Introduction

I never thought I'd grow up to be a writer but that's what I've become. It's almost as if my maternal grandfather -- Don Jimmy -- has been gently nudging me along in a certain direction these past few years. I have even begun to wonder if I, like my grandfather, the so-called "architect of [Bolivian] journalism", may have printer's ink running through my veins.

I certainly didn't intend on getting into journalism. For years, I had been pursuing my interests in international development, finance, and politics. These interests and related employment activities had taken me all over the world. But over the past several years, I increasingly have found myself being offered interesting jobs as a freelance writer and in professional journalism -- first, as a business reporter for a weekly newspaper, then as a news correspondent for a financial wire-service, and finally as an in-house financial journalist for a multilateral organization.

Since each of these experiences kept me involved with economics, finance, and politics, I saw no reason to decline any of these offers. At the time, the thread that I thought bound these experiences together was simply their international dimension. It is only now -- with the benefit of hind-sight, of course -- that I realize that the real element binding all these experiences together is writing: putting together words, crafting sentences, expressing thoughts, and communicating ideas.

That is why after I was selected as a Journalism Fellow by the Phillips Foundation in 2003, I began to suspect that perhaps my vocation was not at all what I originally expected. Perhaps it was time to take my writing a bit more seriously. And that is what I proceeded to do in Vermont.

When the Phillips Fellowship ended in early 2005, I decided to look around for other opportunities that might keep me writing. In February, I applied to a new two-year academic program in "journalism within globalization" sponsored by the European Union (EU). In April, I received a letter informing me that I had been selected -- along with 23 other young writers and journalists from around the world. And in June, I was informed that the EU had also awarded me a full stipend to cover all my expenses during the duration of the program, which begins in late August 2005 and which will take me to Denmark, the Netherlands, and either Germany or England.

So, once again, I find myself headed in the direction of journalism and writing. I think that I might as well accept what life is offering me in terms of a vocation. I do enjoy it after all; and my favorite activities happen to be those that make up the day-to-day grind of a writer's life: research, reading, interviews, writing.

Thus, in an effort to document not only my own realization and acceptance of my career as a writer, but also my experiences in contemporary Europe, I start this blog. I hope you enjoy the reporting, the anecdotes, the stories, and anything else I decide to post here. I promise you, dear reader, that I will use this medium not only to regale you with tales of my personal excesses while abroad but, also, to report on the contentious political, economic, and cultural state of contemporary Europe. For this latter purpose, I will prepare a separate site to which readers will have access -- by invitation only (due to its more serious content).