The creepiest place in Buenos Aires.

I'm basically in bed today nursing a cold.  I sent Kate off to San Telmo to poke around that neighborhood.  It's about 94 degrees here today and the skies are darkening.  The rain that is expected for tomorrow may end up coming tonight and that will be mean cooler temperatures for tomorrow's trip to Uruguay.

Yesterday Kate and I checked out what has been described as "must see" in Buenos Aires-- the Recoleta Cemetery.  Recoleta is a neighborhood just outside the city center and is apparently home to the wealthiest residents of Buenos Aires.  The neighborhood was originally settled when a yellow fever epidemic hit San Telmo in the 1870s.  The cemetery is the resting place for Argentina's elite-- the wealthy, the notable, the powerful.  And it just happens to be the creepiest place in all of Buenos Aires.

The cemetery is organized into streets and the streets are lined by tombs which look much like houses.  The tombs are divided by religion and class-- the "poorer" section contains more modest tombs while in the "rich" section, some of the tombs were crafted like fine art.  Some contain several bodies and others are for just one person.  Many of the old tombs are in disrepair while some of the newer ones are clearly visited and groomed frequently.  They all have doors-- either with glass or without.  Many have windows through which you can see the coffins, altars, photographs, and flowers.

 

 

[Cheek to jowl dead folks]

This cemetery is also well known for containing the tomb of Eva Peron.  Neither Kate nor I were particularly interested in seeing the tomb.  Kate's guidebook made a big deal about how her tomb was made of modest black granite and was hard to distinguish from other graves.  There are no signs leading to the tomb and I was in no mood to hunt it down.  But were were just walking along and noticed a gaggle of tourists taking pictures of an elaborate black granite tomb with the family name Duarte on it-- sure enough, this was Evita's grave.  I can say I saw it.  "I will come again, and I will be millions."

Most of the tombs were fairly uninspired: light granite, simple ironwork, crosses all over (as an aside, the jewish tombs did not have Stars of David but they also did not have any crosses).

[A vegetative volunteer on a typical cross]

A few of the tombs were really interesting.  One, which I failed to photograph, looked perfectly sleek and modern.  The granite was burnished and the lines were clean and straight.  Inside, the floor was light wood and there was a velvet covered chair and kneeler.  The altar was covered in gilded vases and picture frames.  It looked the waiting room in a high end funeral home.  It was definitely nicer than my house.

Another tomb which caught my eye was this one:

Isabella died in 1970 at age 24.  This tomb was unlike all the others because of its shape-- the glassed arches directed light down the stairwell to her coffin (which wasn't visible).  This was also the only tomb we saw with a statue-- you can see that enough people had touched the dog's nose to reveal the unoxidized bronze underneath.  And so I'm enjoying the uniqueness of this one tomb and feeling like I can leave the cemetery without vomiting when I looked closely at her face.

So, after careful reflection, this is still the creepiest place in all of Buenos Aires.

Bicycle helmet count: 4