Dead People, a Jacket, and an Incredible Band with a Hole in the Wall

Posted for September 14, 2009
With my passport locked up at the hostel, a feeling of relief had dawned on me. I met up with a few folks from the hostel and headed out to the Recoleta Cemetery to see Evita’s Tomb. Like the Manila Cemetery, the tombs are above ground - Mausoleums. The major difference between the Manila Cemetery and the Recoleta Cemetary is the cleanliness of the area. The Manila Cemetery is dirty with the squatters living in the area. The Recoleta Cemetery is well kept – clean streets and no one living in the cemetery.

While looking for Evita’s tomb I made a comment in which everyone laughed. I said, “I’ve been in Argentina for 3 days and what have I done; I’ve been hustled, robbed, dunk, and saw dead people. What a fantastic holiday!”

After spotting Evita’s Mausoleum, we ogled at a few other tombs as we moseyed are way out of the Cemetery. Exiting the Cemetary, we were all parched and decided to grab a beer and a snack. With daylight dwindling, I split up from the group after the beer and burger and headed to Uru Recoleta – a leather store that Samantha Brown had featured in her Television Show. They were located just around the corner from where we were resting. I spent about an hour on designing my leather jacket then headed back to the hostel.


I met up with the group back at the hostel. We decided to skip out on dinner plans we had arranged the previous night to attend a Bomba Band Event. The event tuned out to be the best concert experience I’ve ever witnessed – and I was sober. To describe the event doesn’t serve justice and is one of those “got to be there.”
Basically it’s a percussion band with a conductor. The conductor instructs the band to play certain beats and rhythms, and like a DJ he’ll cut portions of the song and instruct specific groups to play segmented loops. The build up in tone, beat, harmony, and syncopation energizes the crowd to a point where a mash pit is created. Part of the build up included separate introductions to the Bass Guitar and Electric Guitar during the middle of the sets. Similar to a Rave, the event is held in a warehouse.


After the event we stopped by a hole in the wall and grabbed a yummy Choripan. When we got back to the Hostel, I shared a bottle of Vodka that I had picked on the way home from Uru Recoleta.