Imagine you saw your future house in a dream. Not only that – imagine you saw your future house in a dream and decided to build it. This is exactly what Maria Ponce, an elderly lady living near Usulután, El Salvador, did in 2005.

Many of you may already know Zoluart — the wonderful woman behind the dudes in the header of my blog. Karolina Zolubak is my soul sister and a lady who has made her dreams become reality. In one year, she has gone from doing her first drawing into being a professional illustrator. In this guest post, Karolina gives her recount on a year full of personal achievements and changes.  

Accredited writing gigs don’t always go as planned. Not because an event in itself wasn’t perfect, but because right on that day all other conditions fail you big time. This happened to me at River Sounds music festival in Asunción, Paraguay. Therefore, although I was supposed to write an article about the attendees of the event and about the experience of a foreigner at an asunceno festival, I decided to try and go gonzo and pretend I’m Hunter S. Thompson just for a little while.

In February 2017, I was asked to participate in the Paraguayan TV show Mandiorama. Now, six months after the episode Viajeros (Travellers) came out, I finally got to see it myself! And just in case you all also want to see what me and fellow traveller, Favio Patiño were asked by Patrick Altamirano, here you go with our spectacular (!) TV appearance (in Spanish).

When I first visited Motel Kiss Me in Cali, it was for an appointment with Humberto Villegas — owner of Latin America’s biggest theme motel. Señor Villegas gave me a warm welcome in his penthouse apartment, on top of his own motel, with gel in his hair and his bright white smile shining like a lighthouse for lost sailors. Upon my second visit, however, I had a chance to speak to the workers of the motel and discovered a whole new world behind the colorful façade.

Me and my friend, Blue Fox, have started a new YouTube series! It’s called Una Vuelta Por El Barrio (A Stroll Around the Block) — a small journey through Blue Fox’s home hoods, the neighborhood of San Antonio, Cali, Colombia. We’ll be visiting the many intriguing places this neighborhood has to offer, and interviewing the people for whom San Antonio is home.

Cali is situated in the Valley of Cauca (Valle del Cauca) and thus surrounded by lush, green mountains wherever you look. The ones closest to the city are the Farallones – a mountain range approximately an hour’s ride away from the city center of Cali. And that’s where you can quite effortlessly go to when you want to spend a weekend out, hiking and camping.

Germany room. A svastika on the wall and a Schumacher relief in the ceiling. Cuba room with a soft pillow on Fidel Castro’s lap. The “Clinic” for multiple couples. A never ending chess game between Osama Bin Laden and George W. Bush in the USA room – obviously without towers. Welcome to Kiss me – Latin America’s biggest theme motel!