Set our alarm reasonably early today - Christmas Eve! We want to beat the rush at the Recoleta Cemetery. A few months ago, they introduced an entrance fee but apparently it hasn’t slowed visits. On a normal weekday, 1100 locals and tourists pass through. On the weekend, that goes up to 3000!
We had a quick breakfast of dulce du leche spread on toast with fresh strawberries, and then made our way to the cemetery.
I’m glad we made the effort to get up early as we almost had the place to ourselves - by the time we were leaving it was filling up with people. It was also pretty gloomy this morning, which was the perfect mood for visiting a cemetery.
I’m glad we made the effort to get up early as we almost had the place to ourselves - by the time we were leaving it was filling up with people. It was also pretty gloomy this morning, which was the perfect mood for visiting a cemetery.
We decided to go straight to Eva Person’s site to beat any crowds. She was located near the exit but we couldn’t decipher the map very easily. We ended up going to the exit and then counting the rows until we found her site nestled down an alley. It seemed fairly innocuous, especially considering the extravagance of some of the sites we saw.
We took a zig zag path through the mausoleums, spotting something here and there that took our fancy and led us down yet another narrow path. Many sites were run down and most sites were very old, but a handful of new ones had been added, and they’re style very different (one in particular looked like an elevator shaft).
I found the juxtaposition fascinating. Crumbling tombs in the foreground, brand new glass high rises and rundown apartment blocks in the background. I took way too many photographs here! And I loved the little details on the tombs; a spider web covering a statues face like a mourning veil, little fronds of ferns that had self-seeded in the cracks.
One tomb had been so destroyed that you could see right down into the cavity, and could see the coffin had also been destroyed and lay ajar.
Others were lovingly cared for, with new fresh flowers placed on the doors and pictures of the departed inside.
As we headed for the exit, we encountered a procession following a coffin - a new arrival to the cemetery. This was completely unexpected, and Dan and I stood to the side to be out of their way and to watch the mourners pass. At the front, a man was pulling a shiny brown wooden coffin on a trolley, followed by a line of perhaps twenty people. A man kissed a lady tenderly on the forehead as they walked past us. Others squeezed each other in comfort. As they were heading the same way we were, we veered off so as not to intrude. We came across them again near the exit and wound our way through the tombs to avoid being in their way as they gathered around the outside of the tomb.
It was time to go back to the accommodation to rest before our afternoon walking tour. On the way we stopped into a proper, big supermarket and picked up some further supplies (baguette, strawberries and a few other bits and pieces). We tried using the self service machine but it kept asking us questions so we joined the people queue instead. The guy has issues with my card but got there eventually.
Back at the apartment we made ourselves some Breakfast-lunch, scrambled egg sandwich with some of the ingredients we had gotten. At time of writing, I’m about to have a siesta before we join a free walking tour!
We had to race a bit after our nap because we overslept. Thankfully we had factored in a little extra time and when we missed the first bus (technically the bus we were waiting was either early or never came, or was quite late…hard to tell) we still arrived with plenty of time to spare. The group was divided into Spanish speaking and English speaking, and then divided into two again. Our tour guide was Martín and he turned out to be amazing.
I can’t go through everything we saw or learnt as I don’t have lightning fingers to note down everything! We started at the National Congress, and finished in Plaza Mayor and walked between. I learnt that almost every block is 100m square, which takes roughly one minute to walk, so if a local guides you by saying it’s 5 minutes it’s probably about five blocks away.
I learnt that the current congress has been in its longest continuous use since its inception, currently at 39 years - previously it had been on and off due to many many dictatorships.
As we continued walking we stopped at a statue and I said to Dan, “The thinker.” It sure was The thinker, and apparently one of three originals in the world and oft forgotten about.
Martín spent a lot of time talking about the architecture in Buenos Airies because, frankly, the mismatch is hard to ignore.
“Explore and you’ll find architectural jewels,” he said, “and you’ll find architectural crimes too, no doubt!”
Buenos Aires had many different architectural influences and the result is a mismash of styles - often on the same building. You’ll see beautiful Parisian ornamentation juxtapositioned with communist style apartment blocks.
“The buildings are individually beautiful,” he continued, “but altogether - kind of a mess!”
But what a beautiful mess!
One building he discussed at length was based on Dante’s Inferno, right down to the height, dimensions, door knobs and more. I need to do some more research about this one!
Martín spent some time revelling in Argentina’s World Cup win, which has left the nation swelling with pride. “Money and fear - we have none!” he continues.
We passed a few more monuments, including the Obleisk which was apparbetly once adorned with a giant condom during an AIDS campaign, and a water feature dedicated to Argentina’s beautiful waterfall “this is the most embarrassing monument to Iguazu Falls,” he shook his head. “Actually,” he said, perking up, “it’s a moment to the Brazilian side!”
We spent a while in front of a building adorned with Eva Person’s silhouette while Martín gave us a crash course in Peronism. I had done a little bit of reading but I felt his explanation put it more into perspective, how it supposedly catered for both the upper class and the working class simultaneously but ultimately alienated each.
As we continued on, Martín gave us an abridged economics lesson to try to explain the crazy pricing in Argentina. Current inflation is at 96%, which is just unimaginable (but apparently not their highest). He told of the insane inflation rates of 1989 when he was a young boy, and rates changed so rapidly that cashiers in grocery stores couldn’t keep up with the prices changing every few minutes so would short of the price. People scrambled to get to the counter before goods because unaffordable in the few minutes since arriving.Unimaginable. They aren’t at this level right now and I hope it doesn’t happen. He explained how the Argentinan dollar was supposed to be pinned to the US dollar, but has completely collapsed, and where to go for best value for money exchange. Economics is a bit over my head, but I got the jist of it.
We then arrived at Plaza de Mayo, and he told us of the mothers and Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo, mothers of many young people who disappeared in the late 70s and early 80s never to be seen again who peacefully protested the military. However any young women who were kidnapped who were pregnant were not immediately killed (that was too immoral) - the military waited until they gave birth, the adopted out the children. Over 500 of them. In recent times, the grandmothers of these children have set up one of the greatest DNA centres in the world, where they have all given a blood sample. They Continue to ask those who don’t feel right in their identity born during those years to take a DNA test. To date they’ve reunited 120 young people with their biological grandparents.
At the tours conclusion we made our way back to our apartment, made some pasta and jumped in the pool. It’s a bit unseasonably cold here at the moment but that’s not stopping us from using the pool! From somewhere Argentinian Christmas music is blaring, and we can hear the occasional firework going off.
At about 11pm we went for a walk around a few blocks to see if we could see or hear anything much going on, but we just be in a fairly sedate neighbourhood as it was very quiet. Amazing to see Buenos Airies so still! We returned to our apartment and saw Christmas in with our feet dangling in the pool, listening to the fireworks going off in the distance.
Felix Navidad everyone! ❤️💚🤍
No comments:
Post a Comment