La Boca might not be what you originally thought.
La Boca is a neighbourhood (barrio) in Buenos Aires not to be confused with 'Caminito, La Boca', a traditional alley in La Boca and the popular colourful tourist area you've probably seen in photos, which is often just referred to as 'La Boca'. Barrio La Boca is a largely very poor working class area of the city, that is crime ridden and in parts very dangerous. It is important to not mix the two up, as Caminito is not a true representation of the whole neighbourhood.
This does not mean you shouldn't visit Caminito, acknowledging it is not just colourful buildings, and has a deep rooted history, mean it is a very interesting place to visit. Like we discussed in our Cape Town blog's , another place which is stereotypically dangerous, every city usually has no go areas for tourists, most will generally be fine, if you travel smart and take advice.
For this reason we visited 'La Boca' as part of a BA bikes tour. Our guides, were very upfront about safety in La Boca in particular and ensured we did not have any visible high value items, bags, or large cameras. It is recommended not to walk through La Boca instead get transport straight to Caminito or book a tour. From where we stopped on the bikes, the guides looked after them for us, letting us go explore, and pointed out boundaries that they wouldn't recommend us walking past, including back out onto the main street alone.
As mentioned earlier, it is important when visiting Caminto, La Boca to understand its past. La boca is where poor, largely Italian, immigrant dock workers used to live in the 1800s. In order to survive they had to make their own homes from thin corrugated metal sheets left over from the docks, painted with left over paint, hence the patchwork design. When Puerto Madero was constructed the area fell into decline. The small shops you now see used to house an entire family.
The area became a tourist attraction as early as the 1950s when Quinquela MartÃnwas, decided to repaint the buildings the way the immigrant dock workers did many years before, in the hopes of conserving the history and reviving the area. The area was then declared an open museum. We'd recommend doing a tour to understand more and not just to go for the photo opportunity.
Some consider it an overrated tourist attraction full of people hassling you to buy things, we've personally didn't experience this too much and can certainly think of a few other places this was more prevalent, and what many consider overrated cafes, but Caminito, La Boca, stands alongside Bo-Kaap - South Africa, Burano -Italy, Kampung Pelangi -Indonesia, La Peñas - Ecuador, Pachuca - Mexico, StoBosa -Philippines, Valparaiso, Chile, as one of the worlds rainbow neighbourhoods. We've been to three of these and they have been some of our favourite parts of the city, yes they've become big tourists attractions but the ones we've visited have own unique culture and history that led them to look like rainbows. Caminito retains some European flavour and influence and vibrant history. You'll find couples dancing the traditional Argentinian Tango, trying to compete for your audience, craft stalls of trinkets and art.
Another area people also visit in La Boca is the football stadium, Estadio Alberto J. Armando also known as La Bombonera, to see Boca Juniors play. The 60000 capacity will more than likely be full, with the stadiums shape the acoustic will make it sound like a lot more than the 60K.
Socks and Sandals