“The excitement starts hours before kick-off. The whole area comes alive—food, music, dancing, flags everywhere.“
YOU’LL ALWAYS BE WELCOMED
For Celeste Viejo, Buenos Aires isn’t just home—it’s a feeling. “The people here make this place special,” she says.
“You’ll always be welcomed, no matter who you are or where you’re from. There’s always someone ready to help, to make you feel like friends and family surround you.”
It’s a city that defies easy categorisation. Buenos Aires is sprawling and chaotic, elegant and rough around the edges, with a constant buzz that shifts depending on where you are.
“You can find whatever vibe you’re looking for,” Celeste explains.
“The city is huge, and there’s always something new to explore. It’s not as rigid as other cities—everything here feels more alive.”
A DAY IN LA BOCA
There is one specific neighbourhood almost more than any that stands out for Celeste and that is La Boca.
Few places in Buenos Aires feel as alive as La Boca. It’s the city’s most painted-over neighbourhood, splashed in colours that stretch across crumbling facades, corrugated-iron houses, and the makeshift studios of street artists.
The air carries a mix of parrilla smoke, river breeze, and the occasional burst of accordion music drifting from a nearby café. Tourists come for the postcard version—bright buildings, tango dancers performing for a few pesos, and the famous Caminito street.
La Boca is much more than a stage set for visitors. It’s a neighbourhood that wears its history on its sleeve, a place where football, art, and working-class grit blend into something uniquely Porteño.
For many, La Boca begins and ends with Boca Juniors. The club is more than just a football team; it’s a way of life. Walk down the main road towards La Bombonera, Boca’s legendary stadium, and you’ll feel the shift.
The walls are painted in blue and gold, tributes to club heroes—Maradona, Riquelme, Palermo—towering over passersby in enormous murals.
On matchdays, the neighbourhood throbs with anticipation. Fans spill out of bars, singing and drumming long before kick-off. Inside the stadium, the stands move—literally—under the weight of thousands of fans jumping in unison. It’s not just noise, it’s a force.
But Boca Juniors is more than the spectacle. It’s the club of the working-class, founded by immigrants, and deeply tied to the identity of La Boca itself.
Even for those who never set foot in the stadium, football here is omnipresent—spoken about in cafes, played in side streets, and immortalised in street art.
NOTHING COMPARES TO LA BOMBONERA
Boca Juniors— is a club close to Celeste’s heart and her face lights up at the very mention of her team.
“I was born into it, like everyone in my family. Boca is part of your life, no matter who you are or where you go.”
She references a famous line from an Argentine film:
“You can change everything—your face, your house, your family, your god—but you can never change your passion.”
To Celeste, Boca is more than football. “While Buenos Aires has lots of clubs, Boca is different. It’s for everyone. It’s celebration, joy, music, colour. It’s the neighbourhood as much as the club.” And nothing, she insists, compares to a match at La Bombonera.
“The excitement starts hours before kick-off. The whole area comes alive—food, music, dancing, flags everywhere. And when you step inside, it’s overwhelming. There are no words for it. You have to feel it.”
Her first match stands out. “There’s a saying: ‘La Bombonera doesn’t tremble, it beats.’ It’s true. The stadium moves with the rhythm of the crowd. It’s like you’re connected to it.”
And her favourite player? Rodrigo Palacio. “He was one of my first football heroes. Made us the happiest fans in the world. I even wore my hair like his braid,” she laughs.
For Celeste, Buenos Aires, Boca, and football aren’t separate loves—they’re intertwined, like the city itself: vibrant, unpredictable, and impossible to ignore
