I think most of us who live in Argentina can agree that it's a land of improvisation where repairing broken items is a way of life and the term 'first world problem' isn't considered a problem at all, but a minor irritation.
A case in point is a high end laptop that a customer brought me, where the hinges had failed, causing the problem to exacerbate every time it was opened. I would suggest that in most first world countries, that would be either a throw away, sell for spare parts or replace the broken parts with new ones if the cost wasn't excessive.
The problem here is that spare parts for laptops are hideously expensive (new or used) and more importantly, replacing a high end laptop locally is upwards of $50,000.
Fortunately I work with a small company in San Martin that bends over backwards to help me fix such problems that I can't fix myself. They have the tools and are experts at power supplies and all manner of intricate repairs.
I also know my limits, which is important. Most laptop repairs are tricky if they need to be opened up and I tend to stick to keyboard, memory, screen and hard drive replacement. Anything over and above that and I give the specialists a call.
I suppose what I'm saying is that we repair things here that would probably be tossed away in other countries. Argentina may not be the king of environmental recycling, but in this respect, nothing is ever completely without hope until it's been through numerous repair processes.
Repairing stuff is also very satisfying, especially when you can pass that good news on to the customer.
