Recoleta Recon

Today we decided to explore our neighborhood, and set out to visit the Cementerio de la Recoleta, a huge cemetery which contains the coffin of Evita Perón. We watched the movie “Evita” in preparation for the trip (thank you Garrett!) so we made sure to plot out where she was located. The cemetery is made up of huge tombs that are owned by families, and it appears that the coffins are all located down a set of stairs that lead under ground. I don't know how any new families could get integrated into this cemetery though, as every square inch appears to already be taken. I took a ton of photos as a personal art project including Evita's modest family tomb, but also found a few subject of interest besides the tombs – cats! There were TONS of kitties wandering all around the tombs, and they all looked fat and well fed and pretty tame. I wondered if they were planted there purposefully, since I think the ancient Egyptians believed that cats were the protectors of the souls of the dead, and perhaps that same idea lived here in BA.


We walked back out and wandered next door to a beautiful church, the Basílica Nuestra Señora del Pilar. We continued on to the lawn to enjoy a reggae performance by a local band, and started to make our way out of the park. However, I saw a ton of people walking into a building which turned out to be the Centro Cultural Recoleta. Little did we know that there was a huge new media art exhibit going on that weekend, and the whole thing was free. The exhibits included really cool photography, live art, video clips, bizarre electronic sculptures, and a huge free concert. We really enjoyed a photo exhibit by Martín Bonetto which depicted dozens of interesting character portraits.

We then wandered to La Biela cafe, which is a local Recoleta institution, and reminded me a bit of Tosca cafe. A group of elderly men drinking coffee appeared to be quite intrigued by the foreigners sitting next to them. On our way home, we walked down Av. Alvear, which is basically like Park Avenue in NY. We were by far the worst dressed people there, which again just reaffirmed how safe we are in our neighborhood!