Argentina

As I rode the colectivo today out of the city (Colectivo: Argentine term for bus)I began thinking about how the borders that are, came to be. Mostly all of them are natural, created by mountain ranges such as the division of Chile and Argentina with The Andes, (take a look at the view of them in the picture below, it's down a bit; they are gorgeous!), by rivers, such as the border of Uruguay or the border in the North with Brazil,

(check out the Uruguay/Argentina border from the satelite picture of the river directly left; the main piece of water is The Parana River Delta, and Uruguay is on the lower-right), and even in The State of Santa Fe in which Rosario is situated, the Parana River seperates The Province of Entre Rios which is right next door, kind of like how The Colombia River is used to distinguish Oregon from Washington.

And then of course the Ocean along the

South-East, all the way down to the Antartic Waters where yes, Penguins reign.

Soon however my mind was rerouted from

thinking of the drawn out, mapped and legal borders, to the unseen, the untalked about borders, that have been influenced by society and divide the people.

Argentina is an interesting country and very different from Portland. From the outside and at first glance one would think that the majority of the population lives densley populated within

the cities, but in reality the majority is spread out across the country like the roots of a tree, in

which attention is not drawn unless you are

specifically looking.

My friend Rogelio tells me that treinta-millones personas (13 million people) live within the Buenas Aires Metropolitan area, nearly 4 million in the city itself. It is a site of international business and culture. This population nearly triples that of any other city in Argentina.

But Argentina is a Third World Country. The rich are exponentially more wealthy then the poor, who in their poverty are in extraordinarily low living conditions, but the poor are also the majority. The wealthy upper class and decently living middle class families occupy the city centers, but as I mentioned the city centers are only the rarity.

As I rode the colectivo today out of the city, I could watch as the barrios (neighborhoods)

degraded in quality. At the furthest outskirts of the city the Shanty-Towns are filled with houses created by left-overs from construction projects, such as plywood, bricks and sheet metal, many times allowed to be built for free and without policies on sanitation or location. Basic services such as refridgeration or clean water may be absent. Living in the city center I hardly ever realize that there is something more then the cobble stone streets,

coffee shop cornered, shopping center lined city blocks. Last week I had to break it to someone that Argentina is not a 1st World Country, because all we ever see within the limits of the European influenced Rosario is a representation of economic influence for nice things and brand name items. We never have to leave the city center, it has everything we need to survive and to be self-sustaining without noticing the poverty.

So what is a 1st World and what is a 3rd World Country?

Well, Yahoo answered it for me. 1st World Countries are those that have the most advanced economies, the biggest influence, the highest standards of living, and the best technology.

3rd World basically means that the country is under the influence of these other nations, because they don't have access to the best technology, to a strong and independent economy, or the ability to create a balanced and high standard of living across the stretch of the people.

What I have found in Argentina is that the characteristics of a 1st World Nation exsist within the

city centers, but they are completely absent for the majority. What shocked me about my bus ride even more is that I wasn't only seeing the neighborhoods show more evidence of poverty,

but the level of racial diversity went up the further we went out as well. I imagine the actual map

of Argentina should look like a dart board, with the center point being the target for wealth and development, but forgeting that their is so much more to the board then the narrow point of interest in which we give all our focus.

(Really, that is the best imagery that I have heard to the physical image of the Nation, and to a third world country. Picture Upper-Class city center buildings and parks

on the bullseye, and imagine that

each ring out has degregading buildings

and parks of lessening quality.)

I've been trying to figure this whole thing out, but its going to to take a lot more research and learning to find out why the unequal distribution of wealth and standard of living conditions exists.

Have you noticed places like this within the United States?

Are their neighborhoods you know of that are given less attention and support then others?

What do you think some of the effects would be if you lived your entire life in one of these isolated, self-sustaining city centers, like in the picture above, only ever seeing the top of the tree?