In the late 1800's and early 1900's immigrants settled the port of La Boca. About half of them were Italian. They worked in the shipyards. They built their colorful homes using scraps and leftover paint from the shipyard. Several families lived in one house called a conventillo and shared a common area.
The original community fell into ruin and was destroyed. An artist, Benito Quinquela Martin (an abandoned orphan who was adopted by a Genoese immigrant couple and raised in La Boca) with a group of his artist friends recreated it in 1959. He used bits and pieces salvaged from the original conventillos. Today the area is filled with shops and tourists.
Tango music came out of the immigrant packed conventillos and many believe that that is where the dance originated as well. Tango was everywhere in Caminito.
I loved the bold color! The buildings were works of art.
We were cautioned to stay out of the area after 5 pm. There were some seedy parts.
The port
2 comments:
Love tango---wish I could see that!
You have been busy blogging! Wow!
The pics were great from the reunion, too!
I love the colors as well!
I love the tango picture, and would have loved to see them dancing.
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