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| no, i didn't stop to take pictures, but these are pictures of where we were. (i did take the middle one) |
This post isn't exactly an update about my time in Argentina like I promised I would write, but it's what I've been learning. I'll try to put together another post as an update later this week for how the last couple months have been.
Last week, I went to La Boca in Buenos Aires to see Caminito and all the colored houses. I had the brilliant idea to take a different bus than we planned that also went to the Boca since it came to the stop first..I assumed that it would take us near where we wanted to go and that would be fine. After an hour and a half of seemingly turning at every other intersection in this bus, we finally arrived and were pleasantly surprised to find a nice plaza where we could eat lunch. A couple ladies came up to us and told us we couldn’t walk in the park. I was confused and asked them what they meant..and they told us that this was a super dangerous area, especially for anyone not from the area. They walked us past their house and to the police station while telling us that a tourist had been killed in the same street once. The police gave us directions to head to where we wanted to go by the safest route possible and told us never to come back.
It turned out that we were only 5 or 6 blocks away from where we wanted to be.
The whole rest of the day I couldn’t stop thinking about the stark contrast between the two worlds only 5 blocks apart. How can people so close live so differently? Caminito in the Boca has shops of all sorts and expensive restaurants, a beautiful neighborhood and many tourists who have always had everything they’ve needed. Some of which, I’m sure, have had money for everything they've wanted as well, but not me, ha. But behind all this, who are the people that work these shops..who are the people that clean the streets.. or who really are those that cook the food? Everyone has a story… Part of the reason I don’t like tourist towns very much is that there are very real people behind every counter that don’t get noticed by the tourists who often are so wrapped up in themselves they trample over the service personal. I don't want to forget the lives of the people around me, who’s lives are meeting mine for a moment.
One cultural stereotype about america that really bothers me is that we always have the money. I've seen prices go up for the "gringos" and I understand why, but because I would always stick out there (like I got labeled as a tourist almost immediately in the plaza) it's seemingly impossible for me to enter into their lives and understand what it's really like.
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| for a little more perspective.. I ran across this instragram today from switchfoot India to Australia |
If there’s anything that you remember from reading this, here are some questions I’m posing..
1. Why do we think that we need so many things..so much stuff? How can people without these things be so content?
2. How can you help? Money isn’t the answer..yes, it’s needed, but changing lifestyles to just incorporate more stuff isn’t right. There’s a whole lot more to it than that.
3. What if the middle and upper classes are those that really need help to let go of their stuff and see that the relationships mean more?
Ultimately, the things that we have will wear out and won't last forever. Not that it's inherently bad to be among the worlds better off, but there are more distractions that help us numb the pain or help us hide it. In the rougher places of the world, there are still ways that the pain of reality is numbed, but it's more real. Perhaps reality is better understood in places like these. We each only have a little while here, what is it that's worthwhile? I don’t have all the answers but I’m posing the questions that I’ve been wrestling through recently.. let me know your thoughts on this, I’m interested to hear them.
