Recoleta Street Photography, Buenos Aires

The streets offer unbelievable opportunities to photographers.  Unfortunately, given my paranoia about 'losing' equipment, these photos were taken with a small camera. 

But I begin with a photo of Janice having her morning fix on the balcony at our first apartment in Palermo.  When we left three weeks later, trees were bursting with new leaves.  One of the hardest things about our holiday is that while we were in Buenos Aires, spring was coming, but we knew that in Vancouver winter would soon be coming (sigh).  It would be nice sometime to travel and follow spring for a year.

I continue to be fascinated by window displays interacting with reflections.

This young lad was busking, using a 'horn' made from a fascinating branch that was somehow hollowed out.  He could only produce one pitch, treating the branch as a brass instrument, but he varied it in volume, articulating various rhythms.  It was a good effort, but not quite worth donations.  The sidewalk and wall provided a good sounding board for amplifying the sound.

Some parts of Recoleta have European street lamps.

Cementerio de la Recoleta (Recoleta Cemetery), Buenos Aires

Begun in 1822, the Cementeria de la Recoleta is the oldest and one of the best-known cemeteries in this capital city.  Built along the lines of similar grounds in Europe, the cemetery plots are laid out like city streets, with "houses" lining each street.  Some structures are modest, others were frankly intended to be ostentatious, possibly expressions of competition between families, possibly simply expressions seeking to honour the deceased either as in life or as one had wished had happened during life.  One can study the evolution of architecture from the Neoclassical to the Art Nouveau styles simply by meandering through the streets lined with mausoleums.  You can also take the opportunity to reflect on some of the country's most important politicians, artists, musicians, writers, business personalities and military figures while encountering their resting places.

The Cementerio is open 7:00 a.m. to about 6:00 p.m.  Sunday is a traditional time for families to rejuvenate bouquets of flowers or even sweep out and wash a family mausoleum.  Private guides offer tours for a modest fee, other visitors treat the Cementerio as one might a lovely park in which you go for a stroll.

Looking through decorative iron doors covered with glass, you can sometimes see a family's set of caskets stacked one above the other, covered in sunshine.

This was one of several tour groups that was slowly progressing through the Cementerio's art work and more famous personalities.

As 5:00 p.m. approached that Saturday afternoon, a group of young Catholics had gathered to celebrate Mass in the open air, surrounded by some of the city's departed faithful.

Some 'streets' are wide, accommodating multiple groups and activities, while other 'streets' are but narrow sidewalks, seemingly only wide enough to accommodate the twisting and turning seeking to bring yet another coffin to its resting place.

Some glass doors/windows have been beautifully etched according to the latest style of the day.

This guest was listening to a tour group, but from a distance, taking notes, and pondering what he heard.

When the unbelievable peregrinations of Eva Peron's body finally ended, she was allowed to rest with her family, the Duartes, but not with her husband, who had since remarried.  As politicians with differing leanings came and went, most did not want anything to do with the ever-growing adoration of Evita, articulate champion of the poor.  Consequently, her body even went to Europe for a while before being repatriated.  This is undoubtedly the Cementerio's most famous resident.

It may be against cemetery regulations to feed the resident cats, but a number of elderly women do just that. The cats are entertaining and well-fed.

"We expect the Lord"

La Biela, restaurant in La Recoleta, Buenos Aires

On September 1st (still winter in Argentina) we could not resist joining the throng of locals and tourists enjoying good food while seated outside in the shade of a 200+ year old tree.  Typically, menus have one price for customers seated inside (almost none, the temperature was in the low-mid 70s) and rather higher prices for those seated outside.  Food and drinks had to travel a bit before arriving at our table, which was on the outer edge and closest to the city's famous gum tree.

The restaurant had very modest origins in about 1850, being established as a general store and then adding a café soon after La Recoleta started to attract residents of modest means (the wealthy at the time preferred San Telermo).  This area of the city (La Recoleta), now one of its most famous districts, is named after the barefooted Franciscan Recolato monks.  Over time, the establishment grew with La Recoleta itself.  Its original name, "La Viridita", was changed to Aero Bar because of its popularity with members of the nearby Argentine Civil Pilots Association.

In about 1950, the growing restaurant was renamed "La Biela" ("The Connecting Rod" Restaurant) because it had become a favourite eating/drinking establishment for racing car enthusiasts.  Photos of racing cars still adorn the restaurant's expanded interior.  Today, four hundred patrons can be seated inside and another 300 on the broad terrace shaded by the impressive gum tree which was apparently planted [ca] 1800.  The restaurant's front dates from about 100 years ago, though the restaurant itself was remodeled in 1994.  The size of this tree is impressive!

Each table has its own tin of olive oil from Argentina, along with little packs of catchup for at least some tourists from the Northern hemisphere.

What would be house plants in Vancouver can be planted outside and flourish during the winter in Buenos Aires.

I enjoyed La Biela's 'complete hamburger', made from Argentine beef--utterly juicy and delicious.  It went will with Imperial beer, my favourite Argentine beer and the only one being consumed by the patrons within my field of vision.

Once you have seen enough of these love birds, take a moment to admire just a part of the gum tree's root system that is above ground.  In photos, this closely resembles the Moretone Bay Fig tree which is found in Australia.  I'm not a tree expert, sorry!

 The gum tree's enormous horizontal branches now need to be propped up with logs of considerable strength.

Janice dwarfed by the gigantic tree

Basilica Nuestra Senora del Pilar, Recoleta, Buenos Aires

This afternoon we enjoyed a brief visit in the beautiful church, the Basilica Nuestra Senora del Pilar.  This is close to the famous Cimenterio de la Recoleta, where Evita (Eva) Peron was finally buried.  A sign, beautifully painted on tiles, indicates that this church was founded in the early 1700s and elevated to basilica by Pope Pius XI (March 12, 1936).  It is not a large church, holding possibly no more than 300 comfortably on the pews, but with ample open tiled floor for additional seating if required.

I was immediately reminded by the basilica's ornamentation. The the altar and shrines have been strongly influenced by artistic ideals so popular in the Baroque (1600-early 1700s, primarily in Southern Europe).  One is also struck by the amount of gold and silver that has been lavished on the intricate carving.  These precious New World metals somehow managed to remain in South America, not following the untold shiploads of such metals being taken to the Old World.  The altar (below) is covered with pounded silver, an art still being practiced by craftspeople in Argentina.

The various stations of the cross are beautifully placed, decorated, and illustrated on wonderful ceramic tiles.
This shows the 6th Station in which Jesus has difficulty carrying 'his' cross.

Even the raised pulpit is highly decorated with gold-covered carving.  The stairway is hidden, which is a first in my experience (most in Europe have elaborate winding staircases which ceremonially conduct the priest to and from the lectern).

In place of a baseboard covering the transition from floor to wall, this basilica uses the most beautifully painted tiles featuring a rich blue, yellow, orange and subtle green.  It seems as though the colours have survived quite remarkably for being there nearly 300 years.

I like to include at least one transition photo showing people moving between the basilica's interior and the outer world.  I am fascinated by unfailingly enjoying light, regardless of which direction I am heading.  If I am entering a beautiful church, the points of light in the relatively darker interior seem very welcoming indeed and bathe first this part of the wall and then another.  If I leave, I am struck by the strength of the sun.  Light is relative and truly fascinating.