barrio asuncion

la boca, buenos aires

not too far as the crow flies, but a couple of bridges and 20 km or so on the autopista brought us to another world today. while everybody knows the terms first-world (now known as developed) and third-world (now least developed), there is a lot of confusion about the significance of the term second-world (now developing). argentina, along with brazil, china, mexico, and india share this classification that suggests a healthy supply of both poles. here this is manifested in the buzzing palermo restaurants, emaculate museums, healthy infrastructure, and considerably large middle-class. while north american, european, and a select other set of countries are not lacking in poverty, they do not have it to the immense scale that we were immersed in today. it was, as expected, one of the most memorable days that i will have here.

the other groups had visited this villa miseria before, but as this is our final weekend together it was suggested that we go to barrio asuncion for a good culminating experience. the locals met us and we were quickly positioned to help them make empanadas. i took one of the rollers, some assumed the role of stuffers and others folders, and after an hour we went outside as they put the hundreds we had made into el horno. we returned a half-hour later, stuffed our faces and had a glass of vino tinto along with about a dozen local residents. i had a warm chat with an elder gentleman from tucuman during the empanada gorge, but the best bonding came after the meal.

one of our counterparts, juan, brought out his guitar and serenaded us along with his sons (approximate ages 5 and 9). they sang those songs. you know, those songs that you might hear if you bought that cheesy argentina classics cd at the airport. those songs that the three piece band tries to play for you at the restaurant, so you turn your head and pretend not to listen. but, before those songs make it to the tourist circuit, they are written and played and sung in places like barrio asuncion. they are about life and all that it is lacking, about love and all that it fulfills. maybe it was the food coma from the empanadas, maybe it was the sharp sunlight pouring through that front door, but there was something that told me that we heard those songs the way they were meant to be heard.

a little futbol, a little dancing, a little photograph posing and we said goodbye. but i feel like i left with a reinforcement for the working mantra i always hope to have: help those with the least to get a little bit more. but help them get more while maintaining the same spirit and culture they already have.

suerte for both.