La Boca

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Today I started Spanish lessons and have met some really great people. This afternoon we went on a trip to La Boca, which is a barrio near the port.

La Boca is a very poor area originally inhabited by Italian immigrants. Apparently they speak a dialect that is a mixture of Spanish and Italian - as if trying to understand spanish isn´t bad enough!

The residents of La Boca were so poor that they could not afford paint for their houses. So, they used the paint that was used to paint the ships in the dock. As a result, the buildings are painted in really bright colours. It is quite interesting to wander around, although it is quite commercialised.

It is somewhat of an artist´s paradise with street artists and murals all over the place. It was the birthplace of a celebrated Argentine artist, Benito Quinquela Martin. Apparently one of his pictures hangs in St James Palace. There are also many cartoon statues of Eva Peron, Diego Maradona and Carlos Gardel (very famous tango singer).

We visited the football stadium that is home to La Boca Juniors, a very popular team. It´s possible to go inside the ground if you wish to see the stadium.

We then sat at a sidewalk cafe where we were entertained by a pair of tango dancers. They were excellent, and then told us that it was compulsory for customers to dance with them! I wouldn´t have minded a dance, as the guy was rather smouldering. However, Angeline has learnt tango before so there was no way I was going to embarass myself after her performance! We were saved by the arrival of our minibus anyway.

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Photos

La Boca
Famous for its brightly painted houses