Buenos Aires and Montevideo

By Daniel

We did not do too much here. We rested in order to recharge our batteries after the rather strenuous previous travels and apart from visiting the usual suspects (Recoleta, Palermo, La Boca, San Telmo, Montevideos) we just hung out with friends – props to James, Dom and the bunch, Agustin, Clemente and Ömer, Enes and Muhammad aka los Turkos.  

There is one thing that struck me though. I had been here in 2008 volunteering for the Fundacion Internacional Raoul Wallenberg and at that time either did not realize it or, more likely, it has drastically changed: the cost of living is immense - and thus we left after just three days. Both cities, I’d say, are more expensive than Berlin and given the significantly lower incomes in Latin America it struck me as tremendously unfair. There was this moment when I stood in front of a wall of yogurts in a supermarket (and the yogurt with apple pie aroma that I fancied was at 38 pesos which is more than two Euros) and I just wanted to cry. Also think of the many cows that are around Argentina! Buy a big bottle of beer in a bar and you are likely to pay around six Euros, often far more than that.

It is moments like these when you realize that the world is an unequal and unfair place (something that will strike you in Africa even more). Living in Germany is a huge privilege and life in Germany is incredibly good – a fact that we do not really appreciate that often. And when cohorts of so-called ‚angry citizens‘ paint a picture of a failing Germany and politicians cater to these fears to promote an even more exclusionist and nationalist agenda they either lack perspective or are purposely playing with fire for the sake of personal power.