This avenue in the Cementerio de la Recoleta shows the tombs closely spaced.

Eva Perón was the focus of our second day, July 25.  We took a taxi to the 15-acre Cementerio de la Recoleta with its 4,800 marble tombs.  A coffin followed by mourners was being wheeled to its final resting place as we arrived.  Eva died in 1952, and we used the guidebook to find her tomb.  After her husband, Juan Perón, was ousted in 1955, the  dictatorship would not allow her body to remain in Argentina.  Eva’s husband took it to Europe and did not bring it back until his return to power in 1973.

From the balcony of the Casa Rosada, Juan and Eva exhorted the crowds in the Plaza de Mayo.

The Peróns — he, with a military background, she with success as an actress and radio personality — gained power in 1946.  Argentina’s economy was strong.  The Peróns initiated social welfare programs (hospitals, orphanages, schools), giving poor Argentines a social safety net for the first time.  The net was not sustainable when the economy faltered.

Near the cementerio is the Basilica de Nuestra Señora del Pilar

After our tour of the cementerio, we walked to La Querencia.  There we met Carl’s dissertation director, Gabriela Nouzeilles, and her daughter Anna for lunch.  Gabriela was visiting her family in Buenos Aires, and had brought Anna to strengthen her Spanish.  Later in the afternoon, we visited the museum dedicated to Eva Perón.  Tomorrow we were to learn more about Argentine history in the heart of Buenos Aires, El Centro.