The Day of Evita

Getting caught up on the blog this morning.  This post if for Sat, 8/16:

Today was another day without an alarm, not getting up until 9:30...walking several miles a day takes a toll!  I started getting out of bed and decided that I should do laundry today since things would have several days to dry.

I sorted my things, found the laundry soap "leaves", hung the clothes line across the bathroom and started scrubbing the clothes in the small bathroom sink.  There was no drain stopper, so used a small anklet sock to stopper the drain.  Washing, wringing, then hanging each item before proceeding to the next - I've never appreciated a washing machine so much.  Don't know how much I actually "cleaned" the clothes, but they got wet and scrubbed a bit.

My plan was to head to the Recoleta Cemetery as well as huge metal flower sculpture (Floralis Generica).  I walked to the C subway which is only 6 blocks away and then walk for a while to the Cemetery.  

Beautiful tiles in the subway station:

When I arrive at the Retiro stop of the subway, I was completely lost.  The street names didn't match up with the map.  Finally after wandering around for about 10 minutes, then I found my bearings and headed towards the Cemetery.  

Another wonderful tower, I discovered while trying to figure out where I was:

The walk was much longer than I had expected, at least 30+ min.  There was also a park fair as I got closer.  I happened upon the metal flower before the Cemetery.  I took numerous pictures and was in awe over the size of the sculpture.  The flower opens every morning at 7:30 and closes every night at 6:30.

Another sculpture I enjoyed near the Floralis Generica:

From the sculpture I was on to the Cemetery.  I expected numerous entrances and took the street that was closest to the flower.  Unfortunately I found out that there was only one entrance and it was pretty much completely opposite from where I was walking.  I took the "scenic" route there, but it was no where near scenic.  I was shocked that the Cemetery is surrounded by modern condo buildings, a home design center and a large shopping mall.  

In the mall I noticed a store called "Winery" and remembered seeing it in several other locations.  I stopped in and was impressed with the selection.  Nothing from the US or Europe, but tons of Mendoza wines - including all of the places that I had visited on my tour the second day and really enjoyed.  They had all of top end Achaval Ferrer wines that I had shipped back to the US...they were as much as I had paid at the winery.  There were also all of the Reserve wines from Casarena and then I saw the Cabernet from Decero that I had loved so much with lunch.  Sold - will be a nice treat the next few nights.  I'm sure by the end of the day that I will be cursing myself for carrying around a bottle of wine all day.

Finally to the Cemetery entrance.  Luckily there was a directory at the front to look up specific people.  The entry line for Evita Duarte Peron was well worn.  I got the general direction and figured I would just look for large crowds.  The cemetery was unlike anything I had ever seen - very elaborate, individual family moseliums squeezed tightly together.  There were so many and the next as extravagant as the previous.  Was surprised that you could actually see the caskets inside some of them while in others you could see a stair case that lead down to the caskets.  After more effort than I expected I found Evita's family moselium (Duarte family).  There is a long history about Evita's body after her death.

Copying from Wikipedia since I found it so fascinating (with some of my commentary added in):

Shortly after Evita's death, plans were made to construct a memorial in her honor. The monument, which was to be a statue of a man representing the descamisados, was projected to be larger than the Statue of Liberty. Evita's body was to be stored in the base of the monument and to be displayed for the public. While the monument was being constructed, Evita's embalmed body was displayed in her former office building for almost two years. Before the monument to Evita was completed, Juan Perón was overthrown in a military coup. Perón hastily fled the country and did not make arrangements to secure Evita's body.

Following his Peron's flight, a military dictatorship took power. The new authorities removed Evita's body from display, and its whereabouts were a mystery for 16 years. From 1955 until 1971, the military dictatorship of Argentina issued a ban on Peronism. It became illegal not only to possess pictures of Juan and Eva Perón in one's home, but to speak their names. In 1971, the military revealed that Evita's body was buried in a crypt in Milan, Italy, under the name "María Maggi." It appeared that her body had been damaged during its transport and storage, such as compressions to her face and disfigurement of one of her feet due to the body having been left in an upright position.

In 1971, Evita's body was exhumed and flown to Spain, where Juan Perón maintained the corpse in his home. Juan and his third wife, Isabel, decided to keep the corpse in their dining room on a platform near the table. (MAK comment - really?  Keep your dead wife's body in the dining room for 2 years?!?!  I can imagine how that conversation with the current wife went...) In 1973, Juan Perón came out of exile and returned to Argentina, where he became president for the third time. Perón died in office in 1974. His third wife, Isabel Perón, whom he had married on 15 November 1961, and who had been elected vice-president, succeeded him. She became the first female president in the Western Hemisphere. Isabel had Evita's body returned to Argentina and (briefly) displayed beside Juan Perón's. (MAK comment - the casket was opened for this display even though the body had been damaged in all of the transport.  Later in the day I saw pictures of her displayed body and the camoflouge that was used to hide the damage.) Evita's body was later buried in the Duarte family tomb in La Recoleta Cemetery, Buenos Aires.

The Argentine government took elaborate measures to make Evita's tomb secure. The tomb's marble floor has a trapdoor that leads to a compartment containing two coffins. Under that compartment is a second trapdoor and a second compartment. That is where Evita's coffin rests. 

Back to my day...I took many photos throughout the cemetry.  I tried to be very artistic, but not sure how well that turned out.  Lots of shadows and strange lighting as well as very close quarters.

When leaving the cemetry, it was 3:45 and time for lunch.  I found a place about a block away - Pani - and had a great grilled pastrami sandwich with grilled onions and honey mustard.  By the time I left lunch, it was 5:30!  It took over 30 min to wave down someone and be able to pay.  Hopefully that the Evita museum was still open, I headed that way...

I started my walk to the Evita museum.  It was a long 30 min walk.  That seems to be the standard today.  Given my pace, it was probably close to 2 miles.  The museum was still open, I arrived at 6, and it stayed open until 7.  Plenty of time! 

Overall the museum was OK, nothing spectacular.  There were about 10-15 dresses on display.  Lots of pictures and many books.  There were about 5 films that lasted 2-4 min each.  It was on two levels with only a few small rooms on each floor.  I was through the museum in less than 45 minutes....and that was watching every film and trying to read most things...although most of it was in Spanish.

A picture of a picture of her funeral procession:

From there I walked towards the subway to head towards Teatro Colon.  There was a lovely surprise on the train - a guy playing the cello.  He was very good and had the entire car mesmerized.  It appeared that everyone on the car gave him a tip when he was done.

Not a great picture since the train was moving so much:

I found a small cafe across the street from the Theater for a quick pre-dinner cappuccino and cheesecake with raspberry topping.  

I crossed the street to Teatro and headed to my assigned entrance.  

I learned during my tour on Friday that specfic exterior doors went to specific levels of the theater and only the best seats in the house were allowed to enter through the main doors.  Sure enough, at my entrance there were only stairs heading straight up - about 5 flights!  My seat ended up being in the 5th balcony, pretty much the cheap seats, but surprising there were many seats much worse.

I was the on the front row, but the railing was so hight that I had to lean forward during the entire show to see ANY of the stage.  My face/head was leaning on the rail the entire time.

Regardless, the theater was amazing - the ornamentation, the construction, the acoustics, the boxes, the pageantry of it all.  In my REI hiking pants, Under Armour shirt and tennis shoes, I was certainly one of the most under dressed persons there.  It was nice to see so many dressed to the nines for an evening of ballet.

The first act was 1 hour and 45 minutes.  The second act was considerably shorter at only 30 minutes.  I exited the theater at 11 PM and had decided that I was going to head back to the hotel rather than go out.  Every subway entrance I tried was locked up - I guess the subway closes at 11 or earlier which is just crazy to me.

I ended up walking, thinking it would be about 35 min.  I took a different route through the Obelisco area, which I had not seen close up.  At night, it is the Buenos Aires version of Times Square.  So many huge, lite billboards, street vendors, etc all surrounding the enormous structure.  It was fun to see this area at night and it seemed very safe with so many people around.

I continued on, feeling much more comfortable after checking the map only once.  By the time I got to Florida street, I was set and knew exactly where I needed to go.  By the time I got back, I had been walking for exactly an hour, but that included a few pauses for picture taking and admiring.

Back in the room, my laundered clothes were still pretty wet - sort of surprised considering they had 12 hours during the day and night.  Glad I have two more full days to let things dry before I leave.  Certainly a lesson learned for the next laundry day.