Juliana Rincón Parra was born in Peru, lived in Costa Rica and has now settled in Colombia. She has collected a BA in Drama, experience working as a bilingual copywriter, as translator, has played around with SEO, html coding, Web 2.0 and is now studying dental lab, which makes her very excited about doing teeth metal work and learning how to do metal-porcelain dental crowns and caps. She blogs in Spanish at Medeamaterial, a blog about anything Jules related. As if it all wasn't enough, for the past two years Juliana has always found some free time to collaborate to Global Voices Online as an author and has just accepted the challenge to be the new GVO Video Editor, on the top of the regular roundup of the Colombian blogosphere. Better than trying to describe this multi-tasking author, it is only fair that we explore her new expertise and have a video of her introducing herself: When did you start blogging and what has motivated you to blog? I started an online journal on opendiary.com back in 1999. Then I stopped and started several times on different platforms, including online forums until 2005, when I opened my blog Medeamaterial in blogspot. For me writing has been a lifelong way to vent, express myself and share random thoughts I have. Later on I found that it also comes with a sense of community and I've met wonderful friends through it and discovered that there's empowerment that comes with the whole experience of writing and getting feedback on what you write. What is Mediamaterial about? How would you introduce it to someone who can't read Spanish? Medeamaterial is a blog about whatever is going on in my life. That's where I can post interesting links I stumble upon, pictures of my crafting endeavours, complain about my day, write about topics that matter to me or just write up my experiences when travelling. It started as a place to vent, and as something I could do at work whenever I was supposed to be “looking busy” but there wasn't anything to do. It used to be a lot more personal and anonymous, but as more people know who I am and started reading it… including my parents, boyfriend and people interested in HiperBarrio project, I had to quit on the whining, complaining and any other juicy personal tidbits and tone it down for PR reasons :) You haven't told us about it, but we have also found out there is another blog of yours, the gastronomic Manos en La Masa. Please tell us about your hidden cooking skills and let us know your recommended Latin American dishes. I used to blog at Manos en la Masa… but I haven't really been cooking lately, so I haven't been able to write in there. I like cooking, but I hate cooking for survival or regular meals. So if I HAVE to cook to eat… most of the time I'll just fix a sandwich or have an arepa with queso (cheese). The food I really love is Peruvian food. They have this dish, it's made out of cow's hearts on a stick and over the grill called Anticucho. Sounds disturbing, but it is the BEST thing ever. They serve it with a spicy ají sauce, and a slice of boiled potato and a piece of corn on the cob. Hmmm. love it. I haven't had it in such a looong time. So when in Perú, definitely try it. Try everything. Peruvian food is the best I've ever had. Colombian food is a bit bland for my taste, but there's this soup called Ajiaco made of chicken and 5 different types of potato that rocks. And for the ones going to Costa Rica, I'd recommend jumping over to the Caribbean side and having “rice and beans”, which has coconut rice and spicy chicken (or fish) on the side, with a great tasting sauce. Would you have a most memorable blogging experience? Can I have two instead of one? I have a professional one, which was blogging live from Pop!Tech. The whole idea that I could have the chance to travel thanks to blogging was too unreal to grasp, and then there I was, writing online, publishing, and few minutes later, getting feedback from people who don't speak English, who had been following pop!tech in Spanish through my blog. The other one is based on many different moments and experiences, and has to do with the personal connections. I've met many good friends through blogging, blogs have seen me through falling in and out of love and blogging has also helped me keep up with friends and family who are far away. What are the main issues affecting your blogosphere? I guess that most bloggers still don't feel that what they write matters. That their blogs are powerful tools. In Costa Rica, the main issue was that bloggers were afraid that people would be offended by what they wrote, so they avoided any strong topics. That has changed since thanks to a few bloggers who aren't afraid of making their opinions known.