Evita, Japan and of course steaks

Today, we started with a long walk to a cemetery . Not something people usually do in a strange town with their kids, but this particular cemetery I thought would be educational for the children in 2 or 3 ways.

1st culturally: In downtown Buenos Aires, the cemetery of Recoleta is home to thousands of mini chapels/shrines, where from 1900 onwards, the many rich families created family tombs the size and height of small houses. They invested a lot here. I used this place to give the kids a lesson on the religious history of South America, covering the good parts ( avoided the religious wars of Europe), and the bad parts ( fearlessly crushed the indigenous religions), and the bits in between

2nd, we covered politics. On the previous day, we covered the military dictatorships of the 70s and 80s and the resistance to them. In Recoleta, we covered the rise of Peron, his two famous wives, Evita and Isabel, and how Jaun Peron took his inspiration from Mussolini of all people.

3rd because Evita is entombed here. I explained why she was something of a hero, fighting for women's and workers' rights, but that that should be seen alongside her husbands populist and neo fascist views. What is fascism came as a question, so we tackled that too.

The children were a little overwhelmed by seeing so many memories and artefacts of the dead, including in many cases coffins, and in some cases, human bones.

After that heavy start, things got lighter with a visit to the Japanese garden, which, after being recently in Japan , lacked all the subtlety and refinement of the originals. Bit like a Disney inspired Japan highlights park.

In the evening to another steakhouse, this time in old Palermo, the hipster part of town. Incredible quality, incredible value, lots of funRead more