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I’ve seen her in the movie though is not really her but Madonna portraying her character. Absolutely no chance for me to see her in person – I was born too late to see in the news (magazines, newspapers and TV) this woman of great determination who managed her way out from simple living to becoming one of Argentina’s A list. I am talking about Eva Duarte Perón, Argentina’s most remembered influential political figure. As a result of her social welfare work for the underprivileged, she was known to the working class or to the masses as Evita.

I landed at Museo Evita or Evita Museum along Av. Gral Las Heras unintentionally when I went ashore in Buenos Aires three days ago. I was supposed to head for Cementerio de la Recoleta or Recoleta Cemetery but a simple misunderstanding with the taxi driver lead me to this interesting place I would have missed visiting, so it turned out that it was not a mistake to be at the museum anyway. Shamefully, my Spanish is very poor though Philippines was for 500 years under Spain’s colonial rule.
I instructed the taxi driver to take me to Evita Mausoleum. At the end of our negotiation though I only understand few words from him, I felt so relieve that the driver seems to know where to take me when he mentioned the words “Evita”. I only realized that I wasn’t on the intended place I intended to go when the taxi stopped in front of a building housing the Evita Museum and not on a cemetery as I expected. I showed him the map and pointed Cementerio de la Recoleta and there we both realized that we are not on the same page.
Several tour buses were also parked just ahead from us so I said to myself that I am exactly on another tourist place worth visiting - Evita Museum. Several pieces in the life of Evita are on display in the museum – the dresses she worn, her sandals, the hand bags, several headdresses, pictures of her and Juan Perón and few other memorabilia. Pieces of articles from old newspapers highlighting Evita’s social works are also on display. I tried reading it but unfortunately I should have learned Spanish language long ago.

After spending close to an hour in the museum, I proceeded to Recoleta Cemetery where Evita was finally laid to rest at the Duarte mausoleum. I read from Wikipedia an article about how her body was kept hidden for years out from the country. You may read the article here.
Evita was a popular figure when she was still alive and even more after her death. I say this because at the cemetery, the Duarte mausoleum is the most visited by tourists. I had hard time locating the mausoleum at first but when I asked one tourist I meet, the answer was very simple – “Just follow where the crowd goes”. So I did it and eventually I found the Duarte mausoleum among hundreds of other mausoleums.

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