What a week...

Ok...so I am already running behind in updating this thing. Not a good start. In my defence my access to internet has been very limited and also I've starting getting pretty sick. I am realizing now that it is going to be very difficult to keep up with emails and stay in touch but Ill be doing my best.

So my first week in Bolivia has come and lots has happened. Here is a brief breakdown of this past week.

Kickin it in La Paz/El Alto

I spent most of tuesday in the CUSO office in La Paz where I had a mini-orientation. I then went out and enjoyed my final night in La Paz.

Me in La Paz.

On Wednesday morning I got a sweet tour of La Paz and El Alto by Don Guillermo, taxi driver extraordinaire. He has been driving the very unforgiving roads of La Paz with great skill for the past 30 years. He has become the official taxi driver for the CUSO office. For a couple hours I got the honour to tour around checking out the spots. Here is a picture of me and Don Guillermo.

Me in El Alto. Behind me and down, very very down, is La Paz.

In the afternoon I flew out to Cochabamba. I was meet by the Cooper family, my hosts and fellow CUSO cooperants, who have been extremely helpful here.

Coca and Chica in the Chapare

Thursday was a holiday and most people took friday off so it was a nice long weekend. The Coopers, some more fellow CUSOers, their friends, and myself bussed off to the Chapare region and stayed there until Sunday. The Chapare, in the amazon, is one of Bolivia's major coca growing regions. Good times were had white water rafting, hiking in the jungle, and just relaxing.

As a whole, this past week has been sweet. Thinking back it has been amazing seeing the diversity that is Bolivia. Culturally, economically, political, as seen on graffitied walls, and most evidently geographically. I went from the cold, dry, gray, high altitude cities of La Paz and El Alto to the warm, green, mid-altitude valley in Cochabamba to the super hot, humid amazon. At the same time, though, the change of one extreme environment to the other in such a short time has been a little physically taxing. Now that my stomach is acting up, physically I am hurting a bit but other than that all is good in Cocha!

Day One in Bolivia!

After some 20 hours of airports and planes, I finally made it safe and sound to the beautiful city of La Paz. At about 5 am this morning, I landed at El Alto airport, which at some 4000 m above sea level, is the highest international airport in the world. When the plane was landing, it kind of felt like the plane was ascending more than it was descending. It was kind of sketchy. Other than that things went extremely smoothly. Luggage, customs, immigration, all without any problems.

Leaving the airport, I got to briefly drive through El Alto, the city where I am hoping to conduct most of my research. El Alto has become one of Bolivia's poorest and fastest growing cities. It has also become an epicentre of political and social mobilization in Bolivia. There has been a lot of very interesting stuff taking place in recent year.

From El Alto, I got a lift down to La Paz, about 500 m bellow. The sun was rising over the surrounding mountains just was we were driving down. The view was pretty amazing! Currently I am staying in the apartment of a fellow CUSO cooperant living in La Paz.

One of my major fears was that I would get altitude sickness. I've gotten it before and it sucks. But so far so good. Anything remotely physical in nature leaves me a little short of breath but other than looking completely out of shape I am feeling pretty good. I been told to take it easy these next couple days.

I'll be in La Paz until Wednesday after which I will make the final leg of my journey to Cochabamba!

Cochabamba, Bolivia!

Alright so here it is….my blog! I was hoping to have this up sooner but these past couple weeks have been pretty crazy. This sunday I will be flying out to Bolivia where I will be living and working for the next 10 or so months. Just to make sure everyone is in the loop, here is a breakdown of what I will be doing on my placement.

I will be working as part of the Martadero Project which “seeks to promote socio-cultural, economic and productive development, in particular among the poorest sectors, through the arts as an essential component in integral participatory human development”

My official job title is ‘Youth Employment Promoter and Assistant Project Manager’. This consists of four major roles. The first is to support in the planning of the project, facilitating existing activities. The second is to design activities and strategies that seek the economic and social inclusion of youth. The third is to develop activities, in collaboration with the project team, that promote the inclusion of youth and children. Finally, the fourth is to support the development and management of new funding proposals for the project.

In addition to the above, a quarter of my time will be spent doing research for my thesis that I will have to write when I get back. More on that later.

To be completely honest, this whole blogging thing is pretty foreign to me. It will probably take some time for me to get used to but I think it will be a good way to keep in touch and let you all know what I am up to.

Just to end off, I wanted to give a special shout out to all the fellow IDSers who will be heading out/have left for their placement. Take care, keep in touch, and best of luck!