Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2010 - Buenos Aires

For today we did not really have a plan for our final full day in Buenos Aires. We decided we would head out to a bookstore, then walk over to the Recoleta neighborhood. In Recoleta we would have lunch, visit the grave-site of Evita and maybe take in one or two of the museums. Afterward, we would walk back to Palermo, which was where our hotel was located, and maybe do some shopping.

We had a somewhat leisurely morning and we headed to the subway station. This would take us near the bookstore we wanted to visit. We were told by a couple on the Antarctica ship that it was worthwhile and the hotel also recommended it. The bookstore is actually a wonderful old theater. The main book sections are on the main floor and there are other sections on the balcony floors. I bought a couple of Spanish/English language books and we proceeded to our next stop, Recoleta.

Inside the Bookstore

Recoleta is the nicest neighborhood in Buenos Aires. It is inviting and better maintained than the rest of the city. We wanted to get to the cemetery where Evita is buried. The cemetery is a tourist attraction in and of itself because of the history and the elaborate mausoleums. First we stopped for lunch. As an American it becomes clear that fast food could not have started in Argentina or many European countries. By this time you would have thought we would have learned not to stop at a restaurant with table service if we were short on time. But no, we did it anyway and killed a little over an hour.

Street in Recoleta

We made our way to the cemetery, it took us a little bit of time to find as the entrance was not obvious. The mausoleums were indeed elaborate. We did find Evita's grave site but we did not have a guide. On the way to the cemetery we had run into some of the passengers on the Antarctica ship. They had planned their cemetery visit and had just taken a tour with an English speaking guide. This is reason I like to plan our sight-seeing, it makes more efficient use of your time and you get more out of the sight.

Evita's Mausoleum Plaque on Evita's Mausoleum

Because we were running short on time at this point, we decided to head over to the Evita museum and skip some of the other interesting museums nearby. We really did not know what made Evita such an interesting character and given her importance to Argentina (and Madonna) we thought we should find out. After walking a fair distance we found Evita's museum. Eva Duarte had been popular on radio and then she also made several movies. She married Juan Peron who became president. She became very active supporting worker's rights. Through her foundation several schools and hospitals were established for the working class. The Peron's were populists and Eva's stylist manner and dress made her a cult of personality. The people of Argentina called her by a name of affection, Evita. Evita's career was cut short by cancer. Evita's body was not laid to rest in its current location until 1974, she died in 1952. The military had hidden the corpse and forbid public discussion concerning the Peron's. Juan Peron had been in exiled and Evita's corpse was returned to Argentina shortly after Juan Peron returned from exile and became president again.

inside the cemetery Outside wall of the cemetery, high rises in the background

Next we hoofed it to Palermo. Our hotel was in Palermo and we really had not explored much of it. Palermo is supposed to be known for its cutting edge fashion and nightlife. It is interesting and hard to describe. Try to imagine you are in a city's warehouse district and in the midst of the gritty surroundings is a shoe store. The shoe store is nicely lit with creative branding and large picture windows of fashionable displays. It is a small shop and there are several customers inside. You go to open the door to enter but it is locked. The staff has to buzz you in. Weird. In Palermo we also saw vibrant bars on the street corners with lots of outdoor seating completely filled. It seems like there is a lot of work to be done in the area, but where the work has been done it is first rate.

We made our way back to the hotel and then out for dinner. We ate at a Parrilla recommended by the hotel. It was probably about 10:00pm on a Tuesday night and the place was packed. I had a steak tenderloin, cooked over a charcoal barbecue of course. It was delicious. They also had a Malbec label called Rutini. I had had this elsewhere and found it was such a great compliment to the meat that I had another.