On Saturday, the weather was nice, not too hot, but pleasantly bright and sunny! Perfect for me to be able to stay out for more than a couple of hours, and not bitch about the entire experience! As you can imagine, Sara was pleased!! Donning shorts and a chirpy feel good attitude, we set off. Our intention was to check off one of our ‘things to see while in Buenos Aires’ items. So to the cemetery in Recoleta and the final resting place of Eva Peron, the Evita of legend!!
So far, during our stay here, we have not travelled to Recoleta. It is a little north of us, and close to one of the main line train stations called Retiro.
A map of a sample route from our apartment to a Google defined location in Recoleta can be seen here:
This was not the route that we actually took as it is far too straightforward and simple! 🙂 As we entered the area , everything started to look a little more fancy. The roads seemed nicer, the apartment buildings more polished, and the graffiti less, just felt like we had walked up into a new lifestyle class. As you can imagine, I started to feel uncomfortable! As we approached the cemetery, there was a street market outside, and later people playing music. It is close to a large green where people were sitting around and enjoying the sunshine. We immediately knew that this is not any Buenos Aires that we have come to know and love!
We entered the cemetery with little idea of what to expect.
We were first presented with a grave map, similar to a store guide in a shopping mall. It allows you quick access to the corpse of your choosing:
Grave Map Overview
Grave Map Location Close Up
We discovered that Evita was to be found at grave location was to be found at position 88, so we got our bearings, thought we had some idea where we going and then promptly got lost. 🙂 As we were walking around marvelling at the wonder of the place I took a short video. Please note that I used YouTube’s feature to stabilise my jerky walk style, and it made the caption at the beginning go crazy. These videos are still work in progress, so please do not hesitate to laugh at my feeble attempts! 🙂
After walking around for a while, obviously heading straight in the direction that we needed to, we stumbled on a sign for Sarmiento, and that not meaning anything to us, we assumed it was possibly a sign to what must be the most famous of people in the cemetery…. Eva Peron. We stood around the memorial and it featured a big eagle on a column, and lots of plaques on the wall with the image of a full faced man. This made me suspicious that we may not be at the place that we wanted, and in fact that this was not the grave of Evita!! I know, shocking! I am such a suspicious bitch sometimes.
We carried on our exploration, and I took some more video, you can hear my doubts captured in this high quality (hmmm….) footage:
A few minutes later a couple of German guys came over and asked us the directions to Eva’s grave, and we had to tell them the bad news, that we were lost and may all perish in the city of the dead! Actually, we did not go to such depths of terror and misery, and simply explained that we had no idea! Next time though, I am going for the terror approach!
Just a few moments later we went around a corner, and saw what we were looking for, the site of Evita’s last resting place, and in comparison to some of the other notable in the place, it was a very humble affair. Oh, and the grave that we thought was hers, was actually the person that the sign pointed to, one Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, a very notable character indeed in the history of Argentina.
From there on in, we just walked around and took in some of the wonder of the place. It is so grand and surreal that I would really recommend it to anyone on a trip to Buenos Aires. Even if you have no interest in the background and history of the country. However, this only applies if you are probably around 25 to 30 years of age or older. These sorts of things may just bore you to tears!
The visit was just a series of incredible memorials to dead folk. The amount of money and effort that has gone into the place just blows my mind. I sometimes wonder how much more we care for people when they are dead than when they are alive. I am not sure but that sounds a bit wrong to me! Hey ho, perhaps this is why I am not king of the world?? If you know any other reasons that I am not king of world please leave a comment. Be gentle, I am fragile!
A final video from our trip revealed a startling discovery that may prove, in time, to answer a number of questions about the fabric of time and space. Then again…
I have compiled a range of images from the day, for your entertainment and possible delight. Please feel free to comment if you enjoy any of them. 🙂
City of the Dead – Avenue
City of the Dead – Needing Some TLC
City of the Dead – Cool Roof
City of the Dead – Ornate Statue
City of the Dead – Ornate Statue
City of the Dead – Just Hanging Out
City of the Dead – Caged
City of the Dead – The First Thing To Go Is The Nose
City of the Dead – On Top Of The World
City of the Dead – Better Than The Front Door To My House
City of the Dead – Wide Avenue
City of the Dead – Well Kept
City of the Dead – Guardian Angel
City of the Dead – Corner House
City of the Dead – Stained Glass
City of the Dead – Keeping Watch
City of the Dead – Intimidating Entrance
City of the Dead – I Was Only Intending To Stop For a Sleep
City of the Dead – Caught By The Rays
City of the Dead – I Was Here First…. No I was….
City of the Dead – Just Looking Around
City of the Dead – Angel With Feet Stuck In Cement
City of the Dead – Take a Seat, But Not Mine
City of the Dead – The View Isn’t Great From Here
City of the Dead – Dead Eyes, Dead Body
City of the Dead – Bored Stiff
City of the Dead – Torso’ed
City of the Dead – Catch Me, Catch Me
City of the Dead – Why Is One Of My Breasts Exposed?
City of the Dead – Loot Through The Porthole
City of the Dead – Was Tim Burton Here?
A brilliant commentary 🙂 We saw places like that along the Camino in northern Spain – Nothing around for miles, but then we came across a beautiful, well maintained cemetery behind locked wrought iron gates. The residents were certainly the wealthy sector, no paupers’ graves here…
I love “I was here first” and “Tim Burton”! Looks like you had a fabulous day, albeit a rather different venue…