Antarctica, Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil
Bueno Aires, Recoleta Cemetery
The next day, we (myself and several of my Sail with Seth companions) visited La Recoleta Cemetery ("Cementerio de la Recoleta" in Spanish) in Buenos Aires. It is an odd cemetery in many ways, unlike any other I've seen. It's oddly beautiful, but also oddly, well, odd. It contains the remains of many significant Argentinians, notably past Argentinian presidents, military leaders, civic leaders, and even a Nobel laureate (Federico Leloir, Chemistry, for discovering carbohydrate metabolism pathways), but the cemetery's most famous resident is the famed former Argentinian first lady, Eva Perón.
Here are some photos:
La Recoleta has a few wide main walkways, but the tombs are generally facing the cemetery's maze of narrow walkways like this one. These walkways are entirely enclosed on either side by tombs so closely spaced that one cannot see between them. The tombs vary in size, but most appear to be only about 2 meters wide. Looks are deceiving, though. The tombs themselves are often just the top floor of a mausoleum that can extend two stories below ground level. The mausoleums also usually extend under the walkways, so the burial space available is much larger than the size of the ground-level tomb would suggest.
This tomb looked to me from a distance like a giant moth had landed above its door! Of course, that's not what it is, but once that image was in my mind I couldn't shake it!
Each tomb/mausoleum is owned by a family in perpetuity. The responsibility for care and upkeep of the site becomes the responsibility of the heirs when the previous generation dies. Most of the tombs in La Recoleta are in good repair, but there are a few that the heirs have obviously chosen to walk away from. This poor little guy is an example. He has lost his right hand, most of his left arm, and his wings. There are weeds growing out of his perch on top of the family tomb. And to add insult to injury, he has a plant growing out of his side.
Many of the tombs have some form of artwork applied to them. This carving is the most elaborate I saw. Look closely and you will see that an angel is pulling the cover off a young woman as she reaches up to him, while a demonic looking being has collapsed below her, draping over the front of the tomb, but still with a firm grasp on the woman's ankle. What does it represent? I could be a smart aleck and say it looks like someone's nightmare, but in truth I really don't know what the artist and tomb owner had in mind.
The artwork on this tomb, for me, was the most poignant in the cemetery. This is Liliana Crociati de Szaszax. She died at age 25 in an avalanche while on her honeymoon. Beside her is her dog Sabu, who is said to have died of "desamor" (heartbreak in Spanish) just a few weeks later when his mistress didn't return.
Eva Duarte de Perón is buried in the lower vault (to discourage tomb robbers) of the Duarte family's mausoleum. She was the wife of Juan Perón, Argentina's president from 1946 through 1955. She was a strong supporter of labor rights and women's suffrage, and became an advocate for the poor and opposed the control of Argentina by the wealthy elites. She was, and still is, beloved by the Argentinian people. Unfortunately, she died in 1952 (of cervical cancer) at the age of only 33. Shortly before she died, Evita—as she was affectionately dubbed by the Argentine public—was given the title of "Spiritual Leader of Argentina" by the Argentine Congress.
aThis plaque outside of the Duarte family tomb reads, translated to English, "Do not cry for me, lost and far away, I am an essential part of your existence, all love and pain were foreseen for me, I fulfilled my humble imitation of Christ, whoever walked in my path, let them follow it, HIS DISCIPLES".