2020 – Buenos Aires – La Boca Caminito
Image by Stand by Ukraine
Aha, we arrived at Barrio La Boca prime tourist street – Caminito (little path or little walkway). This view is what it’s all about along with many, many tourist related shops, bars and restaurants.
The place acquired cultural significance as it inspired the music for the tango "Caminito" (1926), composed by Juan de Dios Filiberto.
During the 1800s, a small stream flowing into the Riachuelo River ran along the same route where the Caminito is today.
Later that century, the area of the stream became known as the Puntin, the Genoese diminutive term for bridge (a small bridge allowed people to cross the stream here).
When the stream dried up, tracks for the Ferrocarril Buenos Aires y Puerto de la Ensenada were installed at the site.
In 1954, the railroad closed, and the area where Caminito was became a landfill and the neighbourhood’s eyesore.
Disused tracks remain at the end of Caminito, along Garibaldi Street.
Over the following three years, Argentine artist Benito Quinquela Martín, who lived nearby, painstakingly prepared the walls facing the abandoned street, applying pastel colours.
The artist was a personal friend of Argentine tango composer Juan de Dios Filiberto, who created a well-known 1926 tune by the same name, Caminito and the rest as they say is history.
