Buenos Aires B’s

A true porteño neighborhood, Boedo may be the best choice for a visit to a typical residential zone in Buenos Aires. It features soccer, tango and steaks; few combinations can be defined as more "porteñas," more belonging to classical Buenos Aires.

Reaching Boedo

Reaching Boedo from downtown Buenos Aires is easy (they are close) through the Line "E" of the "Subte." Of course, the relevant station is "Boedo."

On Soccer

Soccer is the national sport of Argentina. Maybe it should be defined here as a national cult, since it has religious dimensions. Most of Buenos Aires classical neighborhoods have a team and Boedo is not different.

Well, almost. It had a team named "Club Atlético San Lorenzo de Almagro," usually referred to by the nickname of "San Lorenzo." Formally founded in 1908 it is one of the leading teams in the local soccer. They had a stadium in the neighborhood that was known as the "Gasometero" ("Gas Meter") on La Plata Avenue until it was confiscated by the military dictatorship in 1979 and its terrain sold by them to a well known supermarket.

In 1993, the Pedro Bidegain Stadium (Perito Moreno corner Varela) became the clubs new home and is known as the "Nuevo Gasometro." It can seat comfortably more than forty thousand could-be-happy people, but, alas, it was located in the neighborhood of Nueva Pompeya, just beyond Boedo’s limits. Seeing paradise but…

Yet, Boedo is still strongly in favor of San Lorenzo. Combining a visit to Boedo with a short look at the new stadium is worthy, especially since also Nueva Pompeya is a Tango stronghold and the theme of a very famous tango called "Sur."

On Tango

The tango "Sur" mentions Nueva Pompeya and Boedo. At the very beginning the junction of Boedo and San Juan avenues is mentioned there. This is the main junction in Boedo. The corner has been renamed Homero Manzi Corner, in honor to the author and is home to several Tango festivals along the year.

Even before "Sur" – a love song about a lost love - was written in 1948, Boedo was the heart and soul of the tango. The Boedo Avenue has been nominated by the municipality as "Paseo del Tango" ("Tango Walk").

Visiting

A visit to Boedo is mainly a cultural one. There are not many sights per se there. Thus, after dedicating a few minutes to the San Juan and Boedo avenues, a place offering a healthy Argentinean steak to the sound of classy tangos should be chosen. The whole area is home to many establishments. I prefer not to give my personal choice in order not to spoil the serendipity factor in this very genuine experience.

With over 150000 denizens, Balvanera is one of the largest neighborhoods in Buenos Aires, Yet, it’s name is almost unknown since it has been popularly divided into three zones, each one of them an important one in downtown Buenos Aires: Abasto, Congreso and Once.

Reaching the Area

The best way of arriving to the area is with the line "B" of the subway to the Carlos Gardel Station. Not only because few names are more symbolic of the area, also because a huge shopping mall and landmark of the city is right next to its exit. Carlos Gardel was a nationalized Argentinean that is usually referred to as the "Tango King."

Some of the main avenues in town: Callao, Entre Rios, Cordoba and Independencia delimit it, thus the access from the nearby downtown is fast and easy with taxis and buses as well. The Once Railway Station is one of the main ones in Buenos Aires, providing an additional mean of access.

Name and Zones

The name Balvanera origins on a church, Nuestra Señora de Balvanera, built in 1831, and refers to Monasterio de Valvanera de La Rioja in Spain. The area between Corrientes and Pueyrredon avenues is called Once, after the "Once de Septiembre" (September Eleven) Railway Station. The southeastern area is called Congreso, since the National Congress is there. The rest – the northwest – is known as Abasto, due to the location there of the Mercado de Abasto.

The area of Once, mainly around the Corrientes Avenue, features the main Jewish synagogues of the city, and is also a center of the Arab and Armenian communities in Buenos Aires. Despite that, the Abasto area was strongly "criollo" and became one of the centers of the tango culture in the city.

Attractions

The uniformity of the buildings in the area, most of them low and in a style favored in Europe of the early 19th century make it difficult at first to note details. Yet, the overall effect is agreeable and the area can be enjoyed; finding a suitable coffee shop may take some time, but the effort would only improve the coffee’s taste.

Located at the end of the Avenida the Mayo, the National Congress is one of the most imposing structures in Buenos Aires. It was constructed between 1898 and 1906 by the Italian Vittorio Meano in Neoclassical style with a very impressive dome.

Located north of the Plaza Miserere, Estación Once de Septiembre railway terminal was inaugurated in 1882. It was named after the September 11, 1852 rebellion of Buenos Aires against the Federal government. It handles long-distance and local passenger trains and is more comfortable than the Retiro Terminal, the main one in the city. It is worth a visit even if a train trip is not being considered; since the collapse of the Argentinean railways in 1993, only very few lines reach locations beyond the city.

However, the most contemporaneous attraction in the neighborhood is the Mercado de Abasto on 3247, Avenida Corrientes, the largest shopping mall in town built on a modified fruits and veggies market.

The Mercado de Abasto ("Providing Market") was inaugurated in 1893 as a fruits and vegetables market, but the market was finished only in 1903. After several expansions it was decided to reconstruct the market and in December 1931 the cornerstone of the actual structure was placed, in 1933 it was connected to the subway. The new market was inaugurated in 1934. It covered a whole block and featured several stories; the new expansion brought also a license to sell fish and meat as well.

Probably it is the only veggies market in the world built in Art Deco style. The Abasto Market awesome façade, featuring several massive arches of different sizes is the telling sign of the fact; Buenos Aires choice to build in this style its main market is - to say the least – curious.

In 1984 the market was finally closed and the structure fell in disuse. In 1996 the building was remodeled – carefully keeping the original Art Deco features – and in 1998 it was reopened as the Abasto Shopping, the biggest and one of the most attractive shopping malls in Argentina.

Visiting the building is a must while in Buenos Aires even if not planning to shop anything. The original market can still be imagined in the sumptuous interior. The large space seems ideal for the location of food stalls. Yet, it is luxurious enough for hosting a small palace.

The site is advertised as "Ciudad de Compras" ("Shopping City"); the title correctly depicts the experience of visiting this massive structure. There are spaces – mainly near the center of the structure – that allow seeing the full height of the building, an open space across the floors. The very high ceilings and shiny interior create a dizzying experience.

Overall, visiting the neighborhood is worthy due to its unusual mix of a travel nexus, national monuments, shiny shopping centers and an overall setup which can be defined as classic Buenos Aires. Who could refuse to such a day trip?

Most travelers arriving at Buenos Aires dedicate at least a few hours to Caminito, yet there is more than that in the area. People living in Buenos Aires refer to themselves as "Porteños," recognizing thus the port vital role in the city’s life, and port until the late 19th century meant La Boca. The name means "The Mouth" and refers to it being the meeting point between the Riachuelo (a small stream of waste delimiting the city to the south) and the mighty Plate River.

Nowadays, La Boca is known mainly for Boca Juniors, one of the two best soccer teams in Buenos Aires. Its stadium (on Brandsen 805) is known as "Bombonera" ("Candy Box"), due to its shape. Some of the 1978 World Cup games took place here. The team’s blue and yellow logo is ubiquitous in the neighborhood.

La Boca has more to offer. The colorful quarter and derelict port created the perfect background for restaurants, souvenir shops and cafeterias catering for the many tourists reaching the area. However, all these activities attract huge crowds on a regular and predictable schedule; combined with the area’s poverty, this created a heaven for thieves. Visiting La Boca is dangerous at all times, but especially at night. Precautions and care should be taken everywhere, but especially so around the Caminito and the Boca Juniors Stadium.

History

La Boca was the site of Buenos Aires first – and failed – foundation in 1536 by Pedro de Mendoza. Following the second foundation in 1580 (see the Plaza de Mayo entry in this journal) it became the first port of the city and the main place of arrival of slaves from Africa. Many of those died in the Potosi mines.

By the end of the 19th century this port was not deep enough for the new ships of that era, thus a new port was built in the area now known as "Puerto Madero". After a decade, the city port was moved further north.

The port is not longer the main attraction in La Boca but it still shapes the neighborhood. La Boca’s wood and zinc shanty houses were built by the Italian immigrants who worked in the port and are colored in a myriad of bright patches. The place looks as if a rainbow crashed on it. It is hard to imagine poor people living in a poor city of a poor continent spending so much on paints; actually, they got the colors free from ship repairs leftovers.

La Boca became the main residence point of immigrants from Genoa in Buenos Aires; they were almost half of the roughly forty thousand inhabitants of La Boca. In 1882, the neighborhood denizens declared independence from Argentina and informed the Italian king about that. The president – a general – arrived with the army and took out the Genoan flag.

The Riachuelo

Riachuelo ("Little River") is the name of a canalized river reaching the River Plate on the southwestern side of Buenos Aires. Once the visitor reaches it – it passes just a block away from Caminito – there cannot be any doubts: the place is an open sewage stream.

Breathing carefully, it is possible to withstand the fierce and odorous attack and take a look around. Strangely enough, I spotted (and photographed) a small boat giving transport services across it. Quintessential Buenos Aires, clear skies reflected on a filthy canal.

Several metal bridges skeletons exist in the area, some in use and others rusty, but all of them rise impressively above the Riachuelo, attempting to get as far away as possible from it. The waterfront was transformed into a promenade, which was expectedly empty at the various occasions I passed there.

Museums

The Historic Wax Museum is at 1261, Del Valle Iberlucea Street is open from Mondays to Fridays from 10 AM to 6 PM; weekends from 11 AM to 8 PM. Admission 5ARP. This is the South American version of Madam Tussoud.

The Benito Quinquela Martin Fine Arts Museum is located at 183, Pedro de Mendoza Avenue and is open from Tuesdays to Sundays from 10 AM to 6 PM. The museum is named alter a painter that lived here and shows his works and studio.

The Proa Museum is at 1929, Pedro de Mendoza Avenue and is open from Tuesdays to Sundays from 11 AM to 7 PM. A typical Italian house was transformed into a beautiful contemporary art centre.

Caminito and Nearby Attractions

The most colorful street in the city is a daily artists’ outdoor exhibition open from 10am to 6pm. It is located near the "Vuelta de Rocha," where the Riachuelo makes a sharp turn. A tango of the same name, by Juan de Dios Filiberto, gave fame to the area.

The Vuelta de Rocha, at Pedro de Mendoza Av. Corner Palos, hosts the steamship La Carrera, a museum ship with a tourists’ information center and a handicrafts stalls base.

Necochea Street is where old port canteens were replaced by stylish restaurants offering seafood and local shows based on the tango culture.

Timing and Arrival

While the main sights are available everyday, it is recommended visiting the neighborhood on Sundays, just after visiting the not so far away San Telmo Flea Market. This is one of the few places in town, where the recommended arrival method is by taxi since the subway does not reach it.

I give it only a "B." It could have got an "A" since that as the plaza serving the main government buildings in the country it is quite impressive. It could have got the "A" if it wasn’t for one of its features: the "Casa Rosada."

The seat of the Argentinean government has been painted pink – the name means the "Pink House" – apparently using cows’ blood in the mixture used for coating it. There are rumors that next year it will be painted violet with broad diagonal yellow stripes. Not wonder that Madonna sang here in 1995 "Don't Cry for Me Argentina."

Yet, it is an official Historic Place and I dutifully review it.

Reaching the Plaza

Located at the very center of downtown Buenos Aires, the plaza is delimited by the following streets: Hipólito Yrigoyen, Balcarce, Avenida Rivadavia and Bolívar. On its western side begin three avenues: Presidente Julio A. Roca, Presidente Roque Sáenz Peña and Avenida de Mayo.

The best way of reaching it is by "Subte," Buenos Aires subway. Three lines reach it, Line "A" through its Plaza de Mayo station, Line "D" through the Catedral station and Line "E" through the Bolívar station.

The Plaza

The plaza is on the place where on June 11, 1580, Juan de Garay and 64 settlers from Asunción del Paraguay founded the city for the second and definitive time. The Plaza Mayor – as it was named back then – became the city main meeting place and market.

The Plaza Mayor became the Plaza de la Victoria in 1807, when it was the location where the British invaders were defeated. In its modern form, the plaza was created only in 1884 by the unification of the Victoria and Fuerte plazas.

The plaza is roughly rectangular, with two semicircular sides next to the Bolivar and Balcarce streets. It occupies almost twenty thousand square meters, its length being almost 230m. Within it are several works of art: the Pirámide de Mayo, the Monumento al General Belgrano, four fountains, two clocks and several types of special palms and trees.

On May 25, 1811, a bricks pyramid known as the Pirámide de Mayo was constructed in the plaza in commemoration of the revolution that took place the former year on the same date. The event directly led to the Argentinean independence from Spain in 1816. Later on, in 1912, the pyramid was moved to the plaza’s center.

In 1873, a monument to the General Belgrano was erected there. It depicts the general riding a horse and was the first monument done by an Argentinean sculptor, Manuel de Santa Coloma. In 1886 it was moved from the plaza’s center to a location just in front of the Casa Rosada.

The trees and palms in the plaza are of special interest, since they were brought during renovation works by the landscape architect Charles Thays, a Frenchman that designed many of the most important parks in Argentina and Uruguay. I have reviewed other of his parks in Mendoza and Montevideo.

Main Buildings around the Plaza

The main structures surrounding it are the Cabildo, the Casa Rosada, the Metropolitan Cathedral, the municipal government building and the headquarters of the Argentinean National Bank:

Catedral Metropolitana

The Metropolitan Cathedral is on the corner of Rivadavia and San Martín, where in 1593 the Iglesia Mayor was founded. Between 1860 and 1863 it was heavily modified, especially it façade that features since then twelve massive columns symbolizing the apostles; it was done in neoclassic style. The inner part was left in typical Colonial style and keeps the General San Martin Mausoleum.

Cabildo

This was the seat of the colonial government; its modern counterpart – the Casa Rosada – was symbolically located across the plaza from the Cabildo. Its sides have been demolished in order to open place for the modern avenues; the remains were completely reconstructed in 1940 using the 1810 blueprints.

Palacio de Gobierno de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires

Located on one of the plaza sides, the municipality was constructed between 1891 and 1902 in an eclectic European style. This was the site of the National Congress between 1864 and 1905.

Banco de la Nación Argentina

The impressive building of the National Bank is near the Casa Rosada. Between 1857 and 1888, this was the site of the first Teatro Colon. The actual building was built between 1940 and 1955. Its dome is one of the largest in the world, with a diameter of fifty meters and a height of thirty-six meters.

Casa Rosada

Since 1862, the Argentinean government function from this pinkish building, formerly the location of the Fuerte de Buenos Aires (Buenos Aires Fort, also known as Real Fortaleza de Don Juan Baltasar de Austria).

Avenida de Mayo

In 1894 the Avenida de Mayo (May Avenue) was inaugurated. It connects the Plaza de Mayo with the Plaza del Congreso (Congress Plaza, where the National Congress is located), passing through the monumental 9 de Julio Avenue.

A Tragic Place

It took me four journals about Buenos Aires to write an entry about Plaza de Mayo. The delay was no casual; I find visiting this tragic place difficult. Tragic? Is the central plaza in the country a tragic place?

A complete list of the facts is beyond the scope of such an entry, but yes; Plaza de Mayo is tragic. Until 1853 it was a main executions site; many lost their lives there.

On June 16, 1955, the plaza was bombed by the Argentinean Air Force, killing more than three hundred civilians in an attempt of the army to make yet another coup d’état.

Since April 30, 1977, the "Madres de Plaza de Mayo" ("Plaza de Mayo Mothers") met there every Thursday, demanding from the military dictators to give them back their disappeared sons.

In a demonstration against the military dictatorship, three thousand citizens were detained there on March 28, 1982.

Later, on September 20, 1984 there was a large demonstration when the "Nunca Mas" (Never Again) Report was given by the Comisión Nacional sobre la Desaparición de Personas (CONADEP, National Committee for the Person’s Disappearance) was given to the new civilian president, Alfonsín.

As recently as 2001, several people were killed there by the police during the Cacerolazo, a demonstration against the illegal de-facto confiscation of money in bank accounts by the government.

As said, a tragic place.

"I’ll be in Buenos Aires in a couple of weeks," I told a Bolivian friend.

Before he run away to inform of his finding to the local authorities, he told me:

"Make sure to visit the Bolivian neighborhood."

I had never heard of such a thing, though it made sense. The unofficial number of Bolivians in Argentina reaches the three million.

"Where is it?"

"I’m not sure; I think it is called Once."

I couldn’t imagine that. Once (pronounced "ohn-ceh," and meaning "eleven") is the name of a zone in the neighborhood of Balvanera (reviewed in this journal) and is known to be one of the wealthiest areas of Buenos Aires. Combining that bit of information with another one about Bolivians working in Argentina mainly as veggie sellers or low end clothes makers made his statement dubious, to say the least.

I made a mental point of checking out the issue once (not Once) in town.

On Once

Once in Buenos Aires, in my way to the Mercado de Abasto, I visited Once.

I walked up and down watching the faces and shops. Soon it was obvious that very few Bolivians were here, if any at all.

Discovery

Actually, I couldn’t remember seeing Bolivians at all in the city, despite the staggering statistics. I forgot of the whole issue, until one of my tours to the city surroundings forced me to pass through the Liniers Bus Terminal.

I wasn’t aware of the terminus existence at all. However, the bus I took in Retiro (Buenos Aires main travel hub), stopped there to collect a few passengers. Once there, I remembered seeing the name advertised in La Quiaca’s bus terminal, next to the main border cross between Argentina and Bolivia. Then, I remembered that despite all the Bolivians crossing into Argentina, I never saw even one taking a bus to Retiro. Red lights flashed in front of my eyes; I became very alert.

Some faces in the terminal were stockier and rounder than the norm in Argentina; they could be Bolivian (accordingly, an affective name for them in Argentina is "Bolitas"). Soon we were out and next to me I saw a sign: "Pollos a la Broasther," stated in the usually misspelled - on the verge of being innovative - Bolivian Spanish.

"Eureka," I said. I have just discovered the Bolivian headquarters in Buenos Aires.

Liniers

The smallish neighborhood of Liniers was named after a Spanish officer that contributed to the liberation of Buenos Aires from the English in the early nineteenth century. It is located on the western side of the city, between the avenues Emilio Castro, Juan B. Justo, Anselmo Saénz Valiente and the city delimiting General Paz Avenue.

It would be completely irrelevant for most travelers if it didn’t feature the second most important bus terminal of the city. Buses from Bolivia and La Quiaca reach it. It serves points in the immediate vicinity of Buenos Aires like Ezeiza (where the international airport is) and Tigre (where boats cross to Uruguay). Why didn’t I notice it until now? Being so far away from downtown, using it is not convenient, all these locations can be reached from Retiro or with comfortable taxis.

On my second visit to the area – now I had a reason, an article for IgoUgo – I discovered a railway station (near the junction of Rivadavia and General Paz avenues) leading to the Once Station in downtown (useful) and to Castelar, Moreno and Moron in the province (not useful).

However, for soccer aficionados this neighborhood is the very important location of the José Amalfitani Stadium, home to the Club Atlético Vélez Sársfield and where some of the games of the 1978 World Cup were played. Another point of attraction is the San Cayetano Church, where processions arrive every August 7, or depart to the Lujan Basilica, 70km to the west.

Pollo a la Broasther

So, what is "Pollo a la Broasther" (the "h" does not appear in most Bolivian signs)? "Pollo" means "chicken." Broaster, or broasther, or broasted (all used interchangeably in Bolivia) has a vaguely English sound. It is definitely not Spanish. It always refers to edible apparitions of chicken, more often than not to breaded chicken, pieces of chicken covered with wheat flour and deep fried.

Why broaster? Nobody knows. My guess is that like many words in use in Bolivia it was introduced by American missionaries. For example, Aymara people use the word "milh’" for "milk." Maybe a missionary prepared for his congregation "chicken breast" in such a fashion and the word was adopted.

In any case, it became the best lead to the Bolivian community in Buenos Aires.