Day 3
Good Friday. Everything is closed except… the Cemeterio de la Recoleta. This cemetery, located in a very upscale section of the city (which actually reminds me of the Upper east side of NYC), peacefully rests all the diplomats, politicians, movie stars, high-ranking military officials, heroes, and other luminaries of Argentina. For instance, this is where Evita Peron is interred. The monuments are, well, monumental. Large marble sarcophagi, side by side and wall to wall in small streets or alleys. Looking into them, many have altars and large crucifixes, and stacks of coffins with lace draping. Then there are those that are crumbling and no longer kept well. On one, the wall was falling apart, exposing a casket, which itself was falling apart. I was afraid a skeleton would be visible, but fortunately it hadn’t decayed to that extent, yet. The monuments here are incredible and run the gamut from traditional, old-world, traditional design to the ultra modern. I spent the afternoon taking pictures until my camera battery ran out.
I went to another closed-door wine tasting event in the evening. Anuva Wines was started by an American who had come to BB.A. for a tour of Argentinean wineries, but met his future wife at his first tasting and soon after, married her and became an expat. His wine business has taken off and he seems to be doing quite well.
The tasting was okay. Sadly, I fear that standard wine tastings like this might not suit me as mush as they used to. I found the tasting rushed because people kept downing their wine for their refills without really deconstructing all the characteristics of the wine and without savoring them. Which is what I just kind of do now. A friend who is a sommelier told me, “You’ve now passed into only being able to tolerate industry tastings.” I hope not. The last thing in the world I want to do is become one of those wine snobs. Egh.
Day 4
A visit to the Museo Nacional de Belles Arts, one of B.A.’s top two modern art museums. The collection was HUGE. I love art and I can spend a long time perusing museums, but this collection was so big and massive that I was actually wondering if I’d have to leave and come back another day to complete the tour. I did make it all the way through in one shot, however. And I had a perfect moment during my visit. I rounded a corner to be suprised by the beauty and quiet majesty of a Rothko (my favorite artist). I almost jumped and then stood, still and silent, for 15 minutes just drinking in the ultimate infiniteness of the piece. If you’re ever in B.A. I highly recommend this museum. And it was free?? Yes, seeing that massive collection was free. Art should be available to everyone, not just those who can pay, so the fact that it was by donation only was a great thing.
After the museum, I walked through the street market by the Cemeterio de la Recoleta then again spent the rest of the day within the cemetary, looking at the sarcophagi and taking copious amounts of pictures. I think, all told, I took about 300 pictures within the cemetery. The subject matter was so interesting.
In the park next to the cemetery, people lounged in the grass, hippies played in their drum circles, people bought steaming foods from street vendors or sat sipping espressos in upscale cafés surrounding the park, and people just generally enjoyed being alive on such a beautiful day.
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