diff -up gwibber-2.91.92/gwibber/microblog/plugins/gowalla/__init__.py.gowalla-kitchen gwibber-2.91.92/gwibber/microblog/plugins/gowalla/__init__.py
--- gwibber-2.91.92/gwibber/microblog/plugins/gowalla/__init__.py.gowalla-kitchen	2011-03-25 13:43:11.123113004 -0400
+++ gwibber-2.91.92/gwibber/microblog/plugins/gowalla/__init__.py	2011-03-25 13:47:05.879113003 -0400
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ from gwibber.microblog import network, u
 from gwibber.microblog.util import log, resources
 import json, htmllib, re
 from gettext import lgettext as _
+from kitchen.text.converters import to_unicode
 log.logger.name = "Gowalla"
 
 PROTOCOL_INFO = {
@@ -60,46 +61,46 @@ class Client:
   def _message(self, data):
 
     m = {}; 
-    m["mid"] = str(data["user"]["first_name"]) + str(data["user"]["last_name"])
-    m["service"] = "gowalla"
+    m["mid"] = to_unicode(str(data["user"]["first_name"]) + str(data["user"]["last_name"]))
+    m["service"] = u"gowalla"
     m["account"] = self.account["id"]
     m["time"] = util.parsetime(data["created_at"])
 
-    messagetext = ""
-    text = ""
+    messagetext = u""
+    text = u""
     if data.has_key("spot"):
         if data.has_key("message"):
             messagetext += data["message"] + "<br/><br/>"
             text += data["message"] + "\n"
-        m["url"] = "http://gowalla.com%s" % data["spot"]["url"]
-        img = "<table><tr><td><img src='%s'/></td><td>" % data["spot"]["image_url"]
-        messagetext += img + "Checked in at <a href='" + m["url"] + "'>" + data["spot"]["name"] + "</a>"
-        text += "Checked in at " + data["spot"]["name"]
+        m["url"] = to_unicode("http://gowalla.com%s" % data["spot"]["url"])
+        img = to_unicode("<table><tr><td><img src='%s'/></td><td>" % data["spot"]["image_url"])
+        messagetext += img + "Checked in at <a href='" + m["url"] + "'>" + to_unicode(data["spot"]["name"]) + "</a>"
+        text += u"Checked in at " + to_unicode(data["spot"]["name"])
     else:
         if data.has_key("message"):
-            messagetext += data["message"] + "<br/><br/>"
-            text += data["message"] + "\n"
+            messagetext += to_unicode(data["message"]) + u"<br/><br/>"
+            text += to_unicode(data["message"]) + u"\n"
         else:
-            text= "Checked in off the grid"
-            messagetext= "<table><tr><td><img src='http://gowalla.com/favicon.ico'/></td><td>Checked in off the grid"
+            text= u"Checked in off the grid"
+            messagetext= u"<table><tr><td><img src='http://gowalla.com/favicon.ico'/></td><td>Checked in off the grid"
 
     m["text"] = text
-    m["content"] = messagetext + "</td></tr></table>"
-    m["html"] = messagetext + "</td></tr></table>"
+    m["content"] = messagetext + u"</td></tr></table>"
+    m["html"] = messagetext + u"</td></tr></table>"
 
     m["sender"] = {}
-    m["sender"]["image"] = data["user"]["image_url"]
-    m["sender"]["url"] = "http://gowalla.com%s" % data["user"]["url"]
-    fullname = ""
+    m["sender"]["image"] = to_unicode(data["user"]["image_url"])
+    m["sender"]["url"] = to_unicode("http://gowalla.com%s" % data["user"]["url"])
+    fullname = u""
     if data["user"].has_key("first_name"):
-        fullname += data["user"]["first_name"] + " "
+        fullname += to_unicode(data["user"]["first_name"]) + u" "
     if data["user"].has_key("last_name"):
-        fullname += data["user"]["last_name"]
+        fullname += to_unicode(data["user"]["last_name"])
 
     m["sender"]["name"] = fullname
     m["sender"]["nick"] = fullname
 
-    m["source"] = "<a href='http://gowalla.com/'>Gowalla</a>"
+    m["source"] = u"<a href='http://gowalla.com/'>Gowalla</a>"
 
     return m