Out And About On The Recoleta

The Recoleta neighborhood is one of the most desirable in Buenos Aires. Located in the northern part of the city, it is home to a fashionable residential area, elegant restaurants, deluxe hotels, fine museums, andsome of the city's finest shops.

The Recoleta Cemetery is the final resting place of Eva Peron. The wife of President Juan Peron, Eva wasan astute politician in her own right; many say she was the driving force behind her husband's success.During his first term, she spoke out for the "descamisados" (the shirtless ones...that is, theworkers), and the social organization she founded built schools and hospitals. She also founded a women's political party.

When she died of cancer in 1952 at the young age of 33, she was widely mourned in Argentina. Her remains were sent to Europe for burial after Peron wasoverthrown in 1955, but, after his death in 1974, her body was reinterred in the Recoleta Cemetery. Fresh flowers are placed daily at her guarded crypt, and, yes, the epitaph reads "Don't cry for me, Argentina, I remain quite near you."

On our first day in Buenos Aires, after the bohemian San Telmo flea market, we headed for Recoleta and its outdoor artisan market, where young artists sell leather goods, hand-knit sweaters and scarves, andartwork. A percussion band thumped away loudly, keeping an urgent beat with the pace of thepassers-by. We were shoulder-to-shoulder with people of all ages, including many families with children. Again I wondered to myself, where are the signs of the distressed economy and the unhappy people we had heard so much about?

In later days, we would spend more time in Recoleta and come to like it even more. In a building there that has just been remodeled, we saw several apartments for sale that caught our eye. From a 410-square-foot ground-floor studio apartment with alarge terrace for $38,000 to one with 615 square feet, one bedroom, and two baths for $57,000 and a 972-square-foot two-story apartment with a terrace oneach floor for $90,000. Seventy dollars per month pays your city tax, water bill, and maintenance fee. Theseare remarkable prices for an apartment in one of themost exclusive neighborhoods of one of the world's most exciting cities. And with Eva Peron for aneighbor.

Dan Prescher and Suzan Haskins
International Living