Buenos Aires

I took the most fun overnight bus ride of the trip from Iguazu to Buenos Aires. I was in first class with a 30-something Argentinian male from Pategonia, who is an avid fly fisherman, mountain climber, skier, and snowboarder. He is a ski instructor in the US during Argentina's summer. He's traveled all over Patagonia. There were also four young American tourists from the Bay area with us.

Argentinians are classy people. The bus provided complimentary glasses of wine and liquor to go with our dinner, along with a movie. We had a good time.

I arrived in Buenos Aires around noon, checked into my hotel, and went straight to La Cabrera, a restaurant that Lonely Planet said is expensive but well-worth the splurge. Frankly, I had the best meal of my life for $40 (incl tip), which included a 30-oz ribeye steak, with a variety of sauces, sauteed mushrooms, and other condiments on the side, and 2 large glasses of a delicious Argentinian malbec. Inexpensive in my book.

I took this pic after already eating a fair amount of the steak.

That night I joined a tour group (through http://www.tangol.com/) to see a soccer game between River Plate, last year's Argentinian league champions, and the Guadalajara Chivas in a South American Cup quarterfinal match. River Plate is in last place this year in the Argentinian league, so the fans were very flustered. They (including a pre-kindergarten-age girl) were singing chants to the effect of "You better win or I should play because I'm better than you." (I suspect something was lost in the translation by my guide.)

At half-time, River Plate was down 1-0. The fans were calling them sons-a-bitches and thieves for taking their salaries but failing to perform. The contrast with US fans, who tend to suffer with their teams rather than getting hostile toward them, was enormous. River Plate lost 1-0, and our guide quickly ushered us out of the stadium because he feared violence. Incidentally, River Plate's coach is famous for having kicked Beckham when the coach played for a European team.

The next day, I walked around the main tourist sites before catching my plane to return home.

A large sculpture of a flower that electrically opens in the morning and closes in the evening.

The remaining photos are of Recoleta Cemetery. To me, it is the most interesting site in Buenos Aires.

The tombs are erected on privately-owned plots of land. Each tomb can hold about 2 dozen bodies. Wealthy and well-known Argentinians are buried here and the tombs are maintained by the family. (Some are in decay due to declines in family wealth.)

There are walkways between connected plots that resemble city blocks, and the different architectural styles of the tombs resemble buildings.

It seems like a true necropolis ("city of the dead").

Right: The gold mosaic under the dome of the tomb pictured above. This is the largest tomb in the cemetery.

I think this is the prettiest tombI saw in Recoleta. It is for Liliana Crociati, a 26-year-old woman who was killed with her new husband by an avalanche during their honeymoon in Switzerland. A new rose is placed in her hand everyday. The sculpted dog was her childhood pet.

Evita is entombed in her family's crypt. Many visitors leave flowers for her. She died of cervical cancer at age 33 in Italy and is popular among Argentinians, for having championed many progressive causes, including woman's and labor rights and aid for the poor. She was initially buried in Italy at an unknown location, but was found later and returned to Buenos Aires. Her husband Juan Peron is buried in Europe (where he fled in exile from Argentina after a military coup) and they had no children. There is some controversy regarding whether he was a fascist.

The most disturbing tomb I was told about. A young girl was buried there. Several days later a cemetery caretaker heard cries and pounding coming from the inside. At that time, only family members had keys to the crypts. By the time family was located and the tomb opened, the girl was dead. She had epilepsy and a seizure-induced coma was confused for death.