It feels a bit like I'm loosing speed here when it comes to exploration and partying. I arrived quite early to Buenos Aires after a marathon session on a bus, and had checked in and gotten breakfast by 11-12.
After that, pretty much all I've done is go to La Boca, a neighborhood famous for two things: 1, being the tango district of BA, and 2, being a working class district (e.g. one of the more dangerous parts of BA).
So I talked around a bit, and it seemed to be suitable to take some extra care, but apart from that not bad. I figured, "Hey, what's the worst that can happen?"
And just to sooth my mom who right about now should be ready to start calling me to make sure I'm alright, I'm going to spoil the adventure and say that nothing bad happened. So there, you can stay calm, mom.
Now that we have that out of the way, I can confirm the other saying about La Boca: it really is the tango district.
In BA there are literally dozens of tango shows with dinners and all that fancy, but tango didn't come from the upper class annual balls. Nor did it stem from the fine dining of the societal peak. It spring up in the brothels of Buenos Aires slum. And as such, I would very much like to see it in that essence, raw and true instead of a highly choreographed spectacle for the rich. (Un)fortunately, there are no more brothels around... At least that I found. More stripclubs and sex-shops than anywhere else I've been (except for Chile) but no brothels.
There was no need to find one though, luckily. In La Boca, on a street called Caminito, the tango was plenty, the food was sizzling and the brightly colored tin houses you expect to see frame the scores of people strolling by.
This was exactly what I was looking for when I set out for La Boca, and it is the definite location I would go if I had a girl to take for dinner. It lacked the white tablecloths of Palermo or San Telmo, but it had spirit and life totally different from the other "barrios".
Sharing a parilla and a bottle of wine by the forceful pace of tango and the gentle glow of candlelight... I need to get a girlfriend just for that, dammit.
Anyways, tomorrow I'll take the ferry across the river into Uruguay over the day to get away from all the big cities, just for a while.