La Boca in Buenos Aires

 GRAFFITI OR ART? LA BOCA IN BUENOS AIRES IS FULL OF COLOR AND VIBRANT WALL ART.

ONE OF THE SMOCKS WORN BY SCHOOL CHILDREN. THIS IS TO ENSURE NO CHILD FEELS BAD IF THEY CAN'T AFFORD FINE CLOTHES.

 THE STOREFRONTS IN LA BOCA ARE CHARMING. THIS IS A SOCCER STORE.

ANOTHER STORE IN LA BOCA.

After a solid 9 hours of sleep last night, we arose bright-eyed and bushy-tailed ready to enjoy our last day in Buenos Aires. Or, at least I was bright-eyed, Steve is still battling his cold and was game to see how far he could go today.

The weather was perfect...not too hot and little wind. We took a taxi to the La Boca neighbourhood, which is a colorful barrio that has become popular with tourists. Last time we were there, about 3 years ago, we were stopped several times by well-wishing women who told me to hang on to my purse as thieves were a problem. We didn't see any evidence of that, though to be fair, we didn't venture much off the beaten track.

The houses and storefronts here are very colorful. Some would say there is a lot of graffiti, while others would call it murals. Whatever one calls it, it makes for a vibrant street scene.

I was quite interested in the children who were coming home from school or kindergarten. They wore little smocks over their clothes. We were told this is so that no child feels singled out for a lack of fashionable clothes. The idea is similar to that of uniforms, the difference being the schools provide the smocks.

We took a taxi to the San Telmo area. We used that as our starting point to make the long walk back into the centre of the city. We stopped for lunch at a wonderful place that had a horseshoe counter in the centre of the long and narrow restaurant. We sat at permanently mounted stools. They had a sample of their menu items in the glass cases in front of us, so it was easy to decide what to eat. When it was ready, the cook slid the plate down the narrow counter. There was only once when it looked like it might fall off. Steve had the world's largest hamburger (they served it on two dinner plates) while I had a salad that included everything you probably have in the fridge right now (cold potatos, rice, corn, peas, beets, carrots, lettuce, onions, celery, cheese, ham, chicken, and a bunch of stuff I can't recall).It was tasty but we ended up leaving more than half of it on our plates as the portions were just so huge.

Now we are back on the ship and Steve is napping, trying to get rid of this cold. We had a bunch of new people join the ship here, so it is fun to see new faces. It looks like a young and noisy crowd!!! We set sail at 6:00 p.m. tonight and arrive back in Montevideo, Uruguay on Friday morning.