Not a small world after all?

Today in class, i was talking (in Spanish!) with my teacher. We were talking about Japan, and the food and drinks there.
I told her we have something called SAKE.

She didn`t know of sake, had never heard of it. So i told her it was an alcoholic drink made from rice.

Now, most people in North America have at least heard of sake.
And I even take it for granted that people know sake, so this conversation made me think.

In toronto, we pride ourselves in being so multi-cultural, and i think its safe to say that many Canadians, North Americans, people of the "West", and basically people living in the northern hemisphere think the same.

In the North, we always say that the world is getting smaller everyday.
Meaning, with our technology, the speed, density, and quality of our interactions with people from across the globe has improved and increased to a level much higher than ever before, thus making geographical distance less significant.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is what is known as GLOBALIZATION.

But, if you think globalization is affecting every part of the world, I`d say "well yes, but no."

Yes because i am writing this from an internet cafe in Cochabamba, and you are reading this ...where ever you are. Obviously, globalization has reached even the poorest countries.

But no, because eve with internet cafes existing here in Bolivia, I feel there is no sense of "connectedness" to the world for the people here.

When i was in Kosovo, I remember an Albanian youth saying that that they can`t even get a passport. (The reasons are numerous; Kosovo isn`t a country so anything issued in Kosovo is not recognized, the UN that is administering Kosovo isn`t issuing any passports ...etc) So they are basically trapped in their own country, while we travel freely like I am in Bolivia now, and in Kosovo then.

In a sense, the world comes to Bolivia (and Kosovo), but Bolivia can`t go to the world. People here don`t book their plane tickets online and fly out to London or NYC or Sydney or Tokyo.
Its a part of global society, but is hardly keeping up with the pace of the world.
I basically takes what it can get.

Am i exaggerating? I`m not trying to, but a Bolivian person may read this and think, "She doesn`t know what she`s talking about".

I realize that I am here with my own biases and preconceived ideas. Fully acknowledging that, I would agree with those scholars who argue that the gap between the north and south is deepening.

The north is hyper-modernizing while the south is being left behind.
The world isn`t so small afterall.
In fact, with the gap between the north and south widening, the world is actually getting bigger....???