La Boca, Buenos Aires, Argentina

We went to an area of Buenos Aires called La Boca some time ago, when Elder Oaks and Elder Bednar were here.  I posted the pictures from the tour with Sister Bednar of Recoleta Cemetery  but forgot to post the ones of La Boca. So here they are. I hope we get to go back sometime.  It was while we were still trying to figure out what was a good price and what wasn't.  Plus we were not staying long in any one place, so I decided not to purchase anything. 

La Boca is full of art and craft shops

To say that La Boca is colorful both in the buildings and the people is an understatement!

One of many multi-colored buildings in La Boca

This is dedicated to the firefighters.

She is not a statue...She is a real person who stands amazingly still and then shifts positions to another pose.  A living statue.

The image of Che Guevara is not unusual here.

Saw these two banners, one of Che Guevara and the other of Mafalda hanging in a courtyard full of shops.

Mafalda is a cartoon by Argentine, Joaquín Salvador Lavado, better known as Quino

Mafalda is a 6 year old girl who is concerned about the world.  She has a definite personality!  The comic strip ran in the 60's and 70's in Latin America, Europe and Asia. 

The people on the balcony are statues of famous Argentines.

 You will see Messi on Soccer shirts and in la Boca you will see his image on many things and caracatures of him standing on the balconies along with Evita, Juan Peron and other famous Argentines.  If you didn't know, he is IT in soccer down here.  I would compare him to David Beckham, but the Argentines would say that Beckham can't hold a candle to Messi on the football field.  (Yeah, remember once you leave the states, football is no longer called soccer!)

Messi jersey and other football stuff.  Big rivalry here between  Boca Juniors and River Plate. 

There were football jerseys, bolas (look it up, I can't explain it without drawing a picture) and lots of food sold on the street, even meat on the parilla.

 And of course ....the tango!  I took a lot of pictures, but the movements are so fast sometimes and turns so common that I had problems getting their faces, or even having a photo in focus.  So cool to watch!

Dancing on a tiny stage in the middle of the diners.

And of course, the guitarristas!

And you have to have a magnet or wire sculpture of the tango to take home!

One of many bas-relief's about the various immigrant cultures in Argentina.

If we had been in the apartment I might have gotten one of these paintings to go on the bare walls, but we were still in the hotel when we went on this tour.

Here you can see Karen Casos, Robin Ashton and Sandy Dalton (I think) walking past the displays put out by local artists selling their wares. As we headed back to the Remises (rented vans)