Jesús Baz is the Director of Studies at the Don Quijote spanish school in lovely Salamanca, Spain. A true salmantino, Jesús has a real pride for his city, which is home to some of Europe’s oldest universities and has a very strong intellectual tradition. The school itself, in a beautiful old building that was formerly a convent, also houses a popular student café.

Carlos and Angeles are a young couple from Burgos, located about an hour and a half north of Madrid, a city that dates back to 884! The surrounding province is also known as Burgos, and tucked inside it is an equally historical town known as Lerma, which is where we meet up for a walk and conversation.

The verb pinchar means “to prick” or “to poke” and pincho is a spike or a skewer, so it’s not surprising that in the world of tapas (small portions that can be shared) pinchos (also spelled pintxos) either have toothpicks through them or can be eaten off the plate with one.

For nearly 50 years the Pérez Terradillo family has served vinos and pinchos, wines and snacks. Jose takes us on a tour to see the kitchen and the folks and gear behind the scenes of this celebrated restaurant in Burgos, Casa Pancho.

We happened upon Pipita on the sidewalk in Madrid and she introduced us to her traveling companion, Nuria Gonzales. Nuria hails from Asturias, in the north of Spain, but now teaches Spanish at a university in the USA. Lucky for us, they both agreed to an on-the-spot exclusive interview.

Enjoying almost full support by his party as their presidential candidate, Andrés Manuel López Obrador stepped down from his post as Mayor of Mexico City, aka D.F. (Distrito Federal) to campaign for the presidency of Mexico in the 2006 elections against Felipe Calderón.

López Obrador’s campaign commercials really try to shake potential voters out of their sillas, attempting to give the potentially marginalized a strong message: “now it’s our turn, now it’s your turn!” He blatantly positions himself against the rich, those who “take the biggest piece of the cake.”

Partido de la Revolución Democrática is what PRD stands for, and Mexican presidential hopeful Manuel López Obrador has been with the organization since its infancy when was known as the “Democratic Current” (Corriente Democrática), a dissenting wing of the once indomitable PRI, Partido Revolucionario Institucional.

Harvard-educated Felipe Calderón, who the New York Times calls “a dapper man who speaks with all the fire of an economist,” is perceived as the safe, business-friendly presidential candidate. This video carefully cultivates a persona antithetical to the rougher-hewn López Obrador.

Does Felipe Calderón love his children? We are quite sure that he does. If this promotional video for the possible heir to fellow PANista Vicente Foxe seems to you to have a “North of the border” slickness, it may not be simply coincidental.

Felipe Calderón is running for president of Mexico as the candidate of PAN, Partido Acción Nacional. “The National Action Party” is also the party of Mexico’s current president, Vicente Fox. Felipe’s campaign slogan? Para que Vivamos Mejor, “So we can live better.” We know there must a word play parody of this phrase, but we haven’t found it yet!

Tu Rock Es Votar, a.k.a. TREV, continues its efforts to rally Mexico’s youth to get out and vote come election day. It’s something of an unspoken secret that TREV’s organizers tend to lean to the left, but they strive to make the ads non-partisan.

Just over a quarter of Mexico’s 127.5 million people are aged 18-24, and as such the “youth vote” could easily make or break any candidate in Mexico’s upcoming election on July 2. Patterned after the “Rock the Vote” campaign in the USA, Tu Rock Es Votar is running a television, radio and web campaign that hopes to improve voter turnout in the Mexican youth population despite a general desencantado (“disenchanted”) attitude found amongst all eligible voters.

Hugo Chávez is divisive figure in Venezuela, as he is the world over, but the enthusiasm he generates amongst a large and vocal segment of the population is undeniable. Omar Vizcaya is a Chávez supporter, and was kind enough to agree to share some of his thoughts and ideas about the current situation.

Take it from the boys in Skampida, the best ways to learn a language are 1) to watch a lot of tv (yabla!) and 2) to find yourself a native girlfriend/boyfriend! Skampida is one of the best bands ever from Bogotá, and we caught up with them while they were spending some time hangeando in The Big Manzana.