Today was Eva Peron day. Headed out to Palermo, a swish suburb to the north to visit Eva’s grave. The weather today was magnificent. There are trees everywhere here that look like they have galahs sitting in them but they’re actually some sort of woolly seed covering (think big fluffy white fairy floss balls the size of basketball). The stuff breaks off in the breeze and floats to the ground, just like snow, very pretty. The cemetery is reached via a walk through a (bichon filled ) emerald green park. Sidewalk cafes surround it with swanky, well dressed, welloff Argentinians sitting out in the sun. The cemetery"s mausoleums date back to the 1600s all the way through to now. mostly white marble but every now and again a black brooding one, heavy with sorrow. Lots of angels silhouetted against the sky. You can often see the coffins inside, many draped with linen, and there are pics…. Eva’s buried with her family in a very plain black marble crypt – apparently there’s always a crowd and her grave is always decorated with flowers. It was today!
Then Nicole and I headed to Santa Fe, (the streets are mostly named after locations or dates of significance) to shop. We walked through a street protest on the way. Heard some bangs. My first reaction was that it was a gun, but nobody reacted or panicked when more bangs rang out so we assumed it was firecrackers. Later we find out it was gun shot and one person was killed….
Oblivious we walked on, determined to find shoes. We did – bought a lovely pair for $40! Lunch was recommended by my new duck press friend from last night – La Tracoleta (corner Alcorta and Pampa) . Incredible. You walk in to this huge room and there’s an inside BBQ with vertical skewers roasting beef, goat, and pork. Even with our waitress’ recommendation that we share 1 dish between 2, our table looked like a Flintstones Christmas meat festival, groaning under the weight of at least 4kg of meet to feed the 10 of us. Great Malbec reserve helped enlarge our tummies but even so the only person to make a dent was Jay who managed to eat all of his and then have a go at Davey’s. I also ordered some chorizo (1 serve was 3 fat fat sausages) and blood sausage (again not just 1 sausage but 3 bursting at the seams). Lots of wine, bill came to just over $100 AUD for all of us!
Then Eva Peron museum. Old deco white marble two storey house. Great dresses and shoes on display and lots of little video vignettes of her talking about her life and her rise to power. I never realised that her body was stolen on the way to the cemetery and she ended up buried in Milan under a made-up name. She was only returned to Argentina in 1971. Resisted (just) temptation to sing “Don’t cry for me ….” though…although haven't heard a single rendition anywhere
Back to hotel, met up with journos and then to the top steakhouse for dinner (like we needed it). Argentinians don’t eat before 10pm which was the only reason we were able to make a reservation for 15 at 830 at La Carbera. Again, planks of wood heaving with juicy succulent meet, although this time it does come with lots of little condiments and salads (lentil, corn and quail egg, green salad, tomato etc). And then when you pay they bring out a chubba chub tree, stuck into a piece of black piping. ,I steered clear although certain members of the party downed 3 chuba chubs! Again, cheap at $30 a head despite copious wine. Then home to bed at 1130.
Conference kicks off in 4 hours so going to try to go back to sleep now
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