Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
painted in all colors of the palette and the out-
door artists' market echoes the lively scene in
many of the paintings and watercolors for sale
here.
Caminito even
lends its name to
one of the most
heart-wrenching
tangos ever
heard.
Some Background
The name of the district, “La Boca,” means “The
Mouth,” stemming from its location at the
mouth of the Riachuelo (Little River) that flows
into the Río de la Plata. Some say this was the
city's first port and it has functioned since the
beginning of the city's history. A few revision-
ists point to this area as the initial founding
spot by Pedro de Mendoza in 1536.
While the
Riachuelo
sounds roman-
tic, its waters
are polluted
from the boats
Mendoza's name lives on in the
barrio's
main
thoroughfare, but there is scant evidence that
the city really started in La Boca. Not much is
known about the district before 1800, when the
first boatloads of immigrants arrived here.
These European settlers found a land that was
basically rural, made of country estates, farms
and orchards. It was clear from that time on
that the open spaces were not going to last very
long, as the settlers saw vast opportunities,
particularly near the river.
Warehouses sprang up along the riverside, and
meat packing plants and curing houses
replaced the grassy banks. The dry goods ware-
houses in La Boca purveyed their goods to all
the boats that came to the Buenos Aires ports
and soon business was thriving. A tramway
installed in the 1870s served as the first link
