Buenos Aires – Eva Peron’s grave – Boat ride – Farewell Luncheon

After breakfast we boarded the bus and visited La Recoleta Cemetery, where the graves of many famous people, most importantly, Eva Peron, are located. It is listed as one of the 10 most beautiful cemeteries in the world.

It is 14 acres and is laid out like city blocks. You have to be very rich to be buried in this cemetery. Some of the mausoleums were beautiful, but some have fallen to disrepair. There are 4691 vaults in all.

I believe you have to pay a tax to the government to reside in the vault and if you can no longer pay, you must remove the body or bodies of your loved ones and find another place for them to lie in peace.

The queue for Eva Peron’s grave was long but it moved quickly since everyone just took a quick picture and moved on.

After visiting the cemetery, we took a boat ride along the Parana Delta, where the Parana River empties into the Rio de la Plata on its way into the Atlantic.

Traditional houses are on stilts, and those along with old mansions and rowing clubs are surrounded by lush subtropical vegetation. Some people live there permanently but others just use the houses for a weekend getaway.

There is a school boat that picks up kids along the delta and takes them to the school and there is a garbage barge that comes by to pick up the trash. There also is a boat that comes by periodically for the people to purchase fresh water, cola, snacks, propane, and beer.

The water is not drinkable along the delta and people purchase fresh water in bottles to drink. For bathing, the residents pump the water from the delta up to cisterns on top of their homes and let the sediment sink to the bottom, and then they can use the water for everything except drinking.

Some homes have electricity, but they don’t have sewers. Instead, they dig a very deep hole on their property for the solid waste.

Some of the homes were beautiful with lush greenery while others were falling down. We saw a lot of people swimming in the muddy water.

After our boat ride, we went for the farewell luncheon at a steak house. We were served empanadas, salad, French fries, and a huge steak and Malbec wine. It was all very good.

For dinner Allan and I shared a mini pizza of mozzarella, onions, and oregano. It’s not NYC pizza!

Tonight, those who were not doing the post trip caught planes for home. Tomorrow, we’ll catch a flight to Iquazo Falls.