This morning we slept in a bit late and then had a wonderful buffet breakfast at the hotel. At breakfast, we mapped out our itinerary for the day: Recoleta Cemetery, National Congress and the Caminito area in La Boca.
We took the subway from the Catedral to the Pueyrredon stop. Once we oriented ourselves on the street level, we walked about fourteen blocks to the walled cemetery. More of the bicentennial restoration work was going on, so I thought for a moment the cemetery might also be closed. Fortunately we found one small entry way. We purchased our cemetery map for six pesos and were off.
The first thing that surprised me was that this was like no other cemetery I had been in. There was no grass and no tombstones. Massive family vaults laid out in what appeared to be streets greeted us. The architecture on some of the vaults was amazing, as was the sculpture and stained glass. We meandered through the streets gazing at the final resting places of almost five thousand people.
Looking into the vaults, you could see literally many levels of caskets and wooden boxes for cremated remains. The vaults were marked by family names and very few indidivdual names or dates were written. Finally we found the tomb that we had come to see-the tomb of Eva Duarte de Peron. While the family vault was beautiful, it did not have the majestic presence that I had been expecting. Those vaults we found at the opposite side of the cemetery. Some of those vaults were of great military and political leaders.
After our visit to the cemetery, we stopped for an ice cream. My dulce de leche was wonderful! We sat in a park and watched the many dogs in the area running and playing. Then we were off on a hike across town to the National Congress. About midway we stopped in a park and watched some more dogs. These dogs were being walked or exercised by what appeared to be a paid person. They were walking in little herds and we saw similar herds all through the city. Dog walking must be a lucrative business in Buenos Aires.
The National Congress building strikingly resembled the Capital building in Washington, D.C. Unfortunately, we could not tour the building and that was a bit of a disappointment. The guidebook specifically mentioned the beauty of the Blue Hall located under the dome. So we sat in the park facing the Congress building. There was a beautiful fountain in that park that reminded me of the Trevi Fountain in Rome. Afer a brief respite, we hailed a taxi to take us to the Caminito area in the La Boca district.
Our cabbie was quite a friendly fellow and conversed with us in Spanish. He told us about the excitement in the city because of the bicentennial celebration. Tim asked him if the warm weather was normal for this time of year and he said that global warming might have made it a bit warmer, but it was pretty much typical for this time of year.
In the Caminito area, we strolled through the streets looking at the crafts in the many booths set up by local artisans. We made a few purchases; a painting, a small paper mache sculpture and an inlaid wooden box. We watched some of the tango demonstrations and listened to local musicians. The brightly painted houses and shops with their whimsical statues were amusing and interesting to look at.
We finally stopped for a light dinner at one of the outdoor cafes. We ordered empanadas and an Argentine beer called Quilmes. The empanadas were very tasty as was the beer. We ordered the empanadas with cheese, ham and cheese, corn and chicken. The fillings were fried in a tart like pastry. Very yummy!
As we watched the tango performance, little did we know that we, too, would soon be part of the show. Tim was pulled up on the stage by the female dancer. They danced a bit, and he did his best to tango with her. I enjoyed his being the victim until my turn came along! The male dancer enticed me onto the stage by telling me it would only be for a picture. He claimed I had been the one taking pictures of Tim, so now it was my turn to have a picture taken. Of course, that was only part of my performance. I didn't quite manage the feats of the female dancer. Lifting my knee up for a photo pose was a bit more of a challenge. My guess is that she was no where near 50 in age!
After our dinner and tango experience we strolled through the streets a bit more and then caught a cab back to the Plaza de Mayo. We sat and looked at the Casa Rosada and the square and reminisced about the day. Then we were off to the hotel to make arrangements for our departure on Saturday-Tim's back to the U.S. and mine to Rosario.
No comments:
Post a Comment