Day 8 – Back to where we started

Our day began with a plane ride back to Buenos Aires, our arrival city.  We departed from the hotel at 8:00 AM for the Mendoza airport. We had a short 90 minute flight back to Buenos Aires, which would have taken 13 hours to return by bus. Buenos Aires is the largest city in Argentina and 2nd largest city in South America with a population of 13-million.  The runway to the airport is next to the Rio de la Plata, which gave a spectacular view upon landing.

Our guide is from Buenos Aires, so he was very enthusiastic about sharing the details of his hometown.   Our first tourist attraction of the city was a graveyard called Cementerio de la Recoleta, or City of the Dead.  At first the idea of visiting a graveyard did not sound too pleasing, however, once there, we all believed that it was one of the most fascinating places that one could visit.  There were close to 4,700 gravesites at this cemetery. Every one of them was a mausoleum, above ground and no two were the same. This is the place where presidents, military generals and founding families of the city are buried.  We even visited the gravesite of Eva Peron of “Evita” fame.  These mausoleums featured small rooms where one’s family could spend private time with their dearly departed.  A typical mausoleum could store as many as thirty bodies.  Families paid annual taxes on the real estate of their plot at this site.  As you can imagine, it was very expensive to purchase and maintain these gravesites.

After the Cemeterio de la Recoleta, we went to a leather factory where we all marveled at the vast selection of leather goods in the store.  The prices were not bargain basement by any means but were very reasonable for the quality. I did try on a leather vest and pair of pants; however, I do not believe I can legitimately wear a pair or leather pants!

After the visit to the leather factory, we visited the Metropolitan Cathedral, which houses the tomb of the national hero José San Martin.  We then checked into the hotel.  We had a big evening planned in Buenos Aires, as we took in a Tango show after dinner. The dancing and singing were very good.  See YouTube link to some video footage that I captured below!