Life, Liberty, Egality?

There are many things in life that are precious to me, but if I had to draw up a list I know my friends, family and freedom would definitly be in the top 5.

Freedom for me is all about choice. For example when the weather was bad in Cordoba I had the freedom to jump on the next bus North where the weather was better. And when I turned up at the port in Buenos Aires only to find there were no economy class seats left on the next boat I was able to upgrade to first class rather than wait. I was able do both of these things because i'm affulent enough to be able to afford to choose. Hundreds of thousands however are not so lucky.

After the ecomony crashed here in 2001 it was the middle-class Argentinians who were hit the hardest. Whilst the rich had their property investments and US dollar savings the middle-class saw their savings become worthless overnight, and their salaries could no longer support the bare essentials needed to support their day to day life. The economy here is improving, but its unlikely the middle-class of today will see their standards of living improving in the near future.

Having left Cordoba 3 days earlier than I planned thanks to El Nino I decided to cross over in Uruguay for a while in order to check out the scene over there.
The 24 hour bus journey from Iguaza Falls down to BA, coupled with the 1-hour boat trip and 2.5 hour bus transfer into the capital,Montevideo, left me shattered so on my first day in town I took it easy, wandering about, enjoying the curious mix of architecture and checking out the old port. Although Uruguay's economy did not crash it too took a blow back in 2001 as much of the Southern coastline of the country is the weekend playground of Buenos Aires', and so when people couldn't afford to play any longer hard times befell the Uruguaians. You can see this clearly in Montevideo where areas that were once middle-class housing are now no more than slums and you dont have to look too far to find poverty.

In the hostel the night before i'd met a Swiss girl, Isabelle, and as i'd already explored the port the day before I agreed to go back there with her and show her the great cafes and galleries i'd found. The next morning a young American girl, Veronika, in our dorm asked if she could join us. OK, we said, and arranged a rendez-vous in town as we all had various chores to attend to.
At the designated time Isabelle and I showed up wearing standard backpacker gear (trousers, t-shirts, sneakers, daypacks) 15 mins later comes Veronika in short shorts, heels and swinging a handbag, apologising for her delay but she'd had a problem with the ATM and had by error withdrawn USD300 rather than 300 pesos (USD30). Right from that moment on I wanted to be shot of her.

We walked down through the city centre and out along the seafront , enjoying the sunshine and watching all the old guys line fishing off the harbour wall.
Its about midday now and its hot and as Veronika doesn't have either sunglasses or a hat shes suffering and so rather reluctantly we agree to cross over the 4 lane road and walk in the shadow of the container port. I didn't like this one bit and I could see Isabelle was just as uncomfortable. We had just both said as much when a guy with a broken bottle jumps out from between 2 containers and grabs the Veronika's handbag.
Isabelle runs out into the road (away from the guy and to stop a car). I grab the arm hes holding the bottle with so that he cannot harm Veronika and meantime Veronika screams and hands him her bag. I've still got hold of his arm and somehow manage to get a hand on the bag. He tried to run off so I set off with him and as a couple of cars had stopped I guess he took fright and let go, disappearing between 2 containers, leaving me holding the bag.
The whole thing took no more than 15 seconds and 15 seconds after that we'd pegged it back to the other side of the road, into the sunshine and safety. Both Isabelle and I were furious at Veronika. What the fuck did she think she was doing a) dressed like that, b) carrying a handbag and c) begging us to walk on the dark side of the road as she had neither hat or glasses. We were both also furious at ourselves. We should have ditched her the moment we saw her, or at least refused to have crossed the road. We'd all escaped though, unharmed and nothing was lost so I put that down to a positive experience rather than a negative one.

Isabelle and I dropped Veronika back at the hostel (she was a miserable shaking wreck by now) and continued our day at the port as planned both wondering just how someone like Veronika manages to get as far as Montevideo in the first place, and just how long it'll be before her luck really does run out (Darwin theory anyone?).

For that guy though Veronika's bag was possibly his chance at freedom. It's contents may have been enough for him to pay his rent, feed his family, buy a bus ticket somewhere to find work or maybe even simply just to have bought drugs enough for him to have escaped from poverty, if only mentally. Thats the thing about liberty, it comes with a large price tag and its only those of us with money that can afford choice, freedom. Its something i'm reminded of constantly on my travels and I think being reminded helps me appreciate just how lucky I am. I wish more people could get to see both sides of the picture and appreciate just how fortunate they are too.

xxx