Buenos Aires in a Day

2-April-2012 – Buenos Aires, Argentina

An advantage of being in a tour group is that you don’t really have to do a lot of research to know where to go and what to see. Everything is laid out for you as a tourist. Sure you may just get to see the highlights – but that is really what you want to see on your first visit to a city.

There are 2 important dates on the Argentinian calendar: 25-May and 9-July. There are main thoroughfares named after it. Our first destination for the day is called Plaza de Mayo. It is the centre of Argentinian political life. Today also commemorates the 30th anniversary of the Falkland Islands War or Isla Malvinas. There was a political rally building up as we were touring the square. The area features the Metropolitan Cathedral, Banco National and a great vantage point to see the Obelisk at the 9 de Julio Avenue. However, the main feature is Casa Rosada – the famous balcony where Eva Peron made a speech. What the speech was – I have no idea – but the tour guide seem to assume we know it – or at least recognise the name Eva Peron (of course – who would not know Evita).

The second stop is Puerto de La Boca. Think of it as the Montmartre of Buenos Aires, although that might offend the Parisians. The only thing common perhaps is that they sell locally made arts in this area. The place is characterised with multi-coloured dwellings – originally, because the people who developed the area were poor and used only extra paints they could scrounge from the harbour. But now it is deliberately painted that way to retain its character.

Be warned of pick-pockets we were told, they lurk behind you and grab your wallet when you are distracted. I say, that is not entirely accurate – they are actually dressed in sexy tango outfit and seduce you to have a photo with them, after which they gently ask you P20 (twenty pesos) for the privilege.

We then headed to the posh side of town, driving through places like Retiro, Palermo and Port Madero before reaching the Alvear Avenue. This avenue is their Rodeo Drive but the locals would jokingly call it Miranda (‘mira’ which means – see, ‘randa’ which I think meant – walk away). We were not brought here to shop but rather to visit a very old and expensive cemetery at the end of the avenue called – La Recoleta Cemetery.

You can check on the Wikipedia on who’s who were buried here. Other than the grave of Argentina’s elite, Carla took us to the site of 3 ‘interesting’ graves – one is of Eva Peron. Her tomb is not extraordinary, what made it special is her.

The second is that of a young girl named Rufina Cambeceres. Her tomb is adorned with a life sized statue of a girl opening a door. She was an ordinary girl, i.e. of no noble significance, who died on the eve of her 19th birthday party. Her family and friends, so distraught that they buried her the following day. For some reason, her grandmother, not having mourned her properly, requested to exhume the body a week later. It is then that they made a macabre discovery that they have buried her alive. She had a disease that mimics death and they saw signs of her terrible final ordeal with scratches on the coffin and on her face as her desperation turned into panic then to her real demise. Her death has sparked new laws before a body is buried. (The guide would have you believe that this started the practice of tying a bell to the dead as a call for help if buried alive – but this practice has a much older beginnings. This case may have however prompted the citizens at that time to adopt such practice).

The third was another grave, again of a common woman, who died on an accident coming back from her honeymoon. Her grave has a statue of a girl in her wedding dress and a dog beside her. When she was buried in La Recoleta, her dog stayed in her grave and had refused to eat despite efforts from the girl’s family to feed the pet. A few days later, the pet lay dead next to its master, romantically characterised as having died of a broken heart. The ‘council’, was so moved by the story that they have given special permission for the dog to be buried in La Recoleta.