Mary in the cemetery

Monday 5 November 2007

Man, what a wierd day we had today! We spent some time walking around the town of Paysandú, seeing the History Museum and whatnot. Then, on a whim, we decided to buy some crayons and paper and go out to the cemetery to do some rubbings. After all, there's a lot of history around here, we thought there might be some pretty old stones.

We got there, however, and it turned out there were not many old graves, those are in a different graveyard across town. This was a bit newer and richer cemetery, in the same style as we have seen in Buenos Aires - big mausoleums, fancy statues, and family tombs.

What made it a wierd day, however, were the caretakers. They saw us taking pictures, and so asked what the pictures were for, where we were from, what on earth we were doing in a graveyard on our vacation, etc. When they found that we were curious foreigners, they took it upon themselves to give us a tour of the cemetery as well as a lesson on South American death.

Some interesting facts: When they bury you down here (or set you in a drawer on a long wall, which is also common) you only stay in your coffin for four years. After that, they take you out, clean off your bones, and put them into a much smaller box. This is put either on a shelf in a storage building, with a little spot for flowers and stuff in front of it, or is put back into the family tomb. Very space efficient.

In fact, they were so eager to teach us all about it, that one guy came by with one of those little boxes to show us the bones inside! The dead man's cousin was there, also eager that we should see the bones and to tell us all about what he was like in life. They showed us where they clean off the four-year-old skeletons, as well as where they keep the bones of people who have no family - in a big square pit, covered with a stone! (The stone was also covered with fake flowers from people who believed a loved one might have ended up inside.)

I have to say - it is really really nice traveling down here where I speak the language. We never would have learned everything we did today if we didn't speak Spanish.