Cemetery Reviews #10 - Gardens of the Memory
Why do I even review cemeteries? Do you know why? That's something I asked myself a lot today. See, of all the cities in the world without a metro, this is the biggest. 12 million people, and no metro, and sure, the saying goes, small town, big hell, but I say, big city with no trains means hell on earth. I'm gonna yap for a while but I promise I'm building something up with it.
After going to the more modest cemeteries in the South I said I would go to the North and check the ones at the edge of the city, they looked in the map like they had a lot more green on them, since I live in the South, I knew it would take me a while... but it wasn't just a time consuming venture, it was also a pain in my ass.
I get out of bed and I think... why do I review cemeteries? I fool around on bed from 8 to 9 am, then I decide I want to go, I get called to send some papers for a work transfer I have, I spend an hour on that, at 10 am leave and I wait on the bus stop, and I wait... and I wait but the bus doesn't arrive. It's not just that, my bus doesn't arrive, all the other routes that pass through that bus stop passed like 20 fucking times. I said, okay, you got to be kidding me, I check the app trying to find the bus, the app is a load of shit, it is stuck, it doesn't refresh positions, it's a mess. By 12 pm I said, fuck it, I'm gonna have lunch here or I will be hungry all the way, I eat, I leave, and then by 1 pm I go to the bus stop again. I end up taking the wrong bus, it was my mistake, the second time I looked at the app I picked the wrong place at the destination and of course, I got in just happy that I wouldn't have to wait for that god damn forsaken bus that never came. I got out of the bus a bit closer to the north, I then walk 15 minutes towards the highway and I wait for a new bus. Thankfully, this time the right bus arrives, and I get inside.
And I have to poo, really bad. So I hold myself for like an hour, but of course, I say, I can't hold it forever, I get out in a place I see that looks like a mall, but it's not a mall, it's some sort of commercial center and residential bullshit so I walk putting all the pressure I can on my butt cheeks and I walk up a coffee store, thankfully, they allowed me to use the bathroom first, there was no water in that toilet so you can bet I'm never stepping foot in that place. I buy something, I leave and I wait for the bus, then it's just waiting for me to arrive, the cemetery closes at 4 PM, it's 3:10 PM, I say, I won't be able to see shit, and I get sad.
The bus went up to the north, then more and more up to the north, the houses looked wealthier, the streets wider, the green zones spread more and more. The neighborhoods were so wealthy that there were kids leaving school at 3 PM and going home in a school bus, you know, American style. There were some communes at the east over the mountains, but most of the north is very wealthy, and very green. We passed by the north terminal, the north portal, until all traces of civilization disappeared little by little, until the only thing left was the long, long highway between the green fields that went towards the north of the country, and my hometown. You won't see any cities for a long while, so in practical terms, this is the end of the map for this city, and the furthest you can go with the city buses. I got out and I said, sure, this was shit, but now I just have to walk a bit, I get to the cemetery, and the whole street is blocked due to construction.
I think those white columns are part of the entrance, but it looked hard to enter and by that point it was almost 3:30 PM. I said, dude, this shit was not worth it, let's bail. I I left and I took the bus to the north portal. Since the city ends there, what those buses do is take the return point and go back through the opposite lane.
That cemetery hid itself so much of me that I don't think I want to ever go and review it, it's like it was mocking me, like it didn't want me. Well, if it doesn't want me there, so be it. I don't care about that one anymore. I asked myself, what the hell am I doing this shit for? Why? Like what is the point?
There is none, it's just bullshit, bullshit to get me out of bed, but when it is such a pain in the ass it just makes me say, this is not worth the money, or the time, I am getting older as I speak and wasting my days off on this is not worth the time, the city is not worth the time.
However, there was another cemetery at the other side of the highway, going back to the city already, and that is the one I reviewed today.
I got out, and I said, well I'm already here and this one closes at 5 PM, so might as well take a look, right?
This is another green cemetery, as in, it works almost as a park and all tombs are surrounded by lots and lots of grass. One thing I realized is how fortunate the Gardes of Apogee in the South is, it is not only full of green but is also in the middle on the city. Any other cemetery that wants to do the same has to go through this procedure, go way to the end of the earth so they can have enough green spaces. For that I feel the rating is going to suffer a bit, it is not the cemetery's fault, but well, what can you do.
This cemetery is probably a bit more recent and has this annoyingly modern aesthetic, it tries to look "chick" or something, and it adds lots of white, the chapel looks alright (thanks to the stained glass windows) but then you look at the other stuff and it doesn't look that good.
Don't you think this statue is annoyingly minamilistic? Like, I get the idea they are going for but reducing the parts of a symbol to their most basic and recognizable elements does not work here as much I think it could. I mean they just made the guy thinner and removed his cross, what do you want me to say?
There is a giant book as well here, I remember another giant book in the Gardens of Apogee Cemetery, this one has The Lord's Prayer in it.
Ironically it looks better from behind, since it has this cross and design shaped with stones, but most people will never see this part of the monument.
There are some columbariums like this in the cemetery. What do you think? Personally, while I feel the execution falls a bit short (something about creating these shapes with their own special compartments can be pretty hard I imagine) I do like the idea. They remind me a bit of honeycombs, perhaps also with a different color and texture they would look a lot more sublime.
There was also a bigger chapel further into the cemetery which I liked. This I think mixes well the classical elements with the more modern aesthetic, it's weird, sure, but that's because it is unique.
I walked a lot through the park, but naturally not as much as with the Gardens of Apogee, with my time being shorter. I feel that the terrain here is a lot more flat than the one of Apogee, the one of Apooge was a lot more hilly and that helped to create this sense of depth, once you enter, you get fully lost on it, you can't see the end and there are some huge huge trees. I feel the flat landscape hurts a bit the scene of scale in this place. Does that mean I like very green and hilly cemeteries the most? I don't know, but that's what I felt. There are also roads for the cars but while the Gardens of Apogee give you a big green area to lose yourself between the dead, the roads are always hugging each area every several meters, so you never feel truly lost, the tomb areas feel also like small areas closer to the road rather than being part of a big big park. Even then though, there were some pretty nice places like that three and its friend that fell into the ditch. The papyrus were also very pretty. There were also a lot of workers taking take of the place, I like seeing workers always maintain a cemetery, the only thing is that I when I pass by I feel like a creep since naturally there is no one I have to see in those places.
I read a review in Google Maps saying that they found the tomb of their mother broken because they refused to do more payments and blamed it on the whole place being just a business. It's a bit sad, isn't it? Remember when we used to think back in our little towns that we would have our own grave and that grave would be given to us forever until our name worn out? Not handled by a company, but the local church, no rentals, no small columbariums, in a way, it feels like being at the infancy of society. I know taking care of a cemetery takes money and effort, everything has a price, even after death, somehow.
One thing I don't like of green field cemeteries is how they don't give you a clear path to walk on, so you eventually end up stepping over the graves hidden in the grass. Only paths like this formed by cars of passing by helped me step on without guilt.
I walked a lot, and saw a lot, but to be honest with you I was feeling still hurt by all the time and money I wasted that I started to feel alone. I said to myself "why do I review cemeteries for? What is the point? They are just cemeteries, there is really nothing to review in them, you put the death people there, and that's it, what is all the fuzz about?" I felt very sad and silly. To go to the limits of the city and spent a whole day on this, what was the point for?
I was about to leave, but then I saw a weird structure at the very back of the place. It looked like some sort of chapel. "I said, hmm, another chapel, well, might as well check it out." The time for the cemetery to close was approaching, there was nobody there aside the workers, I had no one to look for, I was afraid, I said, what if I get scolded? What if I get banned? What if they yell at me and kick me out? I was going further and further inside the cemetery, as far as my feet could take me, but my steps weighted a ton and I was anxious.
I looked at it and I said, man, what a weird ass chapel. See the tips? They have several arches but they are not the same length, it makes the structures look... disheveled, in a way. But it was a curious place, it looked almost like the naked ruins of a castle. The place was almost deserted, only the noise of a small well broke the silence of the place. I saw a man walking on the second floor, I tried to find the entrance, but I didn't find it, and that's when I realized, it wasn't a chapel. It was the columbarium.
Dude, you have no idea how happy it made me. A castle! A castle of columbariums! What a wonderful and beautiful idea! So far, everything in my day had been pure shit, absolute pure shit, and I was a bit disappointed with the cemetery because for how far I had to go I wanted to see more of it, and I didn't find it, but when I reached the castle of columbariums, I felt so happy, so damn happy! I nearly cried! My eyes got watery but then I said, "no wait, this is stupid", and I didn't cry.
Okay so maybe I was still feeling a little self aware to let my emotions be, but I was really enchanted with the place. It made all the shit I went through today, worth it. The buses, the traffic, the poop, the closed cemetery, the sadness, everything was redeemed when I found the columbarium. Think about it, the columbariums are usually the weakest part of a cemetery, you know, just a blank slate wall that makes the graves there feel less gorgeous, but this little place, this tiny itsy bitsy cemetery with its weird ass aesthetic and stuff made of the columbarium the strongest thing of the whole place.
Should the water be green? Well no matter, I like when classy stuff blends with decadence, it gives the sense of ruins, of time, it gives weight to the place and tells you, keeping this thing up is hard work, its always just a partial success, but that's what it makes it beautiful. When I walked in I saw the maintenance worker dressed in gray I had seen in the second floor, I smiled at him and I said hi and he answered in a very warm and sweet voice, he was probably 50 or 60 and probably tired. I thought he was a like a prince, a prince for the castle of the dead. I loved him deeply, I think I will make a poem about him and the columbarium later.
When I left I was in much better mood, since it was starting to rain and the night would fall soon, I decided I would try to go home sooner rather than later. But still, to think that at the very end of the map was such an easter egg! A castle! A ruined castle for the dead! See those flower pots? They have names too, but I doubt they have bodies in them, would you like your ashes to serve as part of a flowerpot when you die? I think it would be pretty, although naturally I would like something with a bit more scale.
On my way back, I saw this monument, I like the idea of Jesus with a spear, it gives him some character. There was also this beautiful poem at its side.
Oh, how beautiful life is,
Yet how dark death appears.
Are they all the same? Are they not sisters?
Are they not equally intriguing and beautiful?
Is it not the same, yet different,
Life is the vibrant, powerful stage.
Death is the end of the lived stage.
Is there nothing that asks for death?
Is there nothing that suddenly vanishes,
A supreme body that disappears,
That shows life releasing,
That fills nothingness, that leaves life?
This is what happens, this is what remains.
And we, it seems, go on binding ourselves,
Yet we do not know if life is secretly a part of death,
Or if death forms part of life.
They remain unexplored, incomprehensible,
And perhaps in this way they can better understand each other:
To end the review, I also saw this beautiful house in ruins at the side of the cemetery. I don't know if they are trying to keep it or build around it, but when I saw it I was ecstatic. When I see something as old as that I feel like I made a Bluetooth connection with the past, lol. It's like... I managed to get some signal, a trace of the past, of what was real once upon a time and now gives me flashes of the people who were happy way before I existed, it grounds me and makes me feel aware of the pass of time. It is such an incredible feeling.
There were so very pretty commemorative plaques hidden between the leaves on the walls that separated the cemetery from the old house. Ones were already worn out and long so gone, as if already closing their eyes.
The north of the city is a lot colder, when I arrived I was starting to freeze, but when I left, I didn't feel any cold at all.
