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El Caminito, meaning ‘little walkway’, is a street museum and traditional alley in La Boca. This lane boasts a thriving street with peddlers selling art, buskers playing music and stalls offering trinkets of every variety

Jewelry made from watch parts. Clever

This is the artist that makes the creations..

The neighborhood may derive its name from its location at ‘La Boca’ (the mouth) of the Riochuelo, as the Mantanza River is usually called. The port-side barrio is an obvious point for boats to come ashore and historians say the Spanish first landed in La Boca as early as 1536.

During their early colonial expansion the colonizers housed African slaves in this area. After Argentina gained independence many of the freed stayed. With the arrival of the industrial revolution La Boca grew into a gritty shipyard area with meat curing plants and tanneries.

A revival of El Caminito and La Boca in the 1950’s was lead by artist, Quinquela Martín. The famed La Boca orphan was abandoned at birth, adopted and spent a good portion of his childhood in La Boca. After studying drawing at a La Boca night school, he ended up becoming one of Argentina’s most famous painters and a major neighborhood philanthropist

El Caminito is a colorful street museum in the historically Italian stronghold of La Boca. Meaning little street, the brightly-painted walkway is a lesson in the life and history of the early immigrant Italian community in Argentina. What began as an independent collaboration between artist Benito Quinquela Martín and the local community in the 1950s is now a major tourist attraction showcasing the work of numerous local artists

Large Asado grill and patio of a restaurant in the Boca area.

Lots of great local art for sale

A purchase of local art by one of our fellow travelers Peggy. Good choice.

After the General Roca railway train line, which ran through here shut down in 1954, Martín set to work to save the barrio. He gathered neighbors to paint the houses bright colors, emulating the early immigrants. The artists began to host theater here utilizing the colorful houses as part of the backdrop

Marta Ficarra, our guide in Argentina and in Antarctica a few days later in front of an incredible mural in La Boca.

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