Buenos Aires: Recoletta Cemetery

I know, I've been terrible at keeping up and now I'm a vacation behind again. Such a rough life I lead! :)

To continue our Buenos Aires adventure, we spent an hour or so wandering around the Recoletta Cemetery, which was in walking distance from our apartment. Why on earth would we want to spend time in a cemetery, you ask?  You'll see ...

Recoletta Cemetery is where the rich families built their mausoleums for the dead. No burials here, but instead elaborate crypts that are somehow beautiful if you don't think too carefully about what they contain.

As we wandered through, we found a huge ladder so I decided to climb up and see what things look like from the top ... not quite as pretty.

Meanwhile, these yahoos were supposed to be holding the ladder!

They variety of the styles, size and complexity is amazing. You can see in to some that have a staircase to a lower level, others that have a beautifully decorated table with photos of the deceased and others that are plain (relatively speaking).

 Nope, not a church, just one of the family crypts.

Apparently, angels wept when this guy passed on.

This was one of the older in the cemetery - such a contrast.