Boca: Immigrants, Bordellos, Football and Tango

After a general strike, La Republica de la Boca seceded from Argentina in 1882 and raised the Genoese flag. It was immediately torn down by President Roca, but the reputation of this working-class barrio (neighborhood) endures.

 Travel back in time. Imagine a neighborhood inhabited by poor immigrants in the late 19^th century. Some Spanish and a lot of Italians. They arrive in search of a prosperous new life and end up working in meat-packing plants and warehouses along the river. What’s a man to do in his spare time when his love is thousands of miles away in another country, or when he is all alone?

Home improvement, of course. Take some left-over industrial-paint not used for the barges and spruce up your corrugated zinc home.

 

And then express your creative side. Paint on the walls of nearby buildings. Be inclusive: include men, women, children and jester-musicians regardless of how short or tall they are.

 

And create three-dimensional, cartoon-like, statue-like, I-don’t-know-what-they-are things. I have not been able to discover the history of these pieces of “art” but they are very colorful and exaggerated and strangely appealing as they peer at passers-by from sidewalks and balconies.

 

Blue and yellow are the colors of the Club Atlético Boca Juniors, and omipresent in Boca. Founded in 1905, the Juniors are one of the most successful football (soccer) clubs in Argentina and the world. And their fans are known as Xeneixes (meaning Genovese) because of the large Italian population when the club was founded, or as Bosteros (dung men) alluding to an old factory that made bricks from manure. Yes, Juniors fans have a lot to be proud of.

 

Lonely, these working-class men would hang out in bordellos and cafes. And, as the legend goes, they would dance with waitresses, prostitutes and each other as they waited for their paramours. Women were few and far between, and I would imagine the ones who were around were “working girls” seeking their fortunes outside of the meat-packing plants.

Tango was born in Boca. Okay, maybe not just in Boca. Others claim an earlier history with Tango. But if perception is reality, then Boca is where Tango truly came to life. A vulgar dance frowned upon by the elites, Tango soon became popular as it spread to Paris in 1912, then other European capitals, and reached New York by 1913 where it was transformed into “ballroom tango” with less body contact.

 Okay, this shot isn't from Boca, it's from Avenida Florida. But, it's street Tango!

Okay, that’s enough culture for a day. Time for a little bite at a parilla (a steakhouse-grill kind of place) which is, of course, pronounced pa-Ree-sha with that now familiar SH sound. Chau for now.