Welcome to La Paz

I´m in Bolivia. Yay! No chickenning out and running off the plan yelling ¨Let me out of here"! So what does La Paz look like? Well it looks like a city, with lots of streets that twist and turn with small vehicles that wind their way around the buildings. The city pours over the cliff from El Alto and down into the valley. The streets are like San Fransicso on steroids and walking is almost impossible betweent he cobblestones and lack of oxygen. You can get around by what could be considered public transit but that´s a completely different story that I will leave for my next entry. The buildings themselves are shorter than I´m used to. There aren´t any of what we would call sky scrapers. The highest buildings are probably only about 20 stories high. They all seem to be made of cement or brick and have an orange or yellow hugh to them. From a distance nothing shines and from close up the character is even stronger. At night El Alto and La Paz look like an eruption of lights flowing down from the Alto Plano. It´s amazing to see from a plane. First impression, culture shock 101. Second impression, soak it up because when I get back home I´ll probably miss it.

Goodby Hello

It's finally here! I'm off. Canada is nice but Bolivia, well, we'll see. I have to say the last few days have been a bit of a struggle to keep the anxieties and exitement at a sociable level. Before heading out on something like this I imagine that everyone feels a bit nervous about what will happen, what the people they will be living and working with will be like and if they will be able to deal with the stress. Fortunately I have a couple of plane rides to get over the hyperactivity and make myself mentally presentable to my new colleagues. So goodbye Canada and hello Bolivia.

Impressions of Montreal

Coming from the Vancouver, Fraser Valley area of British Columbia I can't help but compare everything to what I know: a rainy, fresh atmosphere that others call laid back but I feel is just the right pace. Montreal has the ambience of a great city; vibrant and alive. The contrast in architecture is obvious compared to the west coast. Montreal is artistic; an eclectic mix of music, visual artists, hustlers and business people combined with poutine and brick buildings.

The smell is very different from the west coast spring. It smells like being in the middle of a city. There is no sea breeze to carry the cherry blossoms around but there is plenty of green with the little parks hidden in the different quartiers. I haven't seen a large mall yet but I'm sure they exist. The shopping is streets of small businesses with well known franchises squeezed in between. Everything is covered with a layer of winter that hasn't been washed away by spring rain yet. Everything gets a thorough rinse down about once an hour back home. The city feels lived in; its kind of nice to be living in it, even if it's only temporary.

Oh and training is great too.