Marta invites us to get to know the capital of Spain, the wonderful city of Madrid. In addition to telling us many of the things she likes most about this city, she will also reveal to us a curious fact about its inhabitants. Let's join her!

This time, Marta takes us to eat tapas, a very common Spanish activity that is enjoyed by many. Let's discover the tapas that Marta has ordered, some of Spain's most typical... and scrumptious!

Marta introduces us to two more classic tapas from Madrid's delectable cuisine. Can you guess which ones they are? Let's find out!

Marta takes us to one of Madrid's most emblematic buildings: the Royal Palace. Although no one lives there today as they did in the past, its impressive exterior and interior are open to the public.

Let's hear who the first monarch to live in the Royal Palace of Madrid was and what he had to do with the now famous Doña Manolita shop located in the city's downtown.

Lavapiés is a neighborhood in downtown Madrid that has become one of many tourists' favorites. Let's join Marta to find out what makes it so special.

In part two of her video about Madrid's popular tourist neighborhood Lavapiés, Marta takes us to an example of a traditional architectural structure there that is usually not visible from the street. Let's learn more about it!

El Rastro is the largest street market in all of Madrid. Marta introduces us to this fascinating, famous market while teaching us some terms related to it that you might not be familiar with.

Joan Planas’ documentary, Con ánimo de lucro (With Intent to Profit), launches with a list of the UN’s objectives for development in the new millennium. While the UN plan calls for cutting poverty in half by 2015, it’s off to a terrible start. So we’re off to explore what’s gone wrong in Nicaragua, one of the countries with the most NGOs and the highest levels of poverty in Latin America. 

Continuing their trip through Nicaragua, Planas’ film crew stops in San Nicolás and discusses the lack of potable water. A group of Spaniards have offered to remedy the situation. Why does the problem still exist? Could the elected officials actually be standing in the way of progress?

Trying to figure out why he wouldn’t approve the water project, the filmmakers try to track down the mayor, but they can’t find him at home. They do find children with containers making the trek to the water source from home and back.

The film crew met with a team from Ayuda en Acción, and it appears that its organizational heart is in the right place. Yet, despite the presence of over five hundred NGOs working to improve the lot of Nicaragua’s poor, their plight worsens every year. Many local activists and intellectuals do not trust the non-profits, and accuse them of having their own enrichment as concern numero uno.

That literacy will directly contribute to the health and well being of a people few can doubt. But are a literate people more likely to care for the environment? One man thinks so, and has started a grassroots neighbors teaching neighbors project for the good of both la gente y la tierra.

Does graphic and violence-ridden television news that presents the worst aspects of a society also bring out the worst in its audience? Our filmmaker seems to think so, and believes that it is young viewers who pay the price when spectacle trumps thoughtful analysis and measured presentation.

Does broadcast media really have a responsiblity to promote and defend human rights? Or is it to simply make shows that people like and that attract ratings? Several Nicaraguan journalists and media producers discuss these ideas in a round table discussion.

Spain has never been a country afraid of divisive politics, and filmmaker Joan Planas has no fear of getting controversial when presenting his views of society, church and state. Note that the older gentleman is not speaking straight Spanish but Catalan, and the Spanish captions reflect not his exact words but are the same as the Spanish subtitles seen in white on the screen.

Not only does our filmmaker continue with his diatribe against the state of society as he finds it in Nicaragua, but the story takes an investigative turn. We find that not only doesn’t sponsored-child Christina del Carmen match the photo that had been supplied by Ayuda en Acción, she is also not yet enrolled in a school.

Joan Planas continues to pull no punches, taking on NGOs, television, and the Catholic church. Oddly enough, despite his firebrand rhetoric, the film ends on a rather conservative note, suggesting that perhaps what poor nations need is not so much charity but rather a change in actitude, or “attitude,” so as to reflect the mindset of people in successful nations. Tune in to find out the details.

Ecuadorian "Poné," or shamans, utilize plants for their medicinal effects. In this video, we learn about some of their beliefs and wisdom.

The Tsáchila community has undertaken the task of opening its doors to foreign visitors, giving them the opportunity to learn more about their traditions and culture.

The Spanish cooking show, ¡Cómetelo! [Eat it Up!], seeks to teach its viewers about their land through its gastronomy. Today, on its quest to make broccoli soup, the program takes us to the charming town of Castril in southern Spain where many crops are grown including this nutritional powerhouse.

The Spanish cooking show, ¡Cómetelo! [Eat it Up!] continues as our Spanish chef begins to show us how to make broccoli soup in a very animated fashion.

Behold our lively Spanish chef as continues the broccoli soup-making process.

Our animated chef continues to demonstrate the process of making broccoli soup, along with some homemade croutons as a garnish.