Day 13, Recoleta Cemetery and Final Thoughts on Leaving Buenos Aires

Our last day in Buenos Aires, really cut short because we have an evening flight, and must be out of our hotel room by 1pm.

We go for a walk while it's still not too hot in the morning, head to the Recoleta Cemetery.

The neighborhood we pass through is absolutely lovely. Trees, elegant buildings.  We come to a park, and see the apartment we could buy (haha). This park is quiet, has a big old tree for year-round shade, the streets around it are not too busy, I can imagine its desirability.

Jim, sitting below "our future apartment"

Continuing our walk, we see how there are dog-walkers for our dogs (haha), cleaners, rocers (small and big), everything you could want just steps away.

Shoe stores to take those steps (but too expensive for us to buy).

Get your duster from the guy on the corner.

We reach the cemetery, but signs do not indicate where the entrance actually is. So guess, what...I guessed wrong and we ended up walking around a long block that included a shopping
center. Oh well, just more sights and sounds.

At one end of the cemetery is a beautiful old church.















Jim in front of his future home

 Entering the cemetery is like entering a park of little mansions or chapels. Each one strong and individual in style and materials.

Evita in Duarte mausoleum

There are trees, a map and directory to find each mausoleum.

Of course, we are looking for Evita's resting place, the Duarte family, it has flowers and admirers still.

Cats guard the cemetery

So this was our last excursion into Buenos Aires, now we rest in the air conditioned hotel lobby, for our ride to the airport and home.

I will add a few more thoughts on things interesting in Argentina...many of the places where we used a credit card, required that we enter our passport number. I am not sure why, possibly part of the currency controls?

We also ran into a cover charge "cubierto" at restaurants. It was about 8 pesos per person. Some charged it, some did not. Some mentioned it on the menu, others did not. But it is not supposed to interfere with the tipping!

Finally, at a restaurant when you are going to charge the meal, they ask for the amount of the tip in advance, so there is only one charge made. And the waiters are very up-front about asking you to add a tip!