Backpacking South America

That’s what we heard at the Boca Jrs game – perhaps the most famous futbol club in Argentina and the former team of Argentine’s most loved and second most hated personality (behind Kristina Kirschner) in Argentina – Diego Maradona*.

We were fortunate enough to make it to a Boca Jrs home game recently to experience the energy and passion firsthand.  We went with a group instead of finding our own way into the game, dealing with scalpers and navigating the slightly dangerous streets of La Boca.  So, we piled into the bus and made our way towards the stadium.  There must have been more than 60 other people (we just kept picking up more and more people…the seats were full and there was no more room in the aisles with all the people standing.

Prior to the game, we made a stop at a bar in La Boca where they fed us as much pizza and beer as they could, probably to encourage us to sing louder and have a good time.  They desperately tried to get us to sing the team songs, but that is a bit tricky when there are 12 songs/chants.  After consuming more beer than pizza, everybody was corralled back onto the bus and shuttled a few blocks to the game.

Buenos Aires is an incredible city that abounds with places to see and things to do no matter the time of day.  It is a huge city.  The closest thing we have in the States to compare it to is New York City, but Buenos Aires seems to be even more alive. It’s true that it is noisy, polluted, and massively populated, but it can also be very calm, beautiful, and you’re never alone.  It would definitely go into our list of the top places in the world to visit.  As we’ve moved on from Buenos Aires, we wanted to share some of our favorite things to do (in no particular order). 

1. Casa de Lili (aka living with a local) 

Some of our best memories were living with our hostess.  While not in the trendy or touristy neighborboods, we were able to enjoy and peek into the life of real porteño life.  From unforgettable, simple meals, late night conversations and afternoon mate with friends and family, our stay would not have been the same without our time with Lili. 

2. MALBA

A great introduction to the history and minds of great Latin American artists.  This museum was inspiring and captivating.  With a collection that is large enough to stretch your mind, but not so large that you feel rushed or overwhelmed. 

3. La Boca

While existing on the extremes of hopelessly touristy and extremely dangerous, La Boca was a surprisingly enjoyable visit.  While we can only recommend that visitors stay within the tourist areas or travel with local advice, it was fun to see the brightly painted buildings, the home of the Boca Juniors futbol club, and two wonderful museums (PROA and Belles Artes).

It was a hard, but necessary realization that guidebooks aren’t always right and that hostels are more apt to give you the safest, but not always the best advice.  In Buenos Aires, we’ve learned how to balance the information from guidebooks, hostels and local residents to get out and see things that one, or the other, may not necessarily recommend. 

While there have been numerous examples, there is none more obvious than La Boca.  On our first day, our hostel strictly advised, only visit the two touristy blocks in La Boca.  The guidebooks stated the same.  One informed us that we would most definitely be mugged and the other said, “You might be tempted to stray from this touristy area and find the ‘Real’ La Boca: don’t.  The surrounding streets are notorious for violent crime, you will almost certainly be a very obvious target…”

So, we had written La Boca off the list of to dos until we moved in to our homestay.  Our host was insistent that La Boca and the area around the tourist area wasn’t so unsafe, just go during the daylight.  After all, it was only 8 blocks away.  After a couple of weeks, we worked up the courage and decided to go against the advice of the guidebook and hostel advice and consulted Lili on our route.    She made a few recommendations on places to see, told us to go in the early afternoon and to not carry our passports or much money (camera was fine).