Losing myself among the dead at La Recoleta Cemetery

Without a doubt, the most beautiful place in Buenos Aires is La Recoleta Cemetery. Our tour included about 20 minutes at this historic and still active cemetery located in one of the most upscale neighborhoods in BA.

I have always thought cemeteries are special places to visit because they encourage us to reflect upon life, death, and those special people or experiences we cherish. This cemetery was no different. Taking up several city blocks and surrounded by a wall 20 feet high, the interior of the cemetery is a maze of cobblestone walkways between mausoleums both grand and modest in size and appearance. The tour buses were dropping their bus loads of people off every 10 minutes and the guides hustled the groups through the narrow streets of this living city of the dead in the most direct route to reach Eva Peron's grave site. Remember Eva Peron? Or perhaps more likely, do you remember the musical Evita which was based on her life? Eva Peron is something like a saint here in BA. People still hang pictures of her in their shops and houses. While I followed our tour group into the cemetery, I never made it to her grave. I began to walk slower and slower and then eventually gave up trying to keep up with the group winding through the mausoleums. Instead, I focused on the amazing sculptures on the mausoleums. They were so life-like in their expressions of grief, hope, and judgment. It was an appropriate reminder of just how precious life is when you are still clinging to it.