Americas: Celebrating BlogDay · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

August 31 marks the celebration of BlogDay around the world. According to the site the event was created so that blogs from other parts of the world can be discovered by others:
On that day Bloggers will recommend other blogs to their blog visitors. With the goal in mind, on this day every blogger will post a recommendation of 5 new blogs. This way, all blog readers will find themselves leaping around and discovering new, previously unknown blogs.
Members of the Latin American team from Global Voices Online decided to recommend five blogs collectively as a group, and one post in particular that may be of interest to others:
Luis Carlos Díaz recommends El Chigüire Bipolar [es], which is an increasingly popular blog from Venezuela and one that has received half a million visits in less than four months online.  The post titled, “We Never Thought That 203 Other Countries Would Attend” [es] is a satirical post about Venezuela's participation in the recent Olympics:
El presidente del Comité Olímpico Venezolano (COV), Eduardo Álvarez, aclaró hoy en rueda de prensa las razones por las que hasta ahora la delegación venezolana no ha cumplido las expectativas trazadas en un principio en las Olimpíadas de Beijing. “Cuando hicimos el pronóstico de 5 medallas de oro, nunca pensamos que iban a asistir otros 203 países a la cita. Eso echó al suelo el pronóstico inicial” informó Álvarez ante la insistencia de los medios y la opinión pública, que esperaban ver a los venezolanos en los podios de Beijing.
The President of the Venezuelan Olympic Committee (COV for its initials in Spanish)  Eduardo Álvarez, in a press conference stated the reasons why the Venezuelan delegation did not meet expectations that were set at the beginning of the Beijing Olympics.  “When we made the prediction of 5 gold medals, we never thought that other 203 countries would take part in the games.  That wiped out our original prediction,” said Álvarez when asked by the media and public opinion, who hoped to see Venezuelans on the podiums in Beijing.
Juan Arellano highly recommends the blog Choledad Privada [es], which may only be understandable by Peruvians for its slang and “inside jokes.”  However, articles are meant to elicit laughter from its readers for its tongue-in-cheek articles “How Much Does a Peruvian Cost?” and about other subtle peculiarities of Peruvian society [es].
Jorge Gobbi from Buenos Aires, recommends Merodeador [es], which is a blog that focuses primarily on the media, but also other topics such as the lack of recycling programs in the capital.  There was one law called Basura Cero (Zero Garbage) that sought to reduce the amount of waste by 30%, however, that was ended by the current mayor. There is one type of informal recycling program that is carried out by “cartoneros” (cardboarders):
Todas las noches, los cartoneros revuelven las bolsas de basura antes de ser recogidas por los camiones, en busca de papeles y cartones que luego venden para su reciclaje. Es ésa su única retribución: el pago por la cantidad de papel que juntan.
Every night, the cartoneros go through the garbage bags before they are picked up by the trucks, in search of paper and cardboard that can later be sold for recycling.  That is their only payment:  money for the amount of paper that is collected.
Milton Ramirez, who writes about Ecuador recommends Dialogo con Joselias [es], which discusses the role of provincial autonomies in the new Constitution.   Joselias criticizes a recent editorial in the newspaper El Telégrafo, which dismisses the call of the province of Manabí for increased autonomy.
Con el más puro egoísmo intelectual analiza la aspiración manabita de su autonomía administrativa. Nos ubica como “sucursal menor del bastión guayaquileño”. Que la autonomía es una cantaleta que “vuelve desde otra provincia, Manabí, para confundir a la opinión pública”. Que desde Manabí se está calificando al Presidente de “dictador” y “traidor” porque la Asamblea Constituyente no aprobó la autonomía manabita.
With the purest form of intellectual selfishness, (the newspaper) analyzes Manabi's aspiration for administrative autonomy.  They place us as “the minor branch of the Guayaquil bastion.” That autonomy is another term that “comes from another province, Manabí, to confuse public opinion.”  That Manabí is calling the President a “dictator” and “traitor” because the Constituent Assembly did not approve the Manabí autonomy.
One of the new bloggers from the Voces Bolivianas project, Virginio Sandy, represents his indigenous community as one of the leaders. One member of the community is named “Authority” for the duration of one year, after which it is rotated to another.  He also represents his community online with his blog Ayllus de Dalence [es], where he writes about festivities, traditions, but also about archeaological ruins near his community.
Por las caracteristicas que presenta, se evidencia que fue una fortaleza, la que fue construida con fines defensivos y refugio de los habitantes, cuando eran atacados por otros pueblos. Al pie de esta fortaleza se encuentra la Comunidad de Pucara Grande, población milenaria, cuyos origenes se pierden en el tiempo y espacio. Esta fortaleza conserva aun parte de las tres murallas que se erigieron alrededor de la colina y en la parte superior de este cerro, se encuentra los cimientos, de viviendas circulares, todas con puertas orientadas hacia la salida del sol.
For its characteristics, it is evident that it was a fort, which was constructed for defensive reasons and a shelter for the residents, when they were attacked by others. At the base of the fort, one can find the community of Pucara Grande, millennial peoples, whose origins are lost in time and space. This fort still conserves three walls that were built along the hill and in the higher part of the mountain one can find the foundations of circular houses, with all of their doors that pointed to the rising sun.