I'm in Bolivia!

Hey you all so I finally made it down to Bolivia. I guess I really never explained why I made the trip down to South America and some of you probably didn’t even know I was down here to begin with. Well I was offered a job to work for an alumn managing some stores he owns in Bolivia. I figured this was a once in a lifetime opportunity so I accepted. The job in itself is only ok. I work in a bookstore here in La Paz. We have a decent selection of used books that we sell at reasonable prices and we also sell different camping and hiking supplies like backpacks, tents, sleeping bags, pretty much anything you would need to travel or hike. To be honest it almost feels like I’m hustling out on the streets since I’m constantly bargaining for prices with our distributors and trying to get people to buy from us. Our sales have also dropped in the last few months since other stores that sell the same stuff have opened up. La Paz is also not the most attractive city, so I was amazed to see that the majority of our clients are tourist. From far away the city looks really cool since it’s surrounded by mountains, but once you get close it’s pretty dirty and poorly developed. Other parts of Bolivia are supposed to be really pretty so I may travel out some once I get my first paycheck.

I’m staying in an apartment that my boss has rented out for us and has subsidized part of the cost. My roommate is a Carleton grad from ‘09 who works with me and has been in South America for a while. He is pretty familiar with the city and the store so he has pretty much been showing me around until I get the hang of everything. We also went out with a group of his friends last weekend and I proceeded to get really drunk. To make a long story short altitude makes you get drunk faster and I blacked out got lost in La Paz, lost my phone, that I had just bought a few days ago, and got home at nine in the morning to find out that my boss had spent most of the morning trying to find me to help him get stuff from the market, so much for first impressions.

I plan on staying here in South America for a few months unless I get offered another job but I’m not holding my breath on that. I’ll most likely end up returning in May and start applying for grad schools and looking for jobs. This means I’ll miss the alumni meet, which kinda blows, but I might pass by Carleton in the spring. Also what is the deal with the Brocation? I really don’t mind if you guys plan it while I’m out here but lets get the ball rolling. Alright well I hope all is well in the states have fun at the alumni meet and will keep everyone posted on my trip.