We have a busy day with lots to see before we catch our afternoon bus. We are fortunate to be her on the weekend and see everyone relaxing outside. Our first stop was Recolleta and a tour of a very interesting cemetery. The cemetery is inclosed by a large wall that upon entering you find yourself surrounded by a maze of mausoleums. These mausoleums are not your ordinary square above ground resting place. They are elaborate structures with varying degrees of architecture that make you wonder how much did it cost to build that.
As we wonder around I did a little eaves dropping on some guided tours and learned some interesting facts about the afterlife of an Argentina citizen. They do not believe in embalming so the bodies are stored in an air tight container and placed inside the coffin. The mausoleums are actually three or four stories underground and contain many members of the family. The funerals are very dramatic because the coffins have to be lowered feet first through an opening to the lower levels. Square footage is at a premium so they can't make doorways or hallways wide enough to lower the coffins. Eva Perron, the lady that Madonna made famous is buried here, maybe. When she died the government was very worried about people stealing her body in a revolution so they made two or three wax copies of her body and sent her real body back to Spain for burial. Some time later Mr Perron's current wife felt that Eva should be buried in Argentina so they unburied her and sent her back. I am not sure if any of this is true but that is what the guide said. If you are uneasy about seeing coffins on full display then you may want to skip the cemetery because the door of almost every mausoleum provides a great view of what is inside.
It was now lunch time and I wanted to add another Hard Rock Cafe meal to my belt. At last count I had been to over twenty of them around the world, so I did not want one to slip by. Hard Rock Cafe was actually connected to a mall and next to a large park. The mall only had stores that sold things for your home and had some great looking stuff for every part of your house. As we strolled around the area in and out of the stores, looking at the menus Karen and I both realized that we were home.
After lunch we jumped in a taxi and headed to the antique district. Every Sunday the antique collectors setup an antique flea market and Karen walked around wanting to buy something. It did not take long for the shopping fever to disappear and we ended up in a rickety old building and a second floor street cafe. The view allowed us to watch the various Tango performances and do a little bit of relaxing. This did not last long and we jumped back in a cab for Recolleta.
We had left Recolleta earlier that afternoon around 1:00 PM and returned to find a maze of people sitting in the park. We tried to figure out what was going on but the only common element we could find was Yerba Matte and couples hanging all over each other. With the attraction of so many people enjoying the sunshine and each other, it is only natural to have street performers entertaining the crowds. Different little bands setup in various corners of the park surrounded by people dancing and guys walking around on stilts juggling bowling pins. The performers were quite interesting to watch. We really wanted some of that Yerba Matte. It was time to go and catch our bus and our 24 hours ride to Bariloche. We had reserved the front two seats on the second level which gave us a clear and unobstructed view of the road ahead. The ride to Bariloche goes through the plains region which is a mixture of Texas plains and the Florida everglades. Not a lot to look at but the last couple of hours gave us the perfect view of mountains, lakes and rivers. Sitting in the front seat enhanced the experience if you could look past all the bug road kill on the window.
As we wonder around I did a little eaves dropping on some guided tours and learned some interesting facts about the afterlife of an Argentina citizen. They do not believe in embalming so the bodies are stored in an air tight container and placed inside the coffin. The mausoleums are actually three or four stories underground and contain many members of the family. The funerals are very dramatic because the coffins have to be lowered feet first through an opening to the lower levels. Square footage is at a premium so they can't make doorways or hallways wide enough to lower the coffins. Eva Perron, the lady that Madonna made famous is buried here, maybe. When she died the government was very worried about people stealing her body in a revolution so they made two or three wax copies of her body and sent her real body back to Spain for burial. Some time later Mr Perron's current wife felt that Eva should be buried in Argentina so they unburied her and sent her back. I am not sure if any of this is true but that is what the guide said. If you are uneasy about seeing coffins on full display then you may want to skip the cemetery because the door of almost every mausoleum provides a great view of what is inside.
It was now lunch time and I wanted to add another Hard Rock Cafe meal to my belt. At last count I had been to over twenty of them around the world, so I did not want one to slip by. Hard Rock Cafe was actually connected to a mall and next to a large park. The mall only had stores that sold things for your home and had some great looking stuff for every part of your house. As we strolled around the area in and out of the stores, looking at the menus Karen and I both realized that we were home.
After lunch we jumped in a taxi and headed to the antique district. Every Sunday the antique collectors setup an antique flea market and Karen walked around wanting to buy something. It did not take long for the shopping fever to disappear and we ended up in a rickety old building and a second floor street cafe. The view allowed us to watch the various Tango performances and do a little bit of relaxing. This did not last long and we jumped back in a cab for Recolleta.
We had left Recolleta earlier that afternoon around 1:00 PM and returned to find a maze of people sitting in the park. We tried to figure out what was going on but the only common element we could find was Yerba Matte and couples hanging all over each other. With the attraction of so many people enjoying the sunshine and each other, it is only natural to have street performers entertaining the crowds. Different little bands setup in various corners of the park surrounded by people dancing and guys walking around on stilts juggling bowling pins. The performers were quite interesting to watch. We really wanted some of that Yerba Matte. It was time to go and catch our bus and our 24 hours ride to Bariloche. We had reserved the front two seats on the second level which gave us a clear and unobstructed view of the road ahead. The ride to Bariloche goes through the plains region which is a mixture of Texas plains and the Florida everglades. Not a lot to look at but the last couple of hours gave us the perfect view of mountains, lakes and rivers. Sitting in the front seat enhanced the experience if you could look past all the bug road kill on the window.
