On Holy Saturday, of all days, we decided to pay a visit to "Tierra Santa", a religious theme park in the north of Buenos Aires. It promised "a visit to Jerusalem without leaving Argentina!" From the minute we stepped out of the taxi I could see that on a list of tacky tourist traps done in very poor taste, the place would rank right up there with Gatlinburg, Tennessee, or perhaps one of the numerous "World's Largest Ball of Twine". According to our research, the park promised animatronic shows featuring the birth of Jesus, the Last Supper, and the Creation story. There are also reenactments of the resurrection of Christ every half-hour. I couldn't decide if the place was meant to be taken seriously.
A treat awaited us at the ticket booth. Two signs were posted. One said "There will be be no reenactment of the Resurrection from Good Friday until 7.00pm on Holy Saturday." I suspect that the park's owners thought it would be in poor taste to have the risen Christ make an appearance before Easter, but then I thought "What difference would it make? This entire place is in poor taste!" A second sign said: "Due to security issues with the nearby airfield, the traditional Holy Saturday reenactment of the Resurrection will not include fireworks." We quickly decided to leave without entering the park and return at 7 o'clock for the special Resurrection.
We went to Recoleta Cemetery in the meantime to see Eva Perón's grave. Or rather, her crypt. The entire cemetery consisted of these elaborate houses above ground with the coffins down below. It looked like a little city, but a city that I'd rather not have to spend the night in. Some of the crypts were in poor repair, and you could actually look inside of them and down into the basement where coffins sat on shelves. It gave me the creeps. Evita's crypt was just like everyone else's, except there were a lot of flowers on hers. There were also a lot of stray cats in the cemetery.
After some lunch, shopping, and a frantic attempt in an internet café to finish an essay due the next Tuesday, we returned to Tierra Santa for the special Easter version of the reenactment of the Resurrection. The park's architecture was stereotypical Middle Eastern, but everything was made out of this hard styrofoam which made the place look even more tacky. There were even fake animals and palm trees (although I don't know why they couldn't have just planted real palm trees, as there are indeed real palm trees in Buenos Aires) everywhere.
Apparently the inclusion of a reenactment of the crucifixion was what separated the Easter version of the show from the regular Resurrections on the half-hour. There were actors playing the roles of the Roman soldiers and an actor playing Jesus. There was a cross that he was actually tied to and "hung" on (there was a platform for him to stand on at the bottom) for all to see. It was awful. Then the "body" was taken off the cross and a woman playing Mary Magdalene sang a prayer. Then we went and stood in a plaza and we given candles by the park staff (dressed like Israelites). We lit our candles and a hush fell over the crowd as a styrofoam mountain in the middle of the park began to emit smoke and laser light. An Aerolineas Argentinas 737 coming in for a landing at the airfield flew by (hence the lack of fireworks). The mountain kept emitting smoke, and finally about 20 minutes later a huge puppet of the risen Christ rose from the mountain accompanied by a recorded chorus singing "Alleluia!" I grimaced while others in the crowd crossed themselves. Liz, PJ and I were so disgusted that we decided to leave soon after. It's not that I don't enjoy a good dose of tackiness every now and then, and it's not that my religious views were insulted; it was just that the place was so over-the-top it was disgusting. And people were taking it all seriously! Meanwhile I'm sure the owners got some fat profits that night.
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