La Boca is a working class district of Buenos Aires and is a place that you should visit at your own peril. So say the guide books, and so said the Argentines I spoke to before going. I was advised not to walk to there, but to get the bus. Wise boy: I did. I hopped on the 152 bus from the end of Avenida Independencia and was swiftly told in no uncertain terms to hop off again. Poor research strikes again. No cash accepted on buses here. I went to the Loteria and charged 25 Pesos onto a rechargeable travel card, like an Oyster card in London. Each way it cost me 6 pesos which is about 25p. Great value in exchange for staying alive. People are right to be cautious but as long as you stick to the well worn tourist routes between the Boca Juniors stadium and the old port, round Caminito, you are pretty safe. There was a visible police presence. I guess the time not go there is after dark, especially when the shops, cafes and restaurants have closed the doors on the day and the crowds have gone.

I’ve called La Boca “the expressive heart of Buenos Aires.” Why is that?” you ask. Let me tell you. It has a passion, a vibrancy and exuberance that spills over from the tango dancers and onto the football terraces. It is born from the full range of human emotions, from the despair of poverty to the grief of loss, to the passion of sex and the tenderness of romance, to the political idealism and the fight for rights and for freedom, and for answers to questions. All of this underlying passion is on display in every corner of every facet of this neighbourhood.

History lesson time, part 1. it all goes back to the Paraguayan War (1864-1870) when landlocked, imperialistic Paraguay attacked Uruguay to have sea access and open up trade routes. the result was that Argentina and Brazil got involved too. Not a good outcome for Paraguay: an estimated 90% of the male population was decimated. As happens so often, even today, when the men have been killed, the children are conscripted. There is a Children’s Day to this day in Paraguay to commemorate all those lost in their own Great War. The corpses then floated down the river Parana and ended up collecting in La Boca (the mouth), the site of Buenos Aires port. Dead bodies. Hot sun. Arrival yellow fever and swarms of mosquitoes  spreading the disease over the whole San Telmo district (where I’m staying) It had to remain in quarantine for twenty-five years and the wealthy packed up and moved to Recoleta. Buenos Aires’ population was eaten into much the same way that Paraguay’s was.

The old port today

History lesson part 2: please make sure your seat-belts are still safely fastened and….let’s go.  Argentina experienced a huge influx of immigrants in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. By far the biggest groups were Italians and Spanish, but there were large numbers of Slavic Jews, French, German, Welsh, Irish amongst others. A lot of these immigrants were poor and seeking to escape from poverty or war at home, or looking for opportunities in a new land. The heart of La Boca today started beating at that time as they flooded into the area, bringing musical traditions and political ideas such as anarchism, socialism.

Still with me? Ok…the mostly male immigrants outnumbered the females nine to one and were crammed, as many as two hundred at a time, into conventillos (little convents) I saw one really small room in a conventillo, which would have housed a large number of men who rented a bed for six hours a day. As they got up to go to work, the next man would come and sleep, and then the next. With no showers, and one latrine for two hundred, disease was a very real and ever present threat.  Now here’s the interesting bit: all these men, from different countries, unable to communicate, would congregate in silence in public areas but bring the instruments from their home lands, the violins, guitars, and bandoneons etc., and they would jam together. This gave rise to the tango and other forms of deeply passionate, musical melancholy. If you combine African, Romanic, Germanic and Slavic (plus others) you get musical styles and rhythms that have a gypsy-like quality to them. It was very interesting to see this jamming at work today. There were two guitarists in the restaurant I ate at, playing for the dancers to tango to. When I told one of them that I was from Liverpool, he started playing Blackbird. The other guy clearly didn’t know the Beatles song but started playing along in a Django Reinhardt style, as a totally different version of the song was born before my eyes.  It took me back in time in my mind to the late nineteenth century when this first happened. The women, by the way, had “special appartments” which I think is a euphemism for “brothel.”

So let’s move from music to art. The Caminita street was once the most notorious street in La Boca. Local artist and philanthropist, Benito Quinquela Martin, bought the walkway in the 1950’s and created the first open air art gallery in Argentina. The only people who were allowed to display their work there were those who could show from their ID cards that they lived in La Boca.  That tradition continues to this day, with metal stands displaying work in a variety of styles, all original, and none of it mass produced. Only four of the conventillos are still inhabited by residents, who they refused to sell and move out.

A bit more history. Some politics maybe. In 1882 the area became “The Independent Republic of La Boca for three days as it separated from Argentina over low wages and lowered the Genoese flag of their homeland. The president of Argentina apparently came in person to take it down. That spirit of protest continues to this day in the neighbourhood and there are works of art dedicated to the darkness of the 1976-83 army/navy dictatorship, as well as vivid murals celebrating the mothers of thousands who “disappeared” at that time. The famous Hebrew inscription adorns one wall: Within the confines of your mind you find both, the chains to your slavery, and the key to your freedom. The complaint about wages in 1882 is currently a complaint about rising rents, paradoxically brought on by improvements made to the district’s sewers. Designated the art district of Buenos Aires, film directors and celebrities are moving to La Boca to buy up abandoned properties as they don’t have to pay taxes for the first year.  As you move closer to the football stadium you see one incredible piece of artwork on the side of a multi-storey tenement block, commissioned by the city government which has proved controversial because it doesn’t have an underlying political message or statement of protest like so many others.  Even where we stood discussing the beautiful, huge, detailed painting of a sad girl you could see that a childrens’ playground incorporates a mural celebrating the murder, by police, of a socialist in a peaceful demo. (see the very bottom of this photo) 

The art of the district is also a celebration, with a particular emphasis on honouring the volunteer fire fighters of the district, who were often called upon to deal with blazes resulting from the timber in many of the conventillos.  Portrayed with Inca features in the blue and yellow colours of the football team, they are an inspiration to many kids growing up there. I’m not sure whether it is a good idea to say that the children in La Boca play with helmets instead of superhero capes, but that is what they do.   Just as you reach the stadium, you see, on the outside walls of a restaurant a host of Argentinian idols, from current day Pope Francis and Lionel Messi, to Maradonna, Evita and everyone’s favourite revolutionary, Che Guevara.

And finally, a bit about sport, and the world famous Boca Juniors football team. Started by 13 year olds from Genoa, Boca shared the site of current stadium with River Plate until 1920, when a game decided who should keep the land. The rivalry continues to this day between the millionaires (River Plate) and the shit shovellers (Boca), so named because the boys used to make money collecting and selling manure. They actually take pride in the working class ethos of those roots, which still endure to this day. They allow into one seating area more than twice as many fans as there are seats and they jump up and down like bouncing sardines, making a deathly, intimidating roar, directly over the dressing room of the opposing team. If you want to see a derby between River Plate and Boca now, you can expect to take your place on a sixteen year waiting list for the privilege. Imagine getting one of those: it would be like getting a golden ticket from a Wonka bar, and only slightly less dangerous. Security conscious Boca use breathalysers on fans entering the ground, and make sure they put valuables, and anything like keys, with potential to be used as a weapon, in lockers.

So. in conclusion, why did I love this area so much? Simple! Created in a melting pot of influences this district now has a vibrant identity of its own. The same passion and creativity and fight are seen on the football pitch, in the art work and in the music. There is something for everyone here, unless you are a mindless couch potato: politics, history, socialising, bar and cafe culture, music, art and sport. As I like all of these you can see why I decided to write this.

Words and pics by Si @cre8ivation

A lot of the information, stories, anecdotes and some of the history and cultural references come from the tour organised by www.buenosairesfreewalks.com They do two free tours and this one costs two hundred pesos per person. It is incredibly informative and well worth the money.

The school, lactarium and dental hospital built by philanthropist, Benito Quinquela Martin (see statue below)