After-lifestyles of the Rich and Famous

Buenos Aires provided the happy meeting point between my fixation with Eva Peron and David’s fascination with cemeteries. The Recoleta Cemetery not only provides the eventual resting place for Eva Peron1, but for the majority of Argentina’s Presidents. We spent almost 2 hours walking around the cemetery stopping at the notable politicians and of course Eva. It was also a great opportunity for a spot of photography. The detailing on the mausoleums ranged from overblown or tacky to beautiful.
Here’s a selection of the more interesting photos.

Eva's family mausoleum

Close up on one of the many plaques on Eva’s family mausoleum, this one from the Taxi driver’s union (who still send fresh flowers each week).

And who could imagine nicer companions in one’s final resting place.

Note
1. Eva died in 1952 of cancer at the age of 33 and her husband President Juan Peron was ousted in a coup in 1955 and he fled to Europe. Eva’s body was held for 3 years at the HQ of the labour unions, but in 1955 it was seized by the military regime fearing it might be used to unite the opposition and the body “disappeared”. The body was secretly spirited out of the country and buried under a false name in a cemetery in Milan Italy. Decades of demands for the body to be returned by Eva’s family were finally answered in 1974 when the body was handed to Juan Peron, living in Spain. In 1976 Juan returned to Argentina as President and Eva was finally buried in her family Mausoleum at Recoleta. Her body had been attacked and mutilated in several ways during its period of abduction.