Actually we flew from Bariloche to BA - and on the way into BA I noticed some high rise building that looked like that housed very poor people. I also noticed that the newly arrived poor basically put mattresses under bridges - that was home.
I wanted to go to Mendoza but heard that it’s dangerous to make that drive.
But just being sort of a high end tourist we didn’t see much obviously wrong.
I really loved it there. Too bad that below the surface there is so much wrong.
In 1998 and 1999, I made several trips to Argentina when the company I worked for was building two chemical plants in Bahia Blanca. I was managing all of the import/export issues and the logistics of getting the equipment and materials required to build these plants into the country.
I always had to spend a few days in BA meeting with our customs brokers and people at our offices there. I loved the place, but this was when the peso was still pegged to the dollar. Avenieda Florida was lively and cheerful, the tango places were very busy and every restaurant we went to seemed to be doing brisk business. I saw a few of the poverty-stricken there, but this was before things collapsed.
I hate to think of Argentina losing its middle class.
I hate even more to think that such a thing could happen to my own country.