title: Error reading shapefile with Geopandas in Python
body: <p>I am trying to read a shapefile using geopandas, for which I used <code>gp.read_file</code></p>
  
  <pre><code>import geopandas as gp
  fl="M:/rathore/vic_5km/L2_data/L2_data/DAMSELFISH_distributions.shp"
  data=gp.read_file(fl)
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I am getting the following error:
  <code>TypeError: invalid path: UnparsedPath(path='M:/rathore/vic_5km/L2_data/L2_data/DAMSELFISH_distributions.shp')</code></p>
  
  <p>The traceback to the problem is:</p>
  
  <pre><code>----&gt; 1 data=gp.read_file(fl)
  
  c:\python27\lib\site-packages\geopandas\io\file.pyc in read_file(filename, bbox, **kwargs)
       75 
       76     with fiona_env():
  ---&gt; 77         with reader(path_or_bytes, **kwargs) as features:
       78 
       79             # In a future Fiona release the crs attribute of features will
  
  c:\python27\lib\site-packages\fiona\fiona\env.pyc in wrapper(*args, **kwargs)
      395     def wrapper(*args, **kwargs):
      396         if local._env:
  --&gt; 397             return f(*args, **kwargs)
      398         else:
      399             if isinstance(args[0], str):
  
  c:\python27\lib\site-packages\fiona\__init__.pyc in open(fp, mode, driver, schema, crs, encoding, layer, vfs, enabled_drivers, crs_wkt, **kwargs)
      255         if mode in ('a', 'r'):
      256             c = Collection(path, mode, driver=driver, encoding=encoding,
  --&gt; 257                            layer=layer, enabled_drivers=enabled_drivers, **kwargs)
      258         elif mode == 'w':
      259             if schema:
  
  c:\python27\lib\site-packages\fiona\fiona\collection.pyc in __init__(self, path, mode, driver, schema, crs, encoding, layer, vsi, archive, enabled_drivers, crs_wkt, ignore_fields, ignore_geometry, **kwargs)
       54 
       55         if not isinstance(path, (string_types, Path)):
  ---&gt; 56             raise TypeError("invalid path: %r" % path)
       57         if not isinstance(mode, string_types) or mode not in ('r', 'w', 'a'):
       58             raise TypeError("invalid mode: %r" % mode)
  
  TypeError: invalid path: UnparsedPath(path='M:/rathore/vic_5km/L2_data/L2_data/DAMSELFISH_distributions.shp')
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>There is some problem with fiona I guess but I do not have much idea about.
  I have installed <code>fiona 1.8.6</code> and <code>geopandas 0.5.0</code> version installed in my system. I am using python 2.7</p>