diff --git a/GPy/__init__.py b/GPy/__init__.py
index 8af8a4f6..506ad866 100644
--- a/GPy/__init__.py
+++ b/GPy/__init__.py
@@ -43,19 +43,28 @@ def load(file_or_path):
     :param file_name: path/to/file.pickle
     """
     try:
-        str = basestring
-    except:
-        pass
-    try:
-        import cPickle as pickle
-        if isinstance(file_or_path, str): 
-            with open(file_or_path, 'rb') as f:
-                m = pickle.load(f)
+        unicode = unicode
+    except NameError:
+        # 'unicode' is undefined, must be Python 3
+        str = str
+        unicode = str
+        bytes = bytes
+        basestring = (str,bytes)
+    else:
+        # 'unicode' exists, must be Python 2
+        str = str
+        unicode = unicode
+        bytes = str
+        basestring = basestring    try:
+    import cPickle as pickle
+    if isinstance(file_or_path, basestring): 
+        with open(file_or_path, 'rb') as f:
+            m = pickle.load(f)
         else:
             m = pickle.load(file_or_path)
     except:
         import pickle
-        if isinstance(file_or_path, str): 
+        if isinstance(file_or_path, basestring): 
             with open(file_or_path, 'rb') as f:
                 m = pickle.load(f)
         else: