Cemetario de Recoleta & Zoo

Another day we set off to visit the Ecoparque, but first we were told we must check out Cemetario de Recoleta. What? Pay $30 for the four of us to visit a cemetery? But this is no ordinary cemetery! Created in 1700s, this contains family crypts for x families. Each family has a structure. Inside may hold caskets, cremains or special items like photos, paintings, or other items. Many have a window so the items are visible to all. 

Most seemed to hold 2-8 people, however we saw one with more than 40 cremains plus 2 caskets! Often the structure has a lower level within. Stairs leading down to a basement area. 

The shapes, styles, materials and sculptures were really interesting and the narrow walkways, sometimes as small as a few feet gave it a feeling of walking thru a neighborhood of tiny homes, built wall to wall. One could definitely get lost in here. 

This is the final resting place of a number of important Argentinos. Eva Peron, also known as Evita, is probably the most recognizable name. The movie, Evita, depicts the life of this actress and activist who also served as Argentina's First Lady from 1946. Fresh flowers are still tucked into the front of her tomb (above). 

It began to sprinkle, and when we arrived at the Ecoparque, we were shocked and disappointed to find security had closed the park due to very light, misty precipitation. Even 30 minutes later when the rain has completely stopped they didn't reopen. Fortunately we were able to return another day to see this former zoo, turned into a free, public park, with, well, a smaller zoo collection. Pretty much as soon as we entered, Journey spotted a Mara on the grass! What an interesting deer-rabbit hybrid-looking creature! And then we saw a few more and then a whole lawn full of them. We probably saw 40 Mara plus a few Nutria, not in an enclosure, just running around the park! Our first taxi driver seemed to believe all the animals had been removed, but quite a few still remain. We saw bison, guanacos, Greater Rhea, Ostrich, Giraffe. In my opinion, the perfect set of animals to see in a free little zoo. 

This area has a series of parks to explore, but we were warned by a driver to be VERY cautious and keep phones put away outside of the parks we went to. After that warning, the only other park in this complex we visited was the Japanese garden, and it was lovely.