International Blog Day

Just heard about this yesterday, but of course, it's right up the alley of Mexico-in-English!

So today I'm going to point you towards five English-language blogs from other countries where Spanish is the spoken language. There is so much going on in the Latin world, sometimes it seems a shame to just focus on Mexico (it's a passing regret... it doesn't last long). But today's the day to expand and explore beyond the boundaries of our beloved (and adopted, in my case) patria!

First, from Buenos Aires, a blog called Goodairs. This is an exceedingly hip blog from a city of similar hipness. Written by two freelance writers, the blog is well-written and full of links and references. You can easily waste (did I say that?)... I mean, *spend* an hour or two flitting through their posts and following the links where they lead. Fascinating, scintillating, award-winning... definitely worth a look.

Second, Latino Pundit. Here's a blog written by someone watching and reporting on how the media reports on Latino issues. Rather than being about a country that speaks Spanish, I think of this blog as being about the "country-within-a-country" of all the Spanish-speaking and Spanish-identified Latinos within the US. It's a good blog to check in with now and then.

Here's a tasty blog from Panama: Cooking Diva. This woman, Melissa de Leon, is originally from Panama. She is full of energy...my goodness! Her blog is chock full of recipes, reports of events in Panama and even videos! Just writing her blog seems to me like it would be a full-time job, but on top of that she offers a Pre-prepared Dinners of the Week program in Panama, a Corporate Culinary team building program, gives cooking classes and does food product development. I'm impressed. Again, her blog presents a maze of information that any foodie will enjoying getting lost in.

Tim's El Salvador Blog was originally started to inform fellow churches about the mission in El Salvador that they are sponsoring. But it's really not about that. It's about El Salvador, the politics and goings on there. He's been blogging since 2004, so it's a nice deep blog if you are interested in this beautiful little country.

And last, but most certainly not least, Beautiful Horizons. This blog is written by a New Yorker in love with his Brazilian wife. As such, he has traveled to many parts of Latin America and he carefully watches the media for Latin American issues. This blog is his personal take on all of it, and so, while it may not be professionally journalistic, who cares? Its personal, passionate, interesting and informative. It includes photos from different places that he has visited (the photo at the beginning of this post is from this blog and was taken in Rio de Janeiro). Another great blog to spend an evening with, and to check in with again and again in the future.

I hope you enjoy these blogs as much as I've enjoyed discovering them!