Evita Peron’s burial site at La Recoleta Cemetery…A movie to remember…Comments for our 2000th post…

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We could see we’d found Evita’s family crypt.

The first mausoleum most visitors rush to see upon their arrival at La Recoleta Cemetery is that of Evita Perón, first lady of Argentina from 1946 until her death from cancer in 1952.  We were no different than others and excitedly rushed to her site as soon as we discovered where it was located.

Here is information about Evita from this site:

“In this Argentine name, the family name is Duarte and for married women, the marital name is Perón.

Eva Perón
Eva Perón Retrato Oficial.jpg
First Lady of Argentina
In office
4 June 1946 – 26 July 1952
President Juan Perón
Preceded by Conrada Victoria Farrell
Succeeded by Mercedes Lonardi (1955)
President of the Eva Perón Foundation
In office
8 July 1948 – 26 July 1952
Preceded by Position established
Succeeded by Delia Parodi
Personal details
Born Eva María Duarte
7 May 1919Los Toldos, Argentina
Died 26 July 1952 (aged 33)Buenos Aires, Argentina
Resting place La Recoleta Cemetery
Political party Justicialist Party
Peronist Feminist Party
Spouse(s) Juan Perón (1945–1952)
Signature

Eva María Duarte de Perón (7 May 1919 – 26 July 1952) was the wife of Argentine President Juan Perón (1895–1974) and First Lady of Argentina from 1946 until her death in 1952. She is usually referred to as Eva Perón or Evita.

She was born in poverty in the rural village of Los Toldos, in the Pampas, as the youngest of five children. At 15 in 1934, she moved to the nation’s capital of Buenos Aires to pursue a career as a stage, radio, and film actress. She met Colonel Juan Perón there on 22 January 1944 during a charity event at the Luna Park Stadium to benefit the victims of an earthquake in San Juan, Argentina. The two were married the following year. Juan Perón was elected President of Argentina in 1946; during the next 6 years, Eva Perón became powerful within the pro-Peronist trade unions, primarily for speaking on behalf of labor rights. She also ran the Ministries of Labor and Health, founded and ran the charitable Eva Perón Foundation, championed women’s suffrage in Argentina, and founded and ran the nation’s first large-scale female political party, the Female Peronist Party.

In 1951, Eva Perón announced her candidacy for the Peronist nomination for the office of Vice President of Argentina, receiving great support from the Peronist political base, low-income and working-class Argentines who were referred to as descamisados or “shirtless ones”. However, opposition from the nation’s military and the bourgeoisie, coupled with her declining health, ultimately forced her to withdraw her candidacy.[1] In 1952, shortly before her death from cancer at 33, Eva Perón was given the title of “Spiritual Leader of the Nation” by the Argentine Congress.[2][3][4] She was given a state funeral upon her death, a prerogative generally reserved for heads of state.

Eva Perón has become a part of the international popular culture,[5][page needed] most famously as the subject of the musical Evita (1976).[6]Even today, Evita has never left the collective consciousness of Argentines.[3] Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, the first elected female President of Argentina, and many other leaders attest that women of her generation owe a debt to Eva for “her example of passion and combativeness.”  

 






A few evenings prior to our visit to La Recoleta Cemetery, we downloaded and watched the popular movie about her life, Evita, starring Madonna.  The film, an adaptation of the hit Broadway musical portrayed the story of her life as the often beloved countrywoman, still revered by many Argentines to this day.

Some of these flowers, left at her site, were fresh while others were artificial.

There’s a lot of controversy about Eva Perón that continues to swirl around her memory but we won’t get into that here. You can read about the controversy over the movie, here at this link. 

Madonna embracing Antonio Banderas from behind, with the film name written in bold red color above the image.
Poster from the movie Evita in 1996.

Instead, we saw the representation of her life and death at La Recoleta Cemetery as she was entombed with other members of the Duarte family.  It was interesting to see but we’re aren’t into “celebrity” all that much. 

Our perception of “celebrity” is that “famous” people are just like us, they just happened to be in the right circumstances at the right time, with certain skills or opportunities that aided in propelling them into the limelight. 

Could this be the 50th year from when Evita was entombed at the Duarte family mausoleum?

And yet, in various countries, we’ve seen people lining the boulevards to get but a glimpse of a public figure of one type or another.  But, if seeing their beloved celebrity brings them joy, then its purpose is clearly defined.  I get excited to see a warthog.  I suppose that makes me no different.

The street was so narrow and it impossible to get a got shot of the entire mausoleum.  However, it wasn’t as large or as ostentatious as many others.

On the other hand, Tom, revels in the element of surprise and the unexpected, such as when we encountered, four years ago today, three dozen elephants walking along the road in Kruger National Park. See this link for photos and details. “Safari luck.”
As we wandered through row after row of ornate mausolea (yep, that’s the plural of mausoleum. Who knew?) we continually searched for the Duarte or Perón name, never knowing quite what to expect.


A commemorative plaque in honor of Evita added in the year 2000.

We’d failed to get a map of the facility when we entered figuring we could weave in and out of the rows upon rows of sites.  With no luck, we finally encountered an employee and in Spanish, I asked, “Dov’è Evita Peron?”  Immediately, he pointed us in the right direction. 

We weren’t too far away.  As we entered the long narrow “street” it was easy to see where her mausoleum was located with the crowd gathered at the site. We patiently and quietly waited our turn to take photos and read the inscriptions as shown in today’s photos.

Several commemorative plaques for Evita added over the years.

La Recoleta Cemetery is definitely worth visiting when in Buenos Aires.  There are numerous affordable tours available online at a number of sites and as tours offered on cruises that spend a night or two docked in Buenos Aires. 

As usual, we prefer to go at our own pace, avoiding crowded bus rides and tours. Some may say we’d learn more if we booked a tour but we always read volumes of information about the venue from many reliable sites both before and after visiting. This works well for us. 

Many have ornate doors and entrances.

Keeping our lives relatively stress free and uncomplicated is the gist of our world travels. If we can avoid strict time constraints, huge crowds, traffic and waiting for extended periods in long queues, we’re most content.


Some of the mausolea have granite or marble surfaces.
Speaking of our lives of world travel, yesterday we uploaded our 2000th post. I can’t recall doing 2000 of anything, other than having heartbeats, days or weeks of life, the number of steps taken on my Fitbit or number of meals consumed, etc.

Many of the mausolea were smaller and unassuming than others.

Two thousand posts? If someone told me seven years ago I had to write 2000 stories at a rate of one per day, including fairly decent photos, in order to be allowed to travel the world, I’d have said “Forget about it! It’s too much pressure! It would spoil the experience!”

This stone crypt was particularly interesting.


And yet, here we are, 2000 posts later and, each day, we are grateful for the opportunity to have shared yet another morsel of our lives on the move with each and every one of our worldwide readers.

In the center of town, La Recoleta Cemetery is a popular location for tourists to visit.

Many write to us expressing their gratitude for our daily stories, as we continue to be vulnerable and revealing as to the most intimate aspects of this humble life.  But, we are grateful for all of YOU for inspiring us and providing us with an added purpose that only enhances the quality of this life we lead. 

Health provided, there will be 2000 or more yet to come.

May all of you join in good health with us as you share each day of our journey at our side.

_________________________________________


Photo from one year ago today, January 17, 2017:

View of the Huon River from the veranda of our vacation home in Geeveston, Tasmania.  For photos of the house please click here.