la recoleta cementary

"rest in peace" greets the visitor entering; "we wait for god" as they leave.

La Recoleta is the cementary for the who's who of Buenos Aires. Presidents are buried there, writers, Evita, newspaper barons, Che Guevara's family (although not Che - whose remains rest in Cuba)

Its a tiny city of the dead. Little stone houses lined up in streets. Not dissimilar to the houses competing with each other in the wealthy neighbourhood the cementary resides in. With doors, windows, skylights, and statutes. Elaborate carvings, gleaming marble.

I meet up with a tour, found the guide more interesting than any of the tombs, but managed to learn a thing or two anyway.

But first the guide! words do not do her justice, a tiny, hyperactive slightly hunched woman, with an amazing voice, flailing arms, facial expressions of muppet! a mixed-british accent with such a range - who 'is always hanging arounding the cementary so if you come back say hi'.

She even walked like a muppet!

an attempt!

She spoke of each tomb with an endearing and contemporary fondness, like they were all her wacky relatives.

But back to the graveyard. A Peron post is probably coming soon, so I'll just focus on the recoleta and ignore its most famous occupent (Eva Peron)

It has its ghosts - of a girl who was entombed alive on her 19th birthday after being falsely pronounced dead and buried- her coffin shuffled across her tomb as testement to her futile efforts to escape. It has numerous wealthy families - including one who buried their maid next to their tomb. Hands that went missing from corpses (an italian vandetta? thumbprints for secret swiss bank account?), victims of political assasinations, a girl who died when buried in an avalanche on her honeymoon (in her hotel bed!), a dedicated caretaker of la Recoleta who saved up all his money, bought a plot, commissioned a statute (of himself) from France - waited until it was delievered, and then, rumour has it, was so keen to complete - killed himself. It is an Argentinian Ghastly Crumb Tinies

Not all the tombs are in nice condition. A lot are falling to peices, coffins sliding out, weeds overrunning, statues slanting sideways. But its like a dense compilation of *life* - cause of course what is interesting about about a bunch of dead people but the lives they lived?

Except of course, the bizarre, unepected ways that they ended.



:)

As for me, still in Buenos Aires, and really? Not in a big hurry to get anywhere else. Which is a good thing because this city has its own schedule. Yesterday had breakfast at 1:00 pm. Which is a first ever for me. The lady next to me was on her first (maybe!) glass of wine for the day.

eta: another not great but hmmm.... not totally unsuccessful attempt at my degas copy.