hollisandbeyond2015: Recoleta Cemetery

Not far from our apartment is the famous Recoleta Cemetery. It may seem strange that a cemetery is listed first in the list of Buenos Aires' top ten attractions in the Lonely Planet Guide to Buenos Aires, but this "city of the dead" is really quite unique in its collection of elaborate mauseleums covering the equivalent of four city blocks. The pictures below give you a sense of the cemetery and the variety of adornments decorating the tombs. The most famous tomb is that of Eva Peron or "Evita" as she came to be known. We know that Eva and her husband, Juan Peron were polarizing figures in the political life of Argentina, but Eva came to symbolize hope for the poor and she still means a lot to some Argentinians as we observed. While we were looking at her family tomb, an older woman placed her had on the bronze face of Evita which is cast on one of the dedication plaques. She leaned over and kissed the face, then left seemingly overwhelmed with emotion. She could not have been the first to touch this plaque as Eva's face remains bright and shiny from regular contact.