We were told by a few people before we left Australia that we MUST visit the cemetery at Recoleta. We didn’t quite understand the significance of this cemetery as a must see, as visiting cemetery’s is not something that we do on a regular basis anywhere in the world….but thought we should take a look as we are here.

The cemetery dates back to the first settlement by Europeans of Buenos Aires a couple of hundred years ago, and was situated a few kilometres from the centre of the city – in a rural area – but as is the way of progress, the cemetery is now squeezed in between apartment buildings, the British Embassy and a huge shopping centre with an outdoor concert area which actually backs on to the cemetery!!

Tops of the tombs

On the day we visited there was a very loud band playing as we were looking at the tombs.. kinda weird

It was also really interesting to see a LOT of cats and kittens lounging about in amongst the gravesites…they all looked very well looked after and very tame – obviously quite a good gig for a stray cat! Many of them were settled in behind the fences of the tombs – looking out at the visitors…one or two allowed us to pat them, after we’d spent a few minutes being sniffed by them!

Cats - behind the fence keeping watch

The grave sites are owned by the wealthy of Buenos Aires and most have been in the families for generations. As we ambled around it was obvious that some families had not added any bodies for a very long time and these plots were becoming run down and some were in a very sad state of repair, (these were the ones I was most intrigued with) while others were shiny and looked brand new.

We saw a few people (men) with buckets and cleaning cloths cleaning and polishing there very beautiful tombs – such an interesting place….albeit a bit ‘creepy’ to be so close to coffins – barely 30cms behind glass doors….One had a for sale sign on the door….and we wondered how that would work…would they have to get rid of the remains of their ancestors so the new owners could put the remains of their ancestors in….hmmm….

Evita's remains are in here

Eva Peron’s remains are buried in her father’s family tomb, and there is always a crowd of people around that particular spot. (It took about 20 years after she died for Evita’s remains to be interred here – apparently her mummified corpse spent a long time on the dining table of her husband and his new wife’s home – nice!)

Recoleta was an interesting place to visit – but really the highlight of our day was actually before we got to the cemetery, we came across some dare devil skateboarders….we spent ages watching as they practiced their moves and took tumbles and lots of risks but they were great!!  Here is a video we shot of some of them using a very busy road to finish their run!!  AWESOME….

It made us realise that how much more fun it is and indeed how much happier and joyful it is to be in the presence of people LIVING their lives

Related posts:

1. Buenos Aires – first impressions…

Tags: Buenos Aires, general interest, lifestyle, love yourself, travel in South America

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Posted in General Interest Ray & Deb's Excellent Adventure by Deb Hocking No Comments Yet