La Boca, the famous barrio in Argentina’s capital Buenos Aires is bold, bright & beautiful.

Yellow, green, pink, blue, orange – every inch of wall space has been painted.

Famous for its superbly colourful corrugated iron houses, La Bombonera football stadium (the 49,000 capacity home of the much-loved Boca Juniors) and Caminito (the best street to enjoy displays of open-air tango), La Boca is a big hit with visitors.

Did you know? La Boca (‘the mouth’) is so-named because of its proximity to the river. The barrio used to solely house those who worked in the local shipyards.

Despite rubbing its colourful shoulders with tourists every weekend La Boca remains unreservedly working class, open and friendly.

Calle Necochea

A couple of streets away from touristy Caminito in Calle Necochea I met some friendly locals cooking up a barbecue. We chatted about football and meat – a couple of things Argentina does best.

These neighbours were cooking meat in the street under the watchful eye of a pet dog.

Buenos Aires was my first stop on a trip backpacking around South America. I spent time learning Spanish at a language school in Buenos Aires before heading to Mendoza.