La Boca

Last Monday, our school did a trip to one of the most iconic neighborhoods of Buenos Aires – La Boca. Situated just next to the Rio de la Plata, it gets its name from its position at the mouth of the river (Boca means mouth in Spanish). Nowadays La Boca is one of the most popular destinations for tourists in Buenos Aires however, originally, it was a neighborhood set up by poor European immigrants. In fact, most of those immigrants were so poor that they had to go to the nearby harbor and ask for leftover paint that was meant for painting ships to paint their houses.  That is the reason why the houses in La Boca are painted in such vivid colors.

Nowadays the houses have mostly been refurbished and repainted so the ‘barrio’ now looks very neat and nice. While we walked through the streets of La Boca, there was almost constantly a very pleasant smell of ‘parillas’ (Barbeques) so it’s definitely also a good place for eating. On the main road, there are many restaurants which also offer tango shows and live music for their guests. Indeed, Tango is a big part of the history of La Boca and this can be seen in the form of murals and decorations all around the barrio. La Boca is also home to Buenos Aires’ largest football club, Boca Juniors.

We were able to walk up directly to their stadium and it’s also possible to go on guided tours inside. I personally enjoyed this trip a lot because La Boca is a unique and lively area and it’s also interesting to see where many of the poorer European immigrants lived.