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Millionaire Casket Closet
The window was broken...and this is what was inside. We checked out one of the most interesting places in the whole city...morbidly enough, it is the city of the dead. The cemetary, (which looks like a small city with tombs extravagantly designed as small houses) is home to only those with famous last names, prestige, and a lotta cash. There is an Argentine saying that states 'one can live an extremely wealthy life and still not pay as much as it cost to be buried in Recoleta Cemetary'. We actually know two locals (Frederico and Giancarlo) whose families have plots there. Some of them house entire families, others only large enough for one or two coffins. We also saw a few smaller ones with only 2 coffins spaces, which are occupied, therefore about 10 boxes of other relatives are piled on on top of one another.
The cemetary is made up of stone tiled walkways, with little "houses" of various condition and architectual distinction, making narrow paths that lead to larger crypts full obscenely wealthy carcasses. One crypt almost resembles Il Duomo in Italy! Some of them are just a stone rectangular column with just 5 or 6 vertically decending "cubbies" and the coffins stacked in
Mini-Mansion for a coffin
Here is a tomb of a wealthy family. Their either recently dead or they pay well for maintenance as most families are from the 1800's. each cubby. Others have glass doors, or granite facades with stained glass, marble tiled floors, and fresh flowers. Most memorable, are the ones in disrepair. Maybe the whole family dies out, or they can no longer afford its upkeep, but it's freaky walking around and seeing broken windows with 5 or 6 coffins 'chilling' inside...No odor because the humidity in BA makes bodies decompose in a year. Sadly enough, we passed an open tomb from like the 1800´s and the top of a coffin was askew. We peered in but it was full of dust and debris, so thankfully no images of rotting corpses seered into my brain.
Another interesting thing is the presence of so many cats. Similar to the bunches of cats that live in the parks, these cats are fed by locals, and water is left for them daily. Sadly though, they are not as healthy as the ones in the park, which is sad. Nicole and I plan to bring some food for them, but we will also tell our "abuelita", Ynes (the elderly botanists who cooks daily for the cats in the BA Botanical Garden which is a few blocks rom our house).
Death of a sailor (?)
Here is an entrance to a tomb. The statue holds an anchor...what's the signifance? She will get right on it as she says she makes sure all the cats are vaccinated and worm-free, as well as taking the sick ones to her house to nurse back to health.
One gross thing is that the abandoned tombs that have broken glass doors have become litter boxes. Talk about sh*tting on the dead! If that´s not bad enough, Freddy told us that once families cannot pay their fees, even for the tombs that have been owned since the 1800´s, the bodies are just up and moved to the public cemetary! Talk about disturbing the peace!! The tombs then become available for sale so I guess this gives noveau riche people an "in" to dying like old money.
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Alejandro
non-member comment
Anchor
Im not sure about the meaning of the anchor, but could be a massonic symbol, the whole graveyard is full of them. One you can see more often the upside down flaming torch. And you know, the whole land of the graveyard isnt consecrated land, as graveyards supposed to be. Greetings