural and entertainment reasons, is a mainstay of Argentina. In fact, I have begun tango lessons three times per week, but that is another story that I will have to save for another blog post...