Krichnersville

The shanty towns were one of the topics of discussion that we had with Alcira.  Apparently the Federal government is at odds with the City government in Buenos Aires.  This presents a problem for a federal government, who’s offices are located within the city limits.  To combat the problem the President did some reverse gerrymandering.  Instead of moving the districts of Buenos Aires, which would be too much of a hassle, the President simply provided land and building supplies to some of the incredibly poor from outside the district, thus moving more of his demographic to the district.  Their homes are in a neighborhood located next to the bus station that is very poor and made of large clay bricks (about the size of cinder blocks.)  Unfortunately the buildings are built by their new residents and need not follow building codes.  The result is a neighborhood that not only suffers from poverty and unemployment, but also may, in fact, be death trap.  Passing them, two things immediately strike you.  First is how strangely pretty the buildings are, in their haphazard way, almost like the buildings form Aladdin.  Secondly is how many people are in the street socializing.  Whether or not it is an awful place to live, it seems that it has become a thriving community.  If it wasn’t for the obvious danger, and the likely difficulty of being accepted in such a culture (its isn’t exactly tourist haven) I would love to see the neighborhood. 

~ by aedlund on January 12, 2009.