Monday started our first work-week in La Paz. The Internet connection in good, the food is great, and the January weather is amazing. We do a lot of going out and about, trying our poor Spanish on the very friendly people of this fine town. At the purificado (place to refill water bottles) I wanted to purchase a second bottle and it took a lot of pantomiming to confirm. At one point the guy looked at Axel and said, "Help me out here." Young people in La Paz are very much bilingual.
At lunchtime Monday I took Axel to enroll in a local school: Instituto Bicultural Juan de Ugarte. He started on Tuesday and reports that he is very happy there. The whole upstairs is devoted to English and students begin learning it at a young age. By fifth grade they all speak English fairly well.
Tonight, when I asked him about school, Axel smiled and blushed, saying that the girls in his class are teaching him Spanish words then quizzing him throughout the day.
Axel and I in the office of the school waiting to enroll.
He dabs while balancing a water bottle on his head to pass the time. And yes, he did flip the water bottle- landing it five times in a row as a matter of fact.
Later that day Axel got a haircut and then acquired his school uniform.
Polo, sporty pants, sporty jacket, and white shoes. They even have uniform socks with a little blue and red stripe.
If you think this is cute you should see the kindergartners.
Jon has been riding his bike all over Baja Sur. He says that many people accidentally leave their Strava app running after they get back in their cars here. He laments that this is making it hard to win KOMs. If that was all Greek to you- ask a cyclist to translate. I like this shot because he captured four burros in the background. Donkeys!
Axel and I have bikes now, too. We ride two kilometros along La Malecon to and from school and sometimes we stop off for ice cream on the way home. Best school commute ever.
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