Evita

Well today I played tourist and visited el cementerio la recoleta - a truly amazing place. Evita's tomb is here which is what I was really interested in seeing. (The photo with me in it is beside her tomb). This cemetery is in the grounds of a monastery which was set up by Franciscan Monks in 1720. The current cemetery was inaugurated in 1822. The barrio (suburb) is called Recoleta because the area is/was very tranquil which was deemed perfect for meditation or recollection hence 'Recoleta'. The cemetery is a city within a city, with different architectural styles and fashion using marble, granite, bronze, stone. You walk in the gates and are greeted by a huge towering statue of Christ, from which you walk along avenues and calles (all named) lined with giant vaults and tombs resembling churches and houses...some are simple and others bombastic masterpieces! It has a mixture of marble and flowers and little plaza's. Relevant players in Argentine history lie here - presidents, poets, writers. It is a lovely place (strangely) to wander in peace and quiet, exploring narrow calles and wide avenues among the yew and cypress trees.