Buenos Aires- Recoleta

We decided to explore the area of Recoleta first, the posh bit of the city, similar to Chelsea in London. We jumped onto the local bus expecting to just swipe our cards and be on our way. The driver was asking us where our stop was. Cue my panicked expression, he just waved us through with inpatience and we had a free bus ride!

We joined free walking tours Buenos Aires, our guide for the morning was Martín. Full of historical and political knowledge he took us through the streets of Recoleta. He colourfully told the story of the ruling class "the oligarchs", and how their pettiness shaped the area. They wanted to be on par with Europe so they built great palaces, trying to out do each other. Three old women especially splashed their money in a competitive craze. Now Recoleta looks like a European city due to their influence.

We passed the Malvinas war memorial and heard the history from the Argentinian perspective. A military dictatorship losing favour tried to win a war to regain national support. Martín also took us through their economical upheaval. The Peso is undergoing huge inflation by 45% a year! Prices are starting to get towards European levels. Back in the 80's he described how inflation was so bad supermarkets would shout out new prices in between picking up your item and getting to the till!

In the afternoon we toured around Recoleta cemetery in blazing heat, helped by a Mc Flurry to cool down! We were taken around by Francis and were told the interesting stories of many of the mausoleums such as the girl buried alive who could be heard scratching the sides of her coffin, and the woman buried with her loyal dog. The graveskeeper who committed suicide as his dream was to be buried in that cemetery, and the welshman so paranoid about being buried alive he invented a system to escape from his coffin. One of the last graves we visited was that of the tour guides great grandparents!

The most famous grave is that of Eva Peron aka Evita. The wife of the president in the 50's, she divided opinions in Argentina, beloved by the left working class, hated by the upper class who upon her death said "Viva la Cancer". After her death her poor corpse was moved, mutilated and had dark magic performed upon it. She was finally laid to rest decades after her death at her fathers mausoleum and she was placed deep down with concrete on top.

After a busy day in the sun we made a surprisingly delicious stir fry and collapsed in bed!Read more