La Boca

Al sur de Buenos Aires, a seis o siete kilómetros del centro de la ciudad, a lo largo de la orilla de un pequeño río canalizado en cierta extensión y que se llama Riachuelo, extiéndese La Boca, un barrio o mejor dicho un suburbio vastísimo de la población. Está separado de la ciudad solo por una extensa faja de terreno poblada por algunas casas esparcidas: la comunicación es cómoda, fácil, rápida, continua, por tramway y por ferro-carril; y sin embargo tiene un carácter tan diferente, tan especial, que parece estar á cincuenta millas de distancia. Muchos, hasta en Buenos Aires, hablan de la Boca como si hablasen de otra ciudad, no de un barrio que está á dos pasos de la gran plaza.

-Aníbal Latino

The barrio of La Boca is located in the southeast corner of the city Buenos Aires. La Boca is a tough, resilient working class barrio whose inhabitants fiercely support their local soccer team the Boca Juniors. The streets of Boca are intertwined with a vibrant melody of colors and sounds that create a truly a unique experience. As I walked the narrow pathways of the lyric Caminito. amongst other tourists, my eyes where fixated at the various pastel hues that dominated the architecture. I was in truly in awe as I gazed upon the multitude of magnificent sculptures alongside jagged pathway. The artistic pieces ranged from size and type, some such as “La mama y su hijo” where somber and touching and others such as “La Raza” exuded a sense of vigilance and ferocity. Promenading through the different tones of red, green and blue and past the aged tango dancers of yesteryear I found myself in a more solemn part of Boca. The colors had faded, the people had vanished and a shade of grayish simplicity overcame the boulevard I walked on. However, what was was lacking in people and color was substituted by a glorious aroma of parillas y choripan. Choripan is in essence a spiced sausage between a roll of Italian or French bread. It is usually sold near the soccer stadium or at the futbol stadium themselves. Choripan at a futbol game is the Argentinean version of hot dogs at a baseball. Being a creature of divine taste I decided to try and select which “restaurant” best suited my needs. I choose one that had chairs and the least amount of stray dogs. :) For 5 pesos I enjoyed a delectable meal of spiced and peppered pig intestines, while many will take that as a sign of sarcasm I mean it with the utmost sincerity.

Soon after my appetizing meal, which my American Currency cost me about 1.40, I decided to head back to the Boca Junior stadium. As I made my way to the stadium the silence that permeated through the streets of Boca where disrupted by the thunderous clamor of drums and and screams. I peered my head through a small alley-way and saw a sea blue and yellow engulf the tapered boulevards. The police where everywhere not trying to arrest people, but calmly letting the fans into the stadium. What amazed me was the religious fervor these worshippers had as they made their weekly pilgrimage into the most hallowed of grounds. Never in the states had I seen such zeal and diligence for a sport team. All in all everything that day was indeed “quite a sight”.

Check out the pictures I took while I was at La Boca
http://gallery.me.com/lopezjo/100009

Belgrano

I live in the barrio known as ‘Belgrano’. It is a quiet upper-middle class barrio bordering the ever hectic Palermo. On any given day one can walk down the narrow streets of Belgrano and find that is filled with residential homes, artisan bakeries and appetizing restaurants. The barrio has it’s certain suburban appeal that the rest of the city lacks.

As one walks down the La Avenida del Libertador to Arribeños, one encounters Buenos Aires’ growing Barrio Chino. Now I was taken aback the first day I arrived in Buenos Aires, not so much due to distinct cultural differences, moreover due to the fact that I had never seen so many Anglo-looking people speaking Spanish. Being of Salvadoran decent and growing up in the states the majority of Spanish speakers are/were mestizo.

However, due to intense immigration policies during the 19th century Buenos Aires had a large influx of European immigrants, thus creating a large white population. Now imagine, I’m taken aback by light colored people speaking Spanish, imagine how taken aback I am when I see a five year old Chinese boy screaming “Che, Boludo!”,at the top of his lungs. It was quite a sight. Nonetheless, that is what I really do admire about Buenos Aires, it’s diversity. Though it doesn’t seem as though BsAs is very diverse the fact of the matter is when you begin to think about the Spanish, French, English, Italian, Czech, Muslim, Jewish and Chinese presence here, it does end up being quite a melting pot. In other words, BsAs is diverse in its own distinct manner.
I must attest that the random graffiti that plagues the ‘would be beautiful’ residential architecture is quite distressing to a certain degree. The graffiti is not political in any manner, nor is it a sign of gang ‘turf’ (thankfully). Instead the graffiti is just a straight declaration of love (Te quiero Maria, por siempre. de tu querido Julio) or some random word/phrase that lacks any meaning. In any case I’m very happy in my neighborhood and I think with time I can grow fond of the random graffiti. I can do without all the dog shit though...

Check out the pictures I took of Belgrano:
http://gallery.me.com/lopezjo/100017