Recoleta Cemetary

Sara: There is no where like it on earth. The Recoleta Cemetary, where Eva Peron is buried, is arguably the world's grandest resting place. The wealthy and powerful were/are buried here and the mausoleums are incredible. We wandered in this little city for over an hour, just gawking. And it is just like a little city, albeit a quiet one. It is laid out in a diagonal grid and has main boulevards, side streets, even dead ends (ha ha), with trees and lampposts along the streets. The mausoleums are like little houses, different sizes and styles. Some elaborate, some restrained, depending on the era or how a family wants express itself to the world. Some cared for, but many cobwebbed and crumbling. Many have side windows and skylights. Even inside, some are like houses, with chairs, curtains on the doors and alters festooned with candles, flowers, pictures. Adding to the domestic nature of the place are all the wild cats that live there.

Marc: The cemetery of Recoleta is a curious sort of village, inhabited by the dead, and visited by the living. As grand as any place I have ever been, in it's diminutive sort of way. It is full of marble, granite, and elaborate sculptures. But it is also terribly tragic, and occasionally resembles an abandoned and ruined city as much as anything else. The typical mausoleum is perhaps eight or ten feet square. Some smaller, some bigger. Most of the structures are designed to be visited; with skylights, an alter, and windowed gates. It is as these meeting places that they are most poignant. Many are still active and well maintained, but when a family loses it's connection to the deceased the structures gradually fall into disrepair. The ceilings collapse, the windows are broken, the gates hang open, caskets are left exposed to the weather. We are left with ruins adjascent to pallaces. What were once a proud monuments, determined to keep the memory of loved ones alive become some of the most compelling embodiments of human transience and the enevitability of decay you will ever see.