Finally, my first day at work arrived.................

Finally, my first day at work arrived. I will be working at the Chamber of Commerce Building located in downtown La Paz.

Downtown is the center of commerce, government and finance of the city (or the department as people called it here), it is an incredibly busy and crowded place, especially during rush hours. The vibes of the environment push you to move fast and be alert of people and cars constantly moving around you.  Although I work on the eight floor, it is very noticeable all the noise that comes from the street. It is a habit for some drivers to use the horn all the time, so the noise goes everywhere all day long. At times, it appears to be a symphony of noise; it is funny that so far I am the only one in the office who notices it, the rest are very used to it.So far, my co-workers have been very friendly and warm; from the first day, they have given me their personal phone numbers and cell phones numbers advising me to call them anytime if needed. They usually called “mamitas” (mommy) to women with whom they are very close; also I have heard how they refer to among men as “dear brother” as a friendly hello .

Here is very common to kiss in one cheek as a greeting, and as goodbye. Most people usually use diminutives to refer to things, such as when it is little cold (friito) or little warm (calorcito), and sometimes they refer to me as Fabiolita.

As part of the culture, there is a strong vertical management; the decision making is highly concentrated at the top levels of the organization. Employees should ask for approval to proceed with a decision, and the manner that they approach the boss is very different to the rest. The boss is referred as “Don X”; he is a much respected individual. The way that people talk to him, even people around the same age, should be in a high distance manner, people should refer to him as “Usted”, the respected version of “You” in Spanish.

The Office Boys, besides their regular activities, part of their job is to serve some bread and tea around 5:30 p.m. It is a habit for everybody to drink coca tea or mate as they called it. I was hesitant at the beginning to ask them to bring me a cup of tea. However, from the first days in the morning they ask me if I like to be served some. They did not mean that they would prepare for themselves and share it with me, but to completely prepare it for me and bring it to my desk. At the beginning, I was not feeling comfortable with them doing that, but the second time that I liked a cup of tea, I decided to go to the kitchen and prepare it for myself. I looked at one of them, and he immediately stood up and told me, No.. I will bring it for you to your desk. I felt that by bringing the tea myself, I am taking over his job, so I let him do that. Nevertheless, I still feel a bit shy to ask him for tea every time I want (considering I like to drink lots of tea).

People are dressed up very formal, from the Director to the Office Boys, all of them have to wear formal suit everyday. Women also dress up very formal, most of them wear lots of make up, perfume and high heel shoes. You can completely see the contrast with the street vendors, who are most of them from indigenous background, wearing their traditional clothes. I should try to dress up as formal as possible, even though I like to do it, I still not very used to it..

Another adjustment is the working hours. From Monday to Friday, I have to work from 9 am-12 and 2-7pm. Usually in Bolivia, most places work 8 hours a day with two hours break for lunch. People value going home to have lunch with their families, or to take some time to gather with friends or coworkers. There is a wide range of restaurants in downtown, from street food to very fancy restaurants. You can eat lunch (almuerzo in Spanish) as cheap as 12 Bolivianos (around 2 dollars) up to 50 Bolivianos. Almuerzo or lunch involves a type of soup, and something called second or segundo in Spanish, that is the main dish, and a small dessert.

For now, I am trying to make the best of these two hours, and discover the city a bit more. There is still a lot to discover…..


'- This video is just a sample of the view form the office.






If you like see the pictures more pics of La Paz, click below. Feel free to leave comments.

Transportation in La Paz...............

There is a wide range of transportation types in the city of La Paz. At first, it would be challenging for a new comer to quite grasp the differences among all of them. Most of the transportation (or mobility as it is called here – mobilidad-) is very affordable compared to other places. This is part of the reason there is a lot of diversity among the passengers; from the Executive who works in downtown and finds it more convenient to take a public transportation than taking his own car, to the street vendors carrying their merchandise with them on the Bus.

From the cheapest type, 1 Boliviano (15 cents CAD) for a bus fare, to a maximum of 50 to 60 Bolivianos (7.5-8 dollars CAD) to go to the airport, overall public transportation it is really accessible to everybody.

The Busses are pretty old style but nice looking; it makes you travel back in time. If you need to catch the bus, you only need to find out the avenue or street it passes through, as it is completely random the place it stops. Most of the time, there is no such a thing as a Stop Sign for the bus; then, you basically have to make stop signal anywhere the drive can see you, and get on the bus as fast as you can. (Sometimes the driver just slows down, and expects people to get on-off the bus).


In the same vein, there is no predetermined scheduled for the busses, sometimes you can see two busses passing at the same time, some others you have to wait a bit longer. The Bus here is not very convenient for moms or elder people, the steps to get in are very high, as well there is not Stop bottom or string to pull, you have to get closer to the door when it is time to get off, and constantly tell the driver aloud that you want to get off (as sometime he is distracted or just keeps going).


The good news, is that all public transportation usually comes very often people don´t need to worry if they missed the bus or Trufi, as most likely another one would come soon.



Another type of public transportation is called Minibuses. It is a small van that fits a maximum of 10-12 passengers. The distinctive part of the Minibuses is that beside the driver, there is another person announcing their route through the window. His-her job is basically open the front window, and with very loud voice inform everybody standing in street, the places where the Van is going next. I think that it should be a tough job to do that all day, especially in cases when the Van is full and that person should be half-sitting-half-standing for giving a seat to the new passenger.


Another type of transportation is called TRUFI (Fix Route Transportation; Transporte de Ruta Fija). These cars could be easily confused with Taxis; they are almost the same type; Japanese brands, on average 10 or more-year-old cars. Some of them have a sign at the top that says TRUFI; you just have to pay attention to the list of routes displayed on their windshield. There is a fix fee for taking a Trufi, it is 2 to 2.5 bolivianos per ride. Usually, these cars can comfortably fit a maximum of four people (beside the driver). One day, I took one Trufi, and it was full in my mind… I was sitting beside the driver, and then suddenly it stopped. The driver asked me to move a bit closer to him so another passenger could get in; it was my first experience with this situation. Fron now on, I know it is better to sit on the back; otherwise, you might get too tight with the driver and the neighbor passenger.

Up to recently, I found out that there are two types of Taxis: radio taxis and regular taxis. The radio taxis have a sign at the top with the name of the company and phone numbers. This type is the safest way of transportation, you can call a number, and they send somebody to pick you up. It might cost around 10-20 bolivianos the fare, depending on the route. The other type of taxis have no sign at the top of the car, only on their windshield. The driver might stop for another person in case they go to somewhere close to the destination of the first passenger.


There are very few Taxis or Trufis with seatbelts; I believe there is no fine for not using the seat belt, neither for the driver nor for the passengers.

At first I was taking Taxis most of the time, but at the end of the week I noticed that it is far cheaper and sometimes better to take other types of transportation. Besides, I was spending too much on my comfort and not immersing myself in the local life styles. It was a habit to have as reference the prices in Canada, so I was thinking it was cheap anyways to take taxis. By now, I have acclimatized myself to the local prices, and feel that I have to experience all kinds of normal Bolivian type of life, taking all the routes and types of transportation.










Ultimately, the distances around downtown and surrounding areas are not long; it is easier and sometimes faster to walk (in cases when a protest is happening). The only factor to consider is that La Paz, as a mountain city, has lot of up and down hills so it may get tough sometimes to walk around it (good exercise though). This might also be a good type of transportation, besides the exercise, I can get more familiar with the streets and neighbourhoods around the city....

First weeks in La Paz....

Well, it is two weeks already from the day I arrived to La Paz, Bolivia. I will be working for six months as a Cooperant (Organizational Development and Resource Development Advisor) with a brand new project from CUSO in partnership with FEPLP (Federation of Local Entrepreneurs from La Paz).

Even though La Paz is one of the biggest cities in Bolivia, it is not the official Capital. Bolivia is one of the few countries that has two capitals: La Paz (Administrative-Governmental Capital), and Sucre (Official Capital).

As you can appreciate from the picture, La Paz has not that many trees. The reason is that the city has one of the highest altitudes in the world, with varying elevation from 3,000 to 4,000 meters; therefore, not much oxygen is available in the air. Some people suffer from altitude sickness (called Sorojchi); however, it takes a couple of days for humans to adjust.

During this week, I have been experiencing the so-called “honey-moon”; when everything is a discovery, and almost all things are nice and relatively new. This week CUSO-Bolivia allows Cooperants to settle down; find a place to live, get adjusted to the altitude, food, environment, among many other changes.

At the moment, I feel a huge sense of privilege and responsibility for this experience; not only because of my passion and empathy towards Latin culture, but also to participate a part of a slight contribution in an international development project that may result in a positive impact in the city.

As Mexican, having lived in Canada for five years, it is amazing to be back in a Latin country, where I can connect with people with similar identities than mine, and camouflage myself as a local member of the community.

Through this blog, I would like to share my experiences living in La Paz, as well as to describe the development of my project. Bolivia, as one of the least economically developed and “isolated” countries in Latin America, it suffers from a great deal of stereotypes. Finally, I hope to provide a first-hand perspective of how things are around here, so whoever has the time to read it, knows a bit more than a single story about this place.

Please click the link below, it has some of the pics taken during these weeks.

Bolivia 2

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