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.  

There are many people who inspire us in this journey called life. To me, such are usually either people who do what they love and love what they do, or people who so passionately help others, that they nearly forget themselves while at it. This woman is a combination of both! Anna Lev dances salsa, and while at it, does free YouTube tutorials to help us all with this art even at home.

CauCaribe is a music group from Popayán, District of Cauca, Colombia. As the name itself reveals, the group plays mostly traditional Colombian rhythms from Cauca and the Caribbean, such as different variations merengue and cumbia. The lyrics of the non-instrumental folkloric songs tell about the history of Colombia.

Marcel Jaworski (31) is a Polish-Venezuelan cinematographer, photographer and Marcelino – a professional juggler. I travelled with Marcel on the coast of Ecuador for one week and whilst at it, learned the fundamentals of his profession as a street light juggler. On top of observing his vivid and short performances on the streets, I interviewed him on what is needed for earning a living on the streets.

There are not many all-female bands in hardcore punk in general, and in Latin America even less. In fact, at the moment there is only one: ¡Tomar Control! These four ladies – July, Carmen, Malena and Luchita – have been playing together since 2014 and have since then released one album. I went to their band rehearsal on a Friday night to listen to them play and to interview their singer on how it all began.

I shot this video three years ago, and today I suddenly thought about this man and his incredible skill of making animals and roses out of carrots and beetroots (maybe because I’m suffering from food poisoning in Peru and am dreaming about anything fresh!). I was mesmerized then, and still am now. The most troubling part of it all is that all this vegetable artist would receive for his work was donations — and sometimes these donations were worth no more than 20 cents. 

Upon my stay in Asunción more than six months ago, I had the great honor to interview one of the first street artists of Paraguay, Oz Montanía. Now, in La Paz, I’ve had the immense honor to encounter and interview one of the very first and still rare female street artists of Bolivia: Norka aka Knorke Leaf. I met her as she was putting up an exhibition at the Alliance Française.