What year is this???

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Somewhere In Between

Latin America is a 2nd/3rd world continent. False. PARTS of Latin America are 3rd world. Absolutely, undeniably true. But strange that other parts are very 1st world. No one would deny that the Hotel in Buzios, Brazil was first class: pool, sauna, the functioning plumbing and everything. Modern high-rises in Rio de Janeiro, and the Copacabana Palace with prices my fat American wallet couldn’t dream of affording. And all of this is in stark contrast to the Favellas not a mile away. Even better, driving to our boat tour of the Buzios beaches in a Mercedes van, next to a vegetable cart being pulled by a donkey. These are the things I will remember, specifically about Brazil, but also about Latin America in general. Argentina has its fair share of contrasts: clean, bright-eyed tourist walking in San Ignacio to the Jesuit ruins next to a toothless man who probably hadn’t seen a shower in days or a tooth brush his entire life.
At first I though that all Latin America needed was time. I felt as if I had fallen in to some kind of time warp, and that all Latin America needed was time to catch up with the rest of the world. And what was it that caused Latin America to fall so far behind? Maybe it was the series of political and social upheavals that had hampered the growth of these countries. Or maybe it was a culture trait that the people were simply less inclined to want to “modernize” or “progress.” But the fact is that none of these things really answer the question because ultimately the question itself is flawed. Latin America did not fall behind, SOME of its people did.
Through out the process of industrialization, modernization and change in the United States that brought us to where we are now there has never been the kind of divided progress among the people. There have always been regional gradients of progress but Brazilian Favellas fail to follow this model. And there have always been racial barriers to progress, but the man at San Ignacio had about as much African ancestry as I do. And that brings about an entirely different question: How did only bits and pieces of Latin America maintain pace with western society?

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