Buenos Aires - February 4th

The final of the major neighbourhoods of Buenos Aires that we have to visit is La Boca.  This is basically the old port district, or to be more precise the old meat packing district.  Now it is a riot of colour as the locals have painted their houses to attract the tourists, and there are a lot of cafes and souvenir shops lining a small block of pedestrianized streets.  A famous tango song was written about the place in the 1920s, and every café and some street performers are performing tangos all day long.  The main problem is the overlapping of the noise coming out of each café.

As well as Tango, Boca’s other claim to fame is its football team, Boca Juniors, and their most famous son, Maradona.  There are a lot of pictures, caricatures and statues of him around for the tourists to pose with.  You can also see the stadium, but as it turns out there is a match on today, a testimonial for an ex player, so we can’t get too close.  The match starts at 20:00, but by 16:00 the place is already full of fans.

It’s a nice enough place, but there isn’t really too much to it.  And the Lonely Planet and WikiTravel both give a lot of warnings about straying off the beaten path, so you have to be on your guard as the packed streets turn into empty alleys quite quickly.  It is hard to say whether the warnings are justified, as there were loads of police on the streets for the game.  Still we clear out well before kick-off.

In the evening we go to a secret restaurant, which isn’t really secret because it is high up on the Trip Advisor list of best restaurants in BA.  It’s a fine dining place, with a large tasting menu, and a sommelier who helps you choose the best wines for each course, based on what you say you like in wine, not on what he thinks.  It does feel like being in someone’s home rather than being in a restaurant.  It’s a very good meal, and the wine is excellent, and although it is our most expensive on the trip, it still comes in at less than £100.  It also takes 4 hours with all the courses so it is after 01:00 when we get out of these.