A typical building in La Boca, a suburb of Buenos Aires
Walking in a neighborhood is one of my favorite things: the sounds, smells and sights give you a vibrant idea of how people really live. And probably the most colorful neighborhood I’ve ever visited is in Buenos Aires.
La Boca, a working-class barrio of BA, developed as a fishing village near the port at the mouth (boca) of the Riachuelo river. Most people throughout the world know it for its football (soccer) club, Boca Juniors, and the huge coliseum, La Bombanera, shaped like a chocolate box. But the bright colors –well, those started with using the paint left over from fishermen's boats, and they just kept doing it.
Many settlers came from Genoa in the late 19th century, and so today the area is known as "a Piccola Italia" (Little Italy). In fact, in 1882, after a long, general strike, La Boca seceded from Argentina, and rebels raised the Genoese flag, which of course was immediately squashed by the President of Argentina. Kind of like Texas really trying to secede from the US, and President Obama himself taking the Lone Star flag down.
I was in La Boca 15 years ago, researching a guidebook, and I returned last year on a brief stopover from a cruise. On any Sunday afternoon, streets are filled with tourists and locals, artists and tango dancers. But I came by at a quiet time, casually taking photos as I walked. And I felt La Boca was my own.
Families, called "conventillos" live in the brightly-painted, multi-colored houses.
Tango dancers are among the street performers and artists on Sundays. There's also an art museum.
Like a scene from a painting, a man sits in the sunshine.
Combos of color are different on every house --some paint all floors.
Compositions of bright windows, balconies and doors, corrogated walls and roofs.
Shops and cafes line the sidewalks. Many of the cobblestone sidewalks are elevated to prevent flooding from the river.
All shapes and sizes come together.
The sky becomes just one of the colors of blue.
Even the benches and garbage cans ....
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Comments
http://www.anoutsidechance.com/InuvikPhotoTour/Natala.html
(Pardon the low resolution -- the photo was taken with an early digital camera in 1997).
Bart, yes your photo reminds me of the colorful neighborhoods near the poles, where the people make up for the bleak landscape with color, to contrast with the snow. (Check out my blog listing for Greenland.)Also, barren places like the Falkland islands, where the homes are schoolbus yellow and the roofs are red. Closer to the poles you go, the more color you see. But BA is filled with color anyway, so it's quite a sensual overload.
Dave, I'm with you all the way. That's why I figured out to write about travel, 30 years ago.
--rated--
onecorgilover, Iquazo Falls are one of the great sites of the world. And so many people go to Argentina and miss it. Do not miss it if you go!!
Gary, thanks for stopping by.
Steve, my pleasure. These are small things, these kind of walks in neighborhoods. But nice to remember and share.
Thanks for sharing!
You know, your observations and perceptions often remind me of Ronald Wright. I think you're supplanting him as my favourite travel writer...
Buffy, yes the neighborhood is so free-spirited and fun.
Steve, that's interesting about Galveston. Didn't realize it.
Boa, aw shucks. Thanks for the comparison.
I travel too, having just spent the last two and a half years cycling through 18 countries... Life changing in a literal sense.
These photo's are incredible... The comments here in your post remind me of Belgium - it is so rare to find two houses the same there. It is cultural and deliberate... They do not have the beautiful colours as those in your pictures.
It's an incredible world - I would travel and die traveling if I could afford it...
Love to meet others - even if vicariously
Thanks for your insight
Mal
stellaa, love your new avatar by duaneart! Yes, color is zappy. Kind of like scarves and makeup for the world.
I enjoy travel of both armchair and actual varieties.
I'd love to read THAT Homeowners Associations contract.
Thought of you yesterday when I met a woman who'd taken a cruise to Alaska that included an excursion to a mountaintop where she snowshoed around the tips of small pines poking up through the deep layers of snow.
Rated
Freaky, I think La Boca would like you as their spokestroll. Do you speak Spanish?
Hawley, I've been thought of in worse ways.
David, as I mentioned in the writing, the fisherman had extra boat paint and didn't want it to go to waste. Also, if you ever go to the Ligurian coast of Italy where Genoa is located (and where the settlers here were from, originally), you'll see wonderful color in the houses along the port. Also in Cinque Terre, up the Italian coast. But this barrio also has South American vivid color that makes it amazing.
Several years ago a local artist started painting murals on overpasses and retention walls, which the city painted over with a white gloss which was supposed to prevent him from repainting them. The public outcry was so great that they now hire him to pain wonderful scenes on public spaces/
This was a great trip. How could you ever be down if you lived in a place like that. I feel like I could lose everything and I'd still walk around with a smile plastered to my face.
"UNDERSEA MURAL AT INTERSTATE 75 AND ARCHER ROAD
Let’s face it: Gainesville has a love/hate relationship with its murals. Some think they’re tacky, others think they’re part of the city’s unique spirit. And while it’s certainly unexpected to see sea turtles in a landlocked city, the gracefully abstract undersea mural painted on the I-75 overpass is a pleasant break from the onslaught of Archer Road traffic." Title: Atlantis, Artist: Matt Hawkins
See it pictured here
And a shout-out to Wayne for following up. I happened to have lived in Gainesville when it was a small town and can't get over the public art work. There's not much in the landscape around the expressway, that's for sure.
I am imagining conversations amongst the townspeople, "oh, look here is this half can of magenta, should we paint this window frame over here?" This is a fertile ground for such rich imaginings.
Happy hungry tourist get tomato pizza.
I was in Nepal and the cops sent hooker.
They wanted to sell some hash for a bowl.
I said:`Be careful. The cops watch you too.
Serious. This happened and I got the jitters.
I did NOT feel like old
hash-brown potatoes
Hi. cop over shoulder
Be cautious.
Walk circumspect.
Days are very evil.
I read that word *circumspect* Great colors.
It's written in old biblical text. You are Lucky.
BTW. I Am not a potential threat to anybody.
huh. I'd appreciate IF feds take me off a list.
I am No potential threat to domestic security.
Wild days indeed. Gimme truth and beauty.
And here I sit in a tract home with an HOA that prevents us from painting our house any color that doesn't match everyone else’s drab, desert tan.
My father-in-law lived in an upscale community in Downey, California. An older, somewhat eccentric lady who lived next to him decided she wanted a pink house and one day did just that. Now, this wasn't your typical soft-hued pink, rather it looked more like a bottle of Pepto-Bismol. I thought it was rather fascinating that this lady would defy the neighborhood, but you would have thought she was walking the streets nude or something with the ire she drew from the neighbors
From your biggest arm-chair traveler fan, as always, I love your travel posts.
Colorfully rated
Boomer Bob, so glad you enjoy the travelogues. Will continue to do them ....