23. La Boca, St Patrick's (B.A, Argentina)

Last Sunday I went and checked out La Boca, which is one of the oldest neighbourhoods of the city. Near the port, it's famous for the Boca Juniors football team, for which Maradona played, Tango, and technicolour houses. It's also still famously dangerous outside of the few tourist streets.

Me in front of some of La Boca's technicolour houses

We strolled around checking out the artists and their paintings on display for sale, and sat and watched a Tango show at a streetside cafe. The girl dragged me up for a dance, I think I wowed her with my paso basico (basic step) which I'd finally got the hang of after 3 free Tango lessons during Tango week.

The tango show. She dragged me up for a dance

On Thursday it was San Patricio (St. Patrick's Day), and as is the tradition throughout the world, it was nothing more than an occasion for a pub crawl. The city obliged by closing 4 blocks off to traffic, and they were absolutely packed with young people looking for a party. We didn't even try to go into any of the pubs as the streets were that packed, and at midnight the rain started absolutely pouring down. As we huddled under the shelter of a building, the fun really started watching the young local guys go mental dancing and singing in the rain. For the most part the songs were football songs, sung in huddles jumping up and down. The funniest part was when about 20 of them sprinted off down the road (in the rain) at top speed - I thought maybe the cops had come, or a fight had broken out, but they soon came back triumpant with their bounty - a Quilmes beer beach umbrella someone had stolen from a roadside cafe.

Reconquista St packed with bodies (before the rain!)