Don’t Cry for Me Argentinaaaaaaaaa

We started off the day with a three-hour walking tour of Recoleta. Although it started drizzling a little bit throughout the tour, it still was such a beautiful time to experience and see the city. The best part was visiting the Recoleta cemetery. It was extremely fascinating seeing how extravagant the graves were. For example, some of the graves were classic, simple caskets and tombstones while some others had some extremities such as mini churches inside the tombs. It was really interesting to see how the difference in the amount of money in certain families could get someone for a tombstone. It also was really interesting to see how far some people would go for a tombstone. It truly represents how strong the religious beliefs are in some families in Argentina since some are significant for their family members to live peacefully in the afterlife. Some even had their servants or dogs buried or carved into stone on their graves so they would be served for eternity. The best grave we were able to see in the cemetery was the one of former First Lady of Argentina, Eva (Evita) Peron. Since her birthday was a week ago, her grave was decorated with flowers from the Argentine community. Continuing with the theme of Evita, we then went to visit the Museum (Museo) Evita. This museum was built inside one of Evita’s former non-permanent homes for women and children. It was a home that was used for short term homelessness or need until they figured out what to do with their situations. While inside the museum, it depicted all of Evita’s accomplishments throughout her short but impactfully lived life for 33 years. As a future nurse, Peronism is very prominent in depicting Argentina’s health care system today. Juan Peron, former President and husband to Evita, was heavily involved with creating a set foundation for the obras sociales, or trade unions. These unions are heavily involved with setting workers up with insurance, healthcare plans and retirement plans. Without the trade unions, many workers would not be able to suffice for healthcare. The overall access to the healthcare system was said to be a human right by the Peron’s and would not be as accessible as it is today without them. Although Milei is fighting the opposite side in Argentina today, hopefully he will not destroy a system that heavily impacts many. Long live Evita. 

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