Recoleta Cemetary

Recoleta Cemetary is in the center of Buenos Aires and is filled with the tombs of the wealthy. There is no doubt about it, South Americans appear to be as close to the dead as they are to the living. The money that must have gone into the building of these tombs is often more than we would spend on a home. They could almost be considered vulgar when you consider the expense. Most are built from marble and the smallest would be about the size of my washroom at home. The doors are glass so that you can look thru and see the altars and caskets inside.You can just see marble steps going down to the next level where other members of the family are placed. Many have stained glass windows and roofs that reflect their colors as the sun shines thru. The tombs that still have living family members are well maintained. There are many others whose family members have died off or lost interest and have been vandalized or just allowed to run down. It is rather sad to peer in thru the windows and see fresh roses that have obviously just recently been placed and then to look in thru others only to see them dusty, cobwebbed and descecrated. A few even had chairs where the living sit to be with their departed. We visited Eva Peron's tomb but it was not at all glitzy as you would suspect. She is resting with her family, the Duarte's, not with her husband.

I was reminded while there of the roadside markers of the dead in Chile. There was one that will stick in my mind forever. During the day it looked like a small wooden shed built on the side of a road in the middle of nowhere. When we passed it at nite at highway speed I just caught a glimpse of the inside... it was lined with ceiling to floor shelves that held what looked like hundreds of lit candles. Can you imagine loving someone so much that you would make the drive to nowhere every day to be with them. Surely there is a time when one must let go and live what they have left of their own life.