Buenos Aires

     Walking through Recoleta Cemetery I realize, that on this square lot of 550,000 sq ft with more than 4,800 vaults, which are privately owned by the privileged families of Buenos Aires, (although they still need to pay their annual fee based on lot size), that unless the government gave you and your descendants the family grave, wealth is a prerequisite.
     The ones that are in default of their annual fee find the remains of the family removed and re-interned in a nameless grave. So better be sure to avoid such a shame and try to sell your vault, some of which can hold hundreds of full sized caskets, for the "modest" amount of several hundred thousand dollars to over 10 million dollars. And we talk US dollars.
     We found that if you want to buy a car or real estate, the full purchase price must be presented at closing in US dollars. There are no mortgages in Argentina. Banks have stopped changing pesos into dollars. You have to own a foreign bank account if you want to access your own dollars. The official exchange rate is 5 pesos to the dollar. But the "blue rate" an interesting word for black market transaction, is this week AR$8 plus to 1 US and if you google older documents: on January 31 it was AR$ 7.92 and in July 2012 it was AR$ 6.21 to one US dollar.
     The government declares the inflation at 11% and thus monthly adjust incomes at that pace. The real inflation runs around 25% I am told. People prefer you paying in US dollars, reason why Recoleta cemetery lots are priced in US money.
     6 Million bodies are interred here and anybody, who was anyone can be found here. The reigning government party (there are only two parties in Argentina: peronistas and radicals) is maintaining the graves of their aligned dead and ignore the graves of the other side till governments change.
     Of course we had to see Evita's grave. Our guide told us, that the military leader who exiled Juan Peron, "exported" Evita's body in secret to an anonymous grave in Italy. After Peron returned from his exile in Spain, he tortured the general till he talked and gave up the Italian location. As a gesture of "gratitude" Peron notified monthly the family where they could find a body part of the general. It took more than a year to collect all body parts.
     We saw a vault that also serves as a private chapel for the family, where they hold Sunday mass with their family priest. We saw a cupola vault with a pure golden roof, and amber vases built into the pillars as well as pearl and nacre ornamentation, held by a family that made their money in ways US capitalists can take lessons from.
     One vault had a seated husband looking high over the cemetery. With her back to him sat his widow, who had requested this particular position as "she did not wish to see the son of a bitch". Only one vault had a woman laying above all the men in the family, since she left the family in this country of machismo 11 billion US for the privilege of rubbing her place of honor into the rest of the family's pride.
     Our little apartment is on the 9th floor overlooking the cemetery, and in the vanishing light we see in the distance the cruise ship terminal. The Recoleta neighborhood is a well to do crime free area, although to cross from that neighborhood into the cruise terminal area, you would have to pass through one of the worst slums in Buenos Aires or in the world for that matter, where people kill their mother if necessary for 10 pesos to buy crack cocaine.
    For those of us, that roam the nice parts of this 14 million citizens capital, admiring the Paris-like Haussmann type buildings, the grand boulevards, seeing the hustle and bustle of dog walkers (13 dogs on 13 leashes with an experienced guy in the middle)

or a man on a stationary bike sharpening knives peddling hard to turn the sharpening stone, or watch demonstrations from unions stating "keep your dirty hands of our jobs", while demonstrating against foreigners "stealing their jobs", veterans of the Falkland Islands war, who demand pensions and war injury compensation,

 30,000 taxis roaming the city for customers, we revel in its beauty. We find queues of people waiting at buildings, where they pay their electra, gas, self employment tax or city rent.        

     All this and more sights create a sense of wonder, as we see how Argentines cope with life, high unemployment, daily changing prices, as a result of rampant inflation and still exuding pride, machismo and dignity.

     A famous saying is in answer to the question: how does an Argentine commit suicide?: "He jumps of his ego".

     The terraces are filled with coffee or ice cream consuming Argentines, as if all is well in life. It seems that every apartment has a balcony and every corner outside seating. Living is done outside with other Argentines and the stories of the day are first and foremost on everybody's  mind. (like an Argentinian Pope for example)

     All in all we enjoyed this first encounter with Buenos Aires and we look forward to the days to come. And to my Dutch friends: every Argentine we meet needs to ask us about Maxima and whether we adore her like they do for having snagged a crown prince. Many of them mention that Prince Willem married a strong woman, as if he needed one.