Antonio Vargas is a versatile Mexican artist living in Los Cabos. He has done cartoons, commercial drawings, paintings and a lot of sculptures. In this episode Antonio is going to show us some of his cartoons containing the adventures of Surfo.

Our surf-loving friend Antonio Vargas is a talented illustrator with a varied career. Here we see some of his more commercial work and some of what he does for fun—like an illustrated magazine and notebook doodles.

You may know the baraja española, the Spanish deck of cards, with its classic renderings of kings and knights in four suits. Our illustrator friend Antonio Vargas created a uniquely Mexican baraja with native imagery drawing from the pre-Columbian Aztec, Olmec, Toltec and Mayan cultures.

Antonio Vargas is a talented painter and sculptor. In this video, he’s going to show us his works, explain what they mean and how he made them. A self-portrait as a fish? His father in clay? It’s all here.

Carlos introduces us to the Muiscas, one of the most developed pre-Columbian civilizations to inhabit the Cundiboyacense plateau in the central part of present day Colombia.

Carlos describes for us the fascinating enthronement ceremony that gave rise to to the legend of "El Dorado" ["The Golden One"], a nickname which referred to the cacique, or king, of Colombia's Muisca people.

Carlos explains the different roles myths have played historically and tells us the Muisca myth of Bachué, which explains the origin of Man.

Carlos closes his series on pre-Columbian America by sharing with us the myth of Bochica, a God thought to be responsible for several natural phenomena.

In the first part of this series, Carlos introduces us to the characteristics of flash fiction, a literary genre distinguished by its succinctness and ability to capture the reader from the first word to the last.

Let's listen to a couple of examples of flash fiction stories to better understand what this literary genre is all about. Entitled "Destino" [Fate] and "Soñando despierta" [Daydreaming], both pieces received awards at prestigious international flash fiction contests.

After shedding some light on the flash fiction genre and providing us with some examples, Carlos finally reads us the piece with which he placed among the finalists at a prominent flash fiction contest in Barcelona. Can you understand any of the meaning behind it?

After reading us his flash fiction story, "Para siempre" [Forever], Carlos offers some insight into the historical backdrop, events, and characters that inspired him.

If you like chess, this lesson is for you! In this first part, we'll learn not only some of the most important Spanish chess-related vocabulary, but also how certain pieces move.

Having learned about the rook, the knight, and the bishop, let's now see how to place and move the remaining pieces: the king, the queen, and the pawn.

In part three of Carlos' series on chess, he explains some important aspects of the game, including a popular opening move, as well as the Spanish words for terms like checkmate, castling, and stalemate.