La Boca
This is a unique, colourful and unforgettable place. It is a portside neighborhood in the south side of Buenos Aires, which was originally populated by immigrant Italians from Genoa. It is one of the Buenos Aires birthplaces of tangos and its streets are lined with brothels, cafes and tango dancers.

The buildings are cladded with corrugated iron sheeting painted in bright colours. The story goes that when the immigrant population wanted to brighten up their poor housing, they stole pots of paint from the dockside. When they ran out of one colour they went and stole a different colour. Hence the mulitcoloured facades.

There are also curious large colourful statues of figures outside many of the buildings (see photos in Gallery).

La Boca is situated on one of the most polluted rivers in the world - the Riachuelo River - which has been described as being a slow discharge of black slime. The Argentinians joke that a jar of water from the Riachuelo is a good present for a difficult mother in law!