Caray, Caray!

Extracts from
Bust and boom: TV tale of breasts, drugs a hit
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- In a nation obsessed with soap operas, it's the hottest telenovela in years.

Airing nightly in prime time, "Sin Tetas no hay Paraiso" -- "Without (Breasts) There's No Paradise" -- revolves around a 17-year old call girl who agonizes that her flat chest is a barrier to deliverance from poverty and a life of ease as a drug trafficker's pampered plaything.

In real life, 25-year old newcomer Maria Adelaida Puerta, the actress who plays the series' protagonist, Catalina, is nothing like her airhead character. Most importantly, she vows to never follow the example of her buxom co-stars and go under the knife.

Colombia's passion for implants is almost unmatched. According to the Colombian Society of Plastic Surgeons, more than half of the 450,000 operations performed last year were breast augmentations costing an average $2,000-$3,000 per procedure -- more than half a year's salary for the 58 percent of the country living below the poverty line.

That would seem to support not Puerta's view but rather what Catalina's catty antagonist in the series, Jessica, tells her: "What matters today is having a good pair of tits -- no matter if they're made of rubber, wood or stone."

Recently, the mayor of Ibague, a city 80 miles west of Bogota, agreed to finance tummy tucks, butt lifts and other aesthetic operations for the city's secretaries and public employees. To date, more than 400 women have taken advantage of the offer.

"It's overwhelming in Colombia the pressure on women to have a voluptuous, artificially perfect body," said Puerta.

Not everyone is convinced of the show's merits. Said Florence Thomas, a researcher of gender issues at Bogota's National University: "The only thing producers were after in showing so much cleavage was a higher rating."

For those who really need a Fernando fix, I just discovered that Galavision is doing a rerun of María la del Barrio. This is a telenovela that Fernando did with Thalia about ten years ago. It is the last of a trio of Thalia telenovelas. Fernando was in all of them, but in this one he finally became the leading man. [More.]

I didn't watch it the first time around because I can't stand Thalia (I watched Marimar, and that was enough). But he must have liked her because they had a romance that lasted well over a year.

Anyway, here in Chicago it is on at 3:00 in the afternoon. I think it has just started.

Maria is from the ghetto, and her godmother has just died, which leaves her totally alone. The priest manages to place her with a wealthy family, I guess as a servant, but the man of the house treats her as if he is her mentor or protector. She even eats at the table with the family. Today (my first episode) he takes her shopping for clothes and even buys her two baby goats. Needless to say, she has totally upended the household, to the point that the wife has gone to the priest to try to get her removed because she thinks her husband is in love with her. At this point everyone in the household, including the help, is against her. Fernando plays one of the sons. For those of you who love to see his body, I think it will be on display a lot here. I have only seen today's episode, but already he has appeared in a skimpy bathing suit and shorts with no shirt -- looking good!!!