Seeing Dead People in BA
I love cemetaries. I always have. My brother had to suffer through the Necropolis in Glasgow with me, and I’ve got a few tales about Pere LaChaise in Paris. If there is a cool cemetary in a city, it becomes one of my top spots to visit.
Buenos Aires has Recoleta Cemetario. As with Jim Morrison in Pere LaChaise, this one has a star occupant as well, Eva Peron. In Pere LaChaise you can find JM by just following graffiti scrawls that say “The Lizard King This Way”. Not so in Recoleta. Everyone is wandering around confused looking for Evita. I stumbled accidentally on her mausoleum and the only reason I noticed it was the large number of flowers on it.
I didn´t really care if I found her. I was too intrigued with the different types of graves. Some of the mausoleums are really old and crumbley - these were usually my favorites. Often the doors were no longer locked and you could actually walk in. I felt that was a BIT weird for me, and just the musty smell of death would keep me from entering. I also liked the ones with a lot of cobwebs on them. These people were really dead - anyone would have maintained their grave or paid for it to be maintained, were long gone themselves.
Then there were the newer structures. These looked like they were mini-shops with fancy glass doors. At any moment you expect someone to open the door and say “Yes, we´re open!” Lots of these had photo portraits of their occupants, usually at their best, with brass fittings on the floor, and lace coverings for the caskets.
One of the things I found a little odd in this cemetary was that many of the coffins were still on view. The crypts are under the mausoleums, so they can be used for many family members. The coffins would be sitting in an open room, until the next person died. So literally, you are not buried, but on view. All the coffins on view looked the same as well, as if there had been only one coffin maker for the last hundred years. Same shape, same handles. Same everything. Some of the oldest mausoleums actually had coffins sitting outside and exposed. Very weird.
After spending a few hours with dead people and photographing their mortuary statues, I spent the next two hours searching for a man I was told to look for. A friend through BnA asked if I was heading to this market, could I look for this certain guy who made earrings out of chain mail? I am always happy to wander through artist markets, especially when it´s right outside the cemetary. I spent two hours browsing, with no luck. I chatted with some sellers, asked around, but no luck finding the mystery man. Sorry Cristi! I tried.
After a few hours of browsing, I hailed a cab. As anyone who has read my blogs before knows, I HATE CABBIES. This was one just awesome. He and I chatted in spanish about all sorts of stuff, most of which was different to the usual conversations I have had. He was a sweetie so I tipped him more than the usual rounding up to the next peso on my fare.
Tonight I might see some tango or grab a nice juicy steak. I´m not sure yet. Depends on if I can get a hold of some friends of my cousin. No luck yet but I´ll try again in a bit.
Anyway, here are some pics from today and yesterday.
March 14th, 2009 at 3:17 pm
I’m partial to a few cemetaries myself. Is the Necroplois in Glasgow on a bih hill above a Cathedral? If so, that’s another mutual destination.
Some great pics there CM… the weathering of some of the sculpture is exquisite.
March 14th, 2009 at 5:58 pm
Yes, the Necropolis is on a hill above both a cathedral and a power plant of some sort. That was one of my fav spots to shoot.
Glasgow is a great city for art and my fav Dali is there as well in a small museum about various religions.
See you soon!
March 15th, 2009 at 6:37 am
Cemeteries, how uplifting! I am reminded of a quote from my father’s visit to some church made of human bones. Above the portal it said, “Here lie our bones waiting for yours.” Perhaps my aunt knows where the church is. Your trip seemed like a resounding success and you are returning in one piece, I hope. (Remember China and the belated phone call.) I simply can’t wait to see you and maybe make you my recently acquired recipes (from Aunt Gloria) for Catalan rice and rum cake. Have a safe and uneventful flight home.
Love to you.
March 15th, 2009 at 9:54 am
Anther great episode! I love cemeteries too. Recoleta is nice because it has a nice little neighborhood feel to it. Here in Mexico, we use the basement shelving method, but normally (maybe even by law) put up a brick wall to enclose the coffin.
BTW, a while back, my sister Gloria discovered a great book on the cemeteries of Paris, it is called Permanent Parisians and was written by Judy Culbertson. Culbertson has added to her titles with Permanent Londoners and Permanent Italians. I have the first, and would consider it a must for all serious necro-tourist.
Travel safe!
Vosté
March 15th, 2009 at 11:56 am
Ha, thanks Frank. I will have to check those out… sounds like fun reading.
Yeah, these “graves” were barely graves in many cases, but a glass door with a coffin behind it, or sometimes not even! I will admit I did test the lid on one of the coffins, but I don´t know what I would have done if it opened… maybe a bony hand would have popped out.
Mom,
I´m sure no one in this fam would turn down a bit of rum cake…
C
March 15th, 2009 at 5:56 pm
I must hear about the China and belated phone call story! Hopefully, it doesn’t involve rabbits.
March 24th, 2009 at 9:38 am
Cemeteries…uttering “I see dead people”, and it being true, not an ideal situation you ever hope to be in.
I love old graves too…the more rubbed off and gaudy the grave markers are the better.
Glad to see you are safe and having a kickass time.
Di