University of Calgary

Brendan's blog

Zen in Bolivia

Submitted by Brendan on Tue, 2008-08-12 09:41.

August 12, 2008

It seems I’ve been a bad blogger for the past little while… so I’ll try to review everything that’s happened since my last entry and update this thing more regularly in the coming weeks and months! Where to even begin?

End of semester in Bolivia

Submitted by Brendan on Thu, 2008-06-12 15:57.

June 12, 2008

Though it’s hard to believe, our first semester is quickly coming to a close. In fact, I’ve finished lecturing my first course in Bolivia: physical hydrogeology! As I write this, our 12 students are busy taking their second module on GIS (Geographical Information Systems) applied to water resources. They’ve also been studying introductory geology, applied hydrology, and research methods. Next semester, we’ll take them out of the classroom and do our first field school at the site I visited in Oruro a few months ago.

Painting the town white

Submitted by Brendan on Wed, 2008-05-28 09:37.

May 28, 2008

Last week my sister, Kate, said farewell to Sucre after a long and great visit! She was in the city for about a month learning Spanish before setting off on a grand backpacking adventure (to Potosí, the Salar de Uyuni, La Paz, Rurrenabaque, Copacabana, Puno, Cusco, Machu Picchu, and Lima – to name a few places!) with her boyfriend, Kevin. Kate’s currently in Cochabamba volunteering with an NGO called “Water for the People” (see www.waterforpeople.org/canada) for a few weeks before she returns to Canada.

Naomi Klein reads in Bolivia

Submitted by Brendan on Wed, 2008-05-07 14:59.

May 7, 2008 

Two weeks ago we were honoured by a visit from Dr. Jaime Gárfias, a professor from the Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México in Toluca, Mexico. Dr. Gárfias was born in Oruro, Bolivia and completed his master´s and doctoral degrees at Université Laval in Canada before heading to Mexico, where he has worked for many years… so he’s very well travelled and has a unique perspective on our project!

Into the altiplano

Submitted by Brendan on Sat, 2008-04-19 12:40.

April 18, 2008

Last weekend I headed for the city of Oruro with our Bolivian project director to meet with a research team from the University of San Andrés in La Paz and representatives of Oruro’s “prefectura” (departmental government). We wanted to get acquainted with a field site used for years by the research team.They have been investigating water quality impacts from small-scale mining operations in two sub-watersheds that drain into Lago Poopó, a large, shallow saline lake.

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