From Graveyard to Tango Legs

It’s getting really hot now, so we’re practically hopping from one patch of shade to another. On top of that, we’ve started to peel in the spots where we got too much sun during our horseback ride in Salta. We kicked off the day by visiting the resting place of the rich and famous. Here, it’s possible to show off your status even after death by building a little "house" as a grave, so descendants can pay their respects to the powerful men and women of the past. It feels a bit like wandering through a miniature village with tiny houses and narrow streets. At some of the mausoleums, you can peek inside and see the coffin resting under an altar adorned with candlesticks, photos, and vases. In other places, the coffin is tucked away in a built-in chamber of the mausoleum. The common thread is that everything is, of course, covered in a thick layer of dust, along with plaster that has started to crumble from the walls and ceilings. We were, of course, on the hunt for Evita’s grave. It was well hidden in the middle of the "village." Several visitors had left flowers attached to the wrought-iron gate of her mausoleum. Inside this mausoleum, there were two coffins. One was, of course, Evita’s, but the other wasn’t her husband’s; it belonged to a family member. Juan Perón wasn’t deemed important enough to be buried here, so his final resting place is at another cemetery. There’s a lot of disagreement in Argentina about whether Evita deserves to rest in the most magnificent cemetery for the rich and famous, as not everyone is proud of her background. She arrived alone in Buenos Aires at the age of 16, after which she started her career in radio and film. Many believe she didn’t become famous solely because of her talent but that she had to "sleep" her way into some of her career opportunities. It’s highly unlikely that a young girl of 16 could have made it on her own in a big city at that time. After Evita’s death at just 33 due to cancer, her body didn’t always rest in this cemetery. Initially, Juan had her body embalmed and "displayed" because he could take advantage of her immense popularity—especially among the poorer population. When he lost power, her supporters took her body and smuggled it out of the country, fearing that the new rulers, the military, would destroy it. It wasn’t until many years later that Juan was able to return and be re-elected as president, and Evita’s body was finally returned. After that, her final resting place was built in the cemetery. Later, we headed to a travel agency where we bought two tickets to Foz do Iguaçu for Sunday and two tickets for the ferry to Uruguay for Thursday. However, we couldn’t get the tickets right away, so they’ll be delivered to our hotel tomorrow. There are several hostels around our hotel, including the Hotelling International chain, where we stayed in Brazil. There, we ran into the two Swedes we partied with back in Córdoba. In the evening, we had booked a table for a tango show at Buenos Aires’ oldest café, Tortoni Café. There are many tango shows in the city, but they’re all quite pricey, around 150 pesos. This show cost just 25 pesos per person and was really lovely. There was tango dancing, gaucho dancing, and opera singing. It was a bit touristy, though. At one point, everyone had to say which country they were from. Our neighboring table shouted "Dinamarca"... We haven’t really met many Danes here.