Recoleta

Yesterday we went to the neighborhood of Recoleta.  Recoleta is one of the wealthier neighborhoods in Buenos Aires, with it's main attraction being Recoleta Cemetery, and for good reason because it's amazing!  We took an English tour and it was just an incredible place!  There was so much to see, you could literally get lost among the crypts.  I'll try to recreate the tour for you (I took pictures and notes.  Yes, that's how I take tours.  Yes, I'm a freak).
First off, Recoleta Cemetery is huge!  It takes up 4 city blocks and contains 4800 mausoleums.  It's pretty easy to get lost among the dead, but you're so fascinated that you don't even care.  Recoleta houses the who's who of Argentina's deceased.  It was opened in 1822 and some of the crypts look like they've been around since then.  Nowadays, getting a spot in Recoleta is near impossible.  You need to find someone willing to sell and it ain't cheap.  A small crypt for 4 coffins costs about $30,000 USD, not including rent and maintenance fess.  This is prime real estate, people!

This is the entrance:

Entrance and tours are free, as everyone who works here is a volunteer.  Awesome!  If you want a map, it's $2.  Of course, I needed a map.

Entrance video.

I took some random pictures once we entered:

Some of the "streets" were pretty narrow.

Many of the tombs are old and crumbling:

Some of the tombs are decorated in a more modern style, like this one:

Some also have big windows, so you can peek inside and see some of the coffins.  Every mausoleum has a staircase going underground 5m, where is where most of the coffins are located (most had a few above ground as well).  

Few people are cremated here, most are entombed in coffins because Argentina is a mostly Catholic country and they prefer to visit and pray to their dead's body.  Keep in mind, that most tombs aren't just for one person, they represent a family and all members of the family are buried within the tomb.  The members of the family that are still alive will visit and maintain the tomb (or pay Recoleta to maintain it).  There are even some tombs so old that everyone in the entire family line has passed and been buried within the tomb.  Those are the tombs that are crumbling and no longer well maintained.

There were also lots of statues scattered throughout the cemetery.

There are so many different architectural designs to tombs, such as art nouveau, art deco, classical, Greek, barque and neo-Gothic.  I don't know what most of those are, but just know that there are lots of creative directions you could go when designing the tomb of your dreams.

The tomb is your oyster!

Here's my tour.

Okay, it's time to stop screwing around and take the damn tour already.  This is the Jesus statue in the center of the cemetery:

From here, there are "streets" all around you and you can go in any direction.  Check it out!

There are about 20 cats who live on the premises and keep the mice and pests under control.  They are fed and cared for by the caretakers of the cemetery.

First stop on the cemetery tour: Jose Paz, the creator of La Prensa newspaper AND the owner/creator of Palacio Paz (remember we toured that mansion last week?):

Of course, he hired a French architect because he was obsessed with France and he really spared no expense.  It's beautiful.

Martin Rodriguez was a politician who became the governor of BA in 1820-1824.

More randoms:

Lots of the tombs have stained glass windows and ceilings, for natural light.

This one is designed to look like a tree.

This is the mausoleum of Rufina Cambaceres (1883-1902).  Her story is one of the most hauntingly fascinating of the cemetery.  So, she's the daughter of a famous author (Eugene Cambaceres), but he dies when she's very young and she lives with her mother in BA.  She grows up with wealth and privilege and becomes engaged to a man having an affair with her own mother.  On the eve of her 19th birthday, she finds out about the affair and is found collapsed on the floor.  She is pronounced dead and put into a coffin in preparation for burial at the family plot in Recoleta.  The day of the burial, a guardian of the family plot opened it one last time and saw scratch marks all over the inside, as well as on her face and realized she had been buried alive!  She eventually died from a heart attack while trying to escape the coffin.  Rufina suffered from catalepsy (a condition mimicking death) and that's why doctors thought she was dead.  This tomb was made in her honor and she is buried here today.  

It represents a girl trying to open a door, but she is unable and is trapped.  So sad.  However, after her death, new rules were put in place.  Not only were coffins left open for 48 hours after the person was pronounced dead, but bells were put into the coffins with the body, just in case.  Ever wonder where the saying "Saved by the bell" came from?  Well, Zach Morris, that's apparently it!

First President of Argentina, Bartolome Mitre is buried here.  He founded La Nacion newspaper (still running to this day) and is on the $2 peso.

The 3 pillars represent duty, freedom and justice.

More random pictures:

This is the tomb of Liliana Crociati de Salzaszak (1944-1970).  She was 26 when her hotel was struck by an avalanche and she was killed in Austria.  A statue of her in her wedding dress was made and once her beloved dog, Sabu, passed, he was added to the statue.

Her father included a poem in Italian on the plaque underneath, which is pretty heartbreaking.  

We were told Liliana's tomb is this kitty's favorite spot:

Apparently he's there all the time.  Kinda sweet.

This is the tomb of Domingo Sarmiento, the seventh President of Argentina.  He did a lot of great work for the education system in Argentina, creating lots of schools and programs all over the country.  He's on the $50 peso.

There are many plaques on the wall adjacent to his tomb:

He was a free-mason:

Here's when he's buried:

The statue at the Roverano tomb represents immigrants making a fresh start in Argentina.  He's an Italian, stepping off the boat onto dry land.  Written on the side of the boat is "ayudate" meaning "help yourself."  

Yes, he's missing an arm.  No idea if that's symbolic (meaning "give him a helping hand" or something) or if it's just old and fell right off.

Now we're at the tomb most people come to Recoleta to see: Evita's.  It's surprising how plain and hidden it is compared to some of the others.  It's in a very narrow passageway and it's quite small and nondescript.  Evita is buried with her brother-in-law and her immediate family in the Duarte plot.  She is buried DEEP underground to prevent theft.  Many people leave flowers at the site.

After Evita's death, the Argentine military hid her body in Italy under an assumed name for about 20 years (there was a coup ousting her husband).  She was finally laid to rest here with her family and people come to visit every day.  

She is on the newer $100 peso because Former President Julio Roca, who was previously on the $100 peso, was booted for crimes against indigenous cultures.  Now all new bills printed have Evita's face on them.  Here's the Roca Family tomb:

Now, onto the most expensive mausoleum in Recoleta:

 

The ceiling on the inside has a sort of magnifying glass, so you can clearly see the stained glass under the dome.  Insane!  I don't know who's in there though.  Sorry.

More pictures of different tombs:

All I know about Pascual Pistarini is that an airport is named after him.

I didn't really pay attention to this spiel.  Oops. 

It was pretty though.

Dr. Raul Alfonsin was another President.  The cool thing about him is not that he was a President (been there, seen that), but that his tomb is the newest in Recoleta.  He died in 2009, so I'm assuming that's when this was made.  

In contrast, this is the oldest tomb:

Remedios Escalada was the wife of the Argentine leader of the War of Independence, General San Jose de Martin.  She was buried here in 1823.

Guillermo Brown was Irish (hence the green) and he helped create the Argentine Navy.

This part was made from the cannons of the two ships he sailed (or something like that) and he's inside.

At this point, the tour was over and we walked by ourselves for awhile, which was creepy/fun.  I took tons of pictures, but have no idea what any of them are, so just enjoy the architecture.

Coffins!

Stairs going down to more coffins:

This was the exit:

Whew!  We made it out alive!  Yes, I get that walking around a cemetery can be pretty morbid (if you aren't visiting a loved one), but this was one of the coolest places I've ever been.

Now it's time to eat.

I got pizza and Aaron got spaghetti.  Nothing life-changing, but decent.

Ahh!  Aaron's in a glass case of emotion!

Then we walked to the mall:

Since this is an upscale neighborhood, the mall was also upscale and we didn't see much of anything.  We walked back towards the cemetery and went into the church next door:

Gorgeous!  Huge organ up top:

Then we thought we'd give art another shot at not sucking, so we went next door to the Recoleta Cultural Center.  

They have lots of revolving art exhibits.  I couldn't stop taking pictures because I needed documentation to know this stuff isn't just in my mind.

This was actually real talent because from afar it looks like blown up pictures, but up close you can see he hand draws each piece.

Yes, this is a grocery receipt (look, I didn't say it was inspired, I just think the guy has talent):

Next up:

Yes, folks: this is heaps of asphalt.  It was sticky and it stunk and it was just mountains of asphalt in a giant room.  

There was a beautiful courtyard outside:

with a spectacular view:

More art (mentally prepare):

I actually kinda liked these.

Now, this is where it just got like vomit-on-a-canvas-weird:

I did like these bowls:

Aaron liked this painting:

Hey!  We saw this guy's grave earlier!

Just getting crazier:

Pictures of girls with hair in their faces:

It's like Stanley-Kubrick-on-shrooms-weird:

These weren't bad:

I went out to the courtyard and found these strange lemons:

It looked like a lemon, but was bitter like a grapefruit.  not sour at all.  Hmm...

Our heads were hurting from all the innovation and creativity and let's be honest, stupidity, that we had to leave immediately.  But not before Aaron left a parting gift:

Next door was the BA Design Center, which is a mall with tons of furniture, fixtures, housewares, etc.  It's a mall with anything you could possibly need for your house:

We found our bed from home!  Oh, how we miss our bed!

Window shopping sucks, so we finally made our way back home.  My entire body is sore today from walking constantly ALL DAY LONG.  Today is a bed-couch-bed day, for sure.