Carolyn's Adventures in Taiwan (not Thailand): BA: Dia Dos!

So in the morning of our second day, we went to the Evita museum. It was really well done! It was very informative and well set up. They start with her early life, with info about her family and her illegitimate birth. In the room next door, they go right to the end, with really moving videos of her funeral, and a cast of her face (once they finally recovered her missing body and found it nearly destroyed). How her body went missing and was recovered, I still don't understand. It's very complicated and bizarre. But then the museum goes back to her life before she married Peron, describing the politics of the time, her marriage, what she accomplished while in office, and her early death (by cancer). The museum almost completely ignores the controversy surrounding her (and definitely glorifies her), but I learned a lot. What an impressive woman! I'd like to learn more about her. Sadly, no pictures were allowed.

After that, we went to Recoleta Cemetery, which is a big huge monstrous cemetery/mini-town filled with the tombs of famous and not famous people. It's huge. You just walk around it like you'd walk around a neighborhood or a town, except instead of houses, there are tombs everywhere. Sweet!

These pictures might be kinda boring. I think it's hard for them to be interesting if you weren't there. Lucky for you, I have incredible wit. See? Right there. Wit.

Here we go!

Here's a typical "street" in the cemetery: tomb after tomb after tomb, some gigantic and surrounded by statues.

Beccah in front of a gigantic tomb.

THE WRITING ON HIS TOMBSTONE IS AS BIG AS MY FACE.

A typical "street."

Coffins popping out of some tombs. Also typical.

The inside of this tomb was also in disarray. It's sad how some tombs are half-destroyed, with garbage thrown in them and holes in the coffins. Who is in charge of taking care of these things? Why are some so magnificent and some so battered? We didn't figure it out.

I liked how this one had a picture depicting the guy at work, teaching med students.

Grass tomb.

Me and Recoleta.

The line of people waiting to see Eva Peron's (Duarte) tomb.

Me and Evita.

I thought these three tombs represented the three states of the tombs you see at Recoleta: decrepit, becoming decrepit, new and shiny.

There are lots of cats in Recoleta. Aren't cats symbols of death in a lot of cultures? I might have made that up. It happens. Probably a lot. Hey, I'm my father's daughter.

Prepare yourself for a disturbing story. This is the tomb of a young woman who was buried alive in Recoleta. She seemingly dropped dead, and a doctor confirmed this, so they buried her. Some workers heard screams coming from her tomb, but by the time they uncovered her, she was dead. For real dead, with scratch marks on the inside of her coffin. Her mother felt so terrible that she had this fancy tomb built for her. The woman is supposed to be her, giving up on opening the door. Disturbing, dude. I wished I hadn't heard this story. And now I'm happy to add one more such story to YOUR list of things you wish you didn't know.

After a couple hours at Recoleta, we walked around a nearby church and a little fair, browsing things to buy. Then it started raining, so I wore my super poncho. I was also wearing my backpack on the front. So I had a backpack baby with a big yellow poncho draped over it. And you know what? I STILL GOT HIT ON. In a poncho. In the rain. With a backpack baby.

That night, we had dinner at Beccah's second host family's house. We ate with her host mom, Adriana, and Adriana's mother, who had hosted a different Knox student. Beccah warned me that it's almost impossible to say "no" to Adriana when she offers you more food. Pretend this conversation is in Spanish.
"Do you want more ravioli?"
"No, thank you, I'm full."
"Are you suuuuure?"
"Yes, thank you."
"Really?"
"Yes, thank you."
"Are you sure? Here, take a little more. There you go!"

So I barely ate that day to prepare for this evening.

As an appetizer, we had some cheese, ham, and a delicious salad. I had two servings of that.

Then we had a bowl of delicious ravioli with meat sauce. I had two bowls of that too.

Then we had delicious jello. I probably had two servings of that too. I can't remember...probably because the food had no more room in my stomach, so it camped out in my brain temporarily. We also had delicious cookies. I THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO DIE I was so full of deliciousness.

During dinner, we told them about our trip up north. And by "we," I mean Beccah, because I no habla espanol. Although I probably learned more Spanish in two weeks in Argentina than I did Chinese in two months in Taiwan. CHINESE IS THAT IMPOSSIBLE.

Beccah also gave Adriana a gift she picked up in northern Argentina--a nice blanket. Everyone was happy! What lovely people. Really REALLY nice people. They love Beccah.