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...

Third Time's A Charm

Last night I was robbed. I was at a club here in Buenos Aires when my cell phone was stolen from me. That's right, this occurred only two days after the day in which two separate groups of people attempted to rob me two separate times.

Unfortunately, this was my US cell phone (not my cheap Argentina one). Just the day before, I had unlocked my US cell phone for use here in Argentina and transferred my Argentina SIM card to it. Just in time for it to be stolen. When I was talking to the family that I am staying with about this, they were very sympathetic but not the slightest bit surprised. One of the brothers, Ian, told me that he has had three cell phones stolen at clubs.

It is a different world here. I don't know what to make of it, and I don't know how much more of it I can take. I was taking every precaution I could, but honestly, you have to carry a cell phone with you. The part that is hardest for me to accept about all of this, is that it's entirely out of my control at a certain point. You can take every precaution in the book, but that doesn't mean you will emerge from a foreign country with all of your valuables intact. Hell, you can even get robbed three times in a three day period. I am living proof of that.

I figure that this is the low point of my stay here in Buenos Aires. I know it can get substantially worse than this, but I sure hope that it does not. It is very different living in a city like this with such narrow sidewalks that people often have to walk in the streets. The city simply is just not big enough for the population. Sometimes, you have to wait for three subte trains because they're so packed to the brim. When there are this many people in a place this small, people are bound to bump into each other and cause problems for one another. I just hope that my share of those problems are in the past now...

The Day of Two Robberies

Yesterday, June 3rd, there were at least two attempted robberies in the town of Buenos Aires. They were both of me. They were each committed by separate groups of robbers in separate parts of the town. And they were both committed in broad daylight!

Let me preface the story by saying that, upon arriving in Buenos Aires, I was told by many people that crime was a problem in many parts of the city, that criminals tend to pick on tourists, and all of the normal warnings that you hear when you visit a large city. I have only been in Buenos Aires for two weeks, but I have a number of friends and acquaintances who have already been robbed. I know more who have very narrowly avoided robberies. Fortunately, I fall into the LATTER category.

The first incident happened when I was on la Calle Florida, a very popular and crowded civilian street (closed to traffic) in the shopping district in downtown Buenos Aires. A picture I took of La Calle Florida shortly before the incident is pictured here at left. Basically, I was pulled from the main downtown street into a shady storefront area less than a block away, and forced to pay for what I had in my wallet. After giving them the money, I immediately called the Buenos Aires police. Luckily, I knew enough Spanish to convey my problem to them, and they were actually able to enter the place where I had been held and recover all of my money!! Incredible! I thought I would have to go through some sort of complex bureaucratic process to recover anything, but all they needed was my name and address. (This robbery was actually a bit more complicated than this, but I don't want to explain it all here so ask me if you're really interested...)

The second robbery of the day occurred when I was on a tour (with a group of about 7 people and the tour guide) in La Boca (another post on La Boca will be forthcoming). La Boca is known to be one of the most dangerous parts of the city, particularly at night and in the non-touristy parts of the town. Our tour guide took us out of the touristy area because he said he wanted us to have an "authentic" La Boca experience. I guess we did... Two men approached our group, and said something to our guide which I couldn't make out. The next thing I knew, he was handing them cash from his pocket and telling us to leave as quickly as we could. As we were walking away, one of the men tried to grab my backpack from me. I kept walking away quickly, though, and, seeing that he was not able to get the bag easily, he gave up, and I emerged unscathed once again!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When you hear stories about robberies and theft when travelling, you never figure that it will happen to you. One of my friends told me that he keeps two wallets on him: a fake one with very little money (to give to robbers if they approach him) and a real one (with the majority of his money and important credit cards and information). I thought he was crazy. I have recently had a change of heart...

Still, it is important to keep in mind that these thieves represent only a small part of the porteños here in the city. After these two incidents occurred, needless to say, I was a little down on Buenos Aires. But then, the day improved. I went to the gym, and ended up having a very nice conversation with an exceptionally friendly porteño there. On my way home, I stopped at a kiosko (small, jam-packed stores that sell everything from cigarettes to food to phone cards and which proliferate nearly every city block). The woman working there was also very kind to me and went out of her way to make sure I understood what I was buying. Finally, when I arrived home, the family I am living with was there to greet me with open arms and a steaming hot dinner.

It is sad to think that a few bad apples can sour the bunch, but yesterday I gained some perspective on porteños, on Buenos Aires, and on life in general. It's hard to say that you're ever glad that people tried to rob you, but I must say that I think I am a better person for it.