Bolivia: Santa Cruz Newspaper Joins the Blogosphere · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Even with the rapid expansion of Bolivia’s blogosphere, the country’s newspapers have not been as quick to join in with this form of interactive technologies.  However, the Santa Cruz daily, El Deber recently began its own foray into the world of blogs and now prominently feature three new sites that can be found in a prime location in their online editions.  The blog community site, Blogs de Bolivia [ES] salutes this new initiative.
The three new blogs at the newspaper site are La Araña [ES] (the Spider) written by “Zarco, ” a self-professed fanatic of football and will focus on what happens on and off the field.  The most recent post talks about the “perro hortelano” (dog in the garden) that “doesn’t eat, nor lets anyone else eat,” and relates it to the problem of Bolivian football, where it seems that someone always complains and places obstacles not allowing anyone to succeed.
Calixto el Desafortunado [ES], written by “Calixto Flores del Castillo” follows the fictional/storytelling method of blogging that is popular in Bolivia. One of the posts is a defense against complaints and accusations by various readers:
Sobre que Calixto Flores del Castillo nunca encontrará a la mujer ideal ya que su ideal es la mujer imposible, bella como el  roció de primavera, dulce como la transpiración de los diabéticos y compañera como la sombra de los fugitivos y por lo tanto quedará siendo un ermitaño, añorando a las damiselas  perdidas.
Ja ja, esa es la respuesta ante tal argumento. En la búsqueda del  amor ideal la derrota es inevitable compañeros, pero tal predestinación sólo hace bajar los brazos a los mediocres.
(Claim..) That Calixto Flores del Castillo will never find his ideal woman because his ideal is the impossible, beautiful like springtime dew, sweet like a diabetic’s perspiration, and a companion like a fugitive’s shadow and he’ll remain a hermit, yearning for lost damsels.
(Author's Answer) Ha ha, that is the answer to that argument.  In the search for the ideal love, defeat is inevitable, my brothers, but that predestination will make the mediocres give up.
Finally, El Pais de las Maravillas [ES] is written by José Andrés Sánchez, one of the newspaper’s reporters.  Recently he published an article about a local market el Abasto, and on his blog he featured background information, how he collected information for the story, and his viewpoint to accompany the story.
Tengo sentimientos encontrados con el Abasto. Por un lado lo comparo con una gran torre a punto de colapsar sobre nosotros. Un punto de reunión para la suciedad y la mugre. Veo las frutas, verduras y otros productos en el piso, cubiertos de tierra, manejados de mal manera. Veo un mercado sucio y creo que mi ciudad no se merece ese trato.
Por otro lado, desde el punto de vista estético, el Abasto se muestra como una verdadera joya. Es único en su dimensidad y maravilloso en sus contrariedades. Allí cohabitan métodos de vida comunitarios (sindicatos y gremios organizados) con el alma del libremercado, el comercio, los negocios. Es un motor económico y a la vez un cuadro de la sociedad. El Abasto es un fenómeno.
I have mixed feelings with El Abasto.  One one hand, I compare it with a large tower ready to collapse on top of us.  It's a meeting point for dirtiness and filth.  I see the fruit, vegetables, and other products on the floor covered by dirt, and handled in a poor maner.  I see a dirty market and I think my city does not deserve that treatment.
On the other hand, from an aesthetic point of view, El Abasto looks like a real gem.  It is unique in its dimensions and wonderful in its contradictions.  There many ways of life coexist (unions and organized groups) with the soul of a free market, commerce, and business.  It is an economic motor and a portrait of society.  El Abasto is a phenomenon.
Sánchez also recently published an article about the world of Bolivian blogs titled, “Bolivia ‘bloguea’. Democracia, libertad y expression” (Bolivia blogs: Democracy, Freedom and Expression).  In the story, a handful of Bolivian bloggers were featured: Miguel Esquirol at El Forastero [ES], María Escándalo of No Soy Lesbiana, Mi Novia Si [ES], Daniela Bejarano of Electrokiss [ES], Sebastián Molina of Plan B [ES], and Hugo Miranda of Angel Caido [ES].
The work and coverage of El Deber will certainly bring more attention to the country's blogs and perhaps encourage other forms of media to take part in blogging.