A friend who I met here told me the best way to describe Bolivia is that everything that is simple at home becomes impossible, and everything impossible at home becomes simple. Eg. morning latte very difficult to find a decent one, but weekend soaking in hot springs cheap and easy. Something I've found challenging since living in downtown Toronto is that restaurants have very limited opening hours, and if they aren't open they all but disappear behind corrugated metal gates and thus can be difficult to locate! But...when you do finally find them they rock! I had lunch for 10 Bs. [View Full Entry]

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So I'm a horrible blogger and I apologize. To recap the last 2 weeks or so, I've accomplished the 1st part of the 1st step of my mandate (a database), settled into my new apartment, and went to Copacabana which resulted in 2 days spent in a Bolivian hospital due to bad trout. For those of you who don't know this yet, I'm here as part of my IDS co-op degree for the next 10 months working on a maternal and infant health project. My stage is part of the Uniterra program, a joint venture between the Center for International Studies [View Full Entry]

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Hi all! So just a little note to say that my trip here was exceedingly uneventful! All is well minus a slight headache from the altitude and a burn on my thumb from boiling hot coffee in Miami (Note to Pizza Hut Express: just because it says caution hot on the cup doesn´t mean you should set the machine to over 100 deg. C). Getting through customs was a breeze, isn´t it great to be Canadian? My driver was awesome, he was a useful source of quick entry info and understood my spanish ;) My hotel is a cute inn with [View Full Entry]

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Today I finally packed my bags and confirmed my flight itinerary, I'm ready to go...except the official contract still has to be signed thursday! It's so hard to think of everything you could need for a whole year! Trying not to overpack since then I'll be stuck lugging it all around for nothing. It's so exciting for this to finally be a reality! 3 years in the making! I can't wait to settle in and get to work on the project. I'll be systematizing the "Aguayo para un parto sin riesgos" project that aims to help women access pre-during and post-natal [View Full Entry]

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