A bus, a zoo and Evita

Now the zoo may not be everyone's port of call but it us something of a tradition for us, so on the Wednesday of our week off, off we went.

The Hand of God!

  On our way, we passed a bus with very ornate carvings all around the top of it showing various people and events important to Argentina or South America.  We have no idea what the bus was for or why it was there, and we didn't recognise many though we spotted Che Guevare and some other political figures.  However the depiction that most caught our eye was the one of Diego Maradona in his 'Hand of God' moment!

Leaving the bus behind, we made it to the zoo.  It is only a little zoo and some of the enclosures were a bit small, but the animals generally seemed happy and cared for which was good. We were accosted early on by some cute rat type things that were roaming freely, so we bought some food and fed them and the agoutis (also free) as well as some of the other animals. There were lemurs for Nic, and big cats for me, but the star had to be one of the red pandas. These little animals are generally asleep and usually out of sight wherever we have (not) seen them before. One of those here was asleep but was at least in view, and we thought we were doing well just with that, until we spotted the second. That one had got up and was wandering all around the enclosure in full view.

Others that captured the attention were the big brown bear that we assumed had been rescued from 'performing' somewhere, because it stood on it's hind legs and waved until people threw it food, and the elephant that very carefully got done onto it's knees to reach the food that had dropped into the ditch around it's enclosure.

We are always fascinated watching the animals, but in due course we moved on to the Evita museum.

I kind of half knew about Eva Peron as I guess a lot of people do, but I have never really understood what made her both so loved and so hated. This museum was in my view quite one sided, very pro-Evita. Seeing the work that she did to improve the lot of women, children and the poor in general, I can see why many loved her. The scenes of her funeral were like those of Princess Diana, though on an even bigger scale. But the exhibits didn't really show why she also was so hated.  Of course everyone has their detractors - and there were issues with Evita about her involvement in politics when she was not an elected politician, particularly with those who felt their status and wealth being threatened by her work for the poor.  But does that alone explain why she was so absolutely hated by some that people broke into her grave and mutilated her body

It is a shame I think, as I believe that a museum can only really be properly respected if it gives the full story; if the people behind it are convinced that Evita was the good person they portray, they should be able to show the other side of the argument with sufficient certainty that people reading it without prejudice will be equally impressed. I understand that emotions still run strong, and that politics here is still divided on the Peronist or not issue, but a museum must surely rely more on facts than on viewpoints. It did a good job of what it did show, and I certainly knew more about her when I left than when I arrived. It is just a shame that I still don't feel qualified to have an opinion on the woman who divided the opinion of others so emphatically.