Our first stop today was Recoleta Cemetery. It is said to be one of the most beautiful cemeteries in the world and is only 2 blocks from our apartment. They have a map at the entrance so you can locate the graves you want to visit. It is divided into family owned mausoleums. It is somewhat of a maze and I think it would be very easy to get lost!
From the center of the cemetery there are numerous narrow lanes to walk down. You can't buy a plot here. All spots are held by the old elite, aristocratic families. Some of the mausoleums are beautifully adorn and well kept up. Others have fallen in terrible disrepair. You can look into some of the mausoleums and see steps going down underground.
Nicola got a tour of the cemetery when she first arrived in BA so she told us some of the stories. One was of the young 16 year old upcoming opera star who fell sick and died. She was buried in Recoleta and for some reason they had to open the casket later and found scratch marks on the inside -- she was buried alive. (I told Nicola that is most likely an old wives tale since we heard similar stories growing up in Iowa!) There are past presidents, noble prize winners and other dignitaries buried here but the most notable one to me was Eva (Evita) Peron. I understand that her tomb is one of the most visited.
There were tons of stray cats that live in the cemetery and they all look pretty sick. I came across a cat lady taking care of them.
We then walked to see la flor, a gigantic steel flower sculpture that was built in 2002 and is near the University in BA. It is supposed to open in the daylight and close at night time, just like a real flower. However, it doesn't seem to be working now. It was still really impressive to see and fortunately we had a gorgeous day to see it!
After that we walked to MALBA, the contemporary art museum in BA. (You will notice a theme here...lots of walking! I got in almost 20,000 steps yesterday!) It was not a large museum but it was well done. My favorite was this piece: Manifestation by Antonio Berni. Nicola wrote a paper about this painting and she explained that is was painted during the depression. The faces of the people on this painting seen so real and authentic.
It was now about 2:30 pm and since we had been walking a lot we decided to take the bus Palermo to do some shopping. Buses are incredibly inexpensive, about 30 pesos which translates to about 30 cents.
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Katie identified numerous shops she wanted to visit and Nicola said Palermo was a great place for lunch. The look of this neighborhood is was very different from our area in Recoleta. There are cobblestone streets and every block on the corners are multiple outdoor cafes. Lots of beautiful people drinking cafe con leche, wine or beer.
We ate a late lunch that was not the best food I had ever had. I am still getting the hang of knowing what to order. But the limeade / mint drink that I had was incredibly refreshing!
We were pretty tired after that so we went back to our apartment and put our feet up for a while. Nicola had arranged for us to meet her roommate Grace and her father who is visiting from Nebraska as well as two other girls that are in this study abroad program for dinner. We met at Siga la Vaca. It is an Argentina parilla (steak house) set up as an all you can eat buffet complete with a salad bar, numerous cuts of meat, wine, beer and desserts. I didn't take any pictures because we were too busy talking, eating and really enjoying ourselves! It really was a good day!
