El Mono en la Boca. La Boca is one of Buenos Aires' most charismatic neighborhoods, a diamond in the rough that the proud working-class locals like to call la República de la Boca to emphasize their distinctiveness from residents of the capital's other barrios. Boca is a low-lying neighborhood along a small river called the Riachuelo that serves as part of the city limits (though by no means the end of Buenos Aires' urban sprawl). The neighborhood was settled mainly by Italian immigrants, who brought with them the custom of painting their homes in a rainbow of colors. Here, the Monkey takes in the charms of La Boca on its colorful Caminito, Boca's—and perhaps Buenos Aires'—most famous street.

The Monkey sits on a wall in front of one of Caminito's brightly painted homes. Aside from paint in primary colors, another common trait of La Boca's houses is their use of ridged corrugated tin siding. Because of its unique ambience and historic role in the growth of porteño traditions—from pizza to tango—Boca retains a strong cultural resonance for many Argentines.

Looking over the roofs of Boca from atop the sleek Fundación Proa cultural center, the Monkey eyes the home of Argentina's best football club, the celebrated Boca Juniors. Their stadium is called La Bombonera, or the Candy Box, not because of the sweet play that goes on inside (though there's much of that), but rather for the manner in which the spectators are crammed into its vertiginous stands like chocs in a box. Boca's best known player is undoubtedly the inimitable Diego Maradona, who is also a hero to supporters of Argentina's national team.

In recent decades, Puerto Madero has gone from a derelict district of crumbling dockside warehouses to one of the flashiest spots in the city. Puerto Madero's four docks (one of them is visible here) were built in the late 19th Century, but proved unable to handle the volume of ships coming and going. The docks and the Victorian brick warehouses fell into disuse. Nearly a century later, the real estate potential of the locale—near the microcentro and a nature resrve—dawned on developers, who quickly converted the area into a fashionable new destination. The warehouses (at right in this shot) were renovated into apartments, offices, and restaurants—all pricy enough to be beyond most porteños' reach. Despite the barrio's pretensions, it is a pleasant place for a weekend walk, and there is some interesting modern architecture in the area. If you look past the Monkey, on the right, you'll see one of the old cranes that once lifted products onto and off of merchant ships.

The Monkey rests during a walk along the diques of Puerto Madero. Behind him is Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava's Puente de la Mujer, a bizarre and clever 2001 structure that pivots on a center point to let boats pass, not that so many boats pass through the dock these days.

The tall, vaguely Parisian looking building beyond the bridge is the Edificio Libertador, the headquarters of the Argentine Armed Forces. Given the intrusive role the military has often taken in Argentine politics and civic life, the building could also be regarded as the unofficial but de facto seat of the Argentine government at several points in the 20th Century. Thankfully, the armed forces have stayed in the barracks during Argentina's recent crises, perhaps recognizing the ineptitude of their past attempts at political leadership.

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