This is Randi Hacker with another Postcard from Abroad from the KU Centers for East Asian Studies and Latin American and Caribbean Studies.

Times are tough in Venezuela. Venezuelans are facing a serious shortage of basic survival goods such as medicine and foodstuffs. But even more troubling in this nation of glamour girls is the shortage of beauty supplies, which has reached critical mass, leaving women scrambling to find (and pay exorbitant prices for) makeup, razors, deodorant, soap, stilettos, and… breast implants. See, the ideal female aesthetic here is, shall we say, an exaggerated one. Venezuela has one of the highest rates of breast enhancement surgery in the world, and it’s not just for humans. Even mannequins get augmented. Insufficient supply has not diminished demand -- Black market implants sold on the Venezuelan equivalent of Craigslist are flying off the virtual shelves. To misquote Dr. Sheldon Cooper: “Bazongas!”

With thanks to Danica Swanson for this text, from the KU Center for East Asian Studies, this is Randi Hacker. Wish you were here.