Final Day in Buenos Aires

Monday was our last day - for this trip - in Buenos aires and we decided to be total tourists and go searching for some things to see that we hadnt already seen.

We had coffee at Martinez - one of Neville's recommendations and sat at a table outside in the sun. That was nice :)

Next it was a subte ride down the B line and much further than we have been before. We particularly wanted to visit the Chacarita Cemetary where Carlos Gardel is buried - and many others of course. It is an absolutely enormous cemetary. The structures to house the bodies of multiple family members (a bit like a crypt I think) are called 'bovidas'. Some are very ornate and covered in marble and brass and others are in a shocking state of disrepair. Around this cemetary was the biggest wall i have possibly ever seen. It was at least 10 metres tall and so thick that there are rooms built into it. It runs around the total circumference which is many, many blocks.

After a bit of searching and no-one around to ask, we found Gardel. There was a huge bronze - bigger than lifesize - statue of him. In life he was a heavy smoker and was always seen with a cigarette in between his fingers. The statue has been made so that it looks as if he could be holding a cigarette. Possibly daily, random people come and puts a lit cigarette between his fingers and there was the butt of one there when we saw it, with a long complete ash on the end. Craig thinks it was Neville's. If he hadnt died in a plane crash he would have likely died of lung cancer.

Later we continued walking along and following this giant wall and after several hundred metres more, came to a large set of gates and the main entrance. There were several plaques acknowledging the enormous toll that the 'yellow fever' epidemic had had on the city and many neighbourhoods were completely wiped out. Sad really.

This part of the cemetary had many, more grand, structures (bovidas) and the state of them was hugely varied. Some looked like mini Roman temples. It looks a lot older too.

After that there was time for a last drink with Tanya at Medio y Medio, and then it was packing and sorting and leaving in a taxi.