Jason Batansky

Daily Beast — In Bolivia, breaking out of prison is hard. Sneaking in is pretty easy, especially if it's San Pedro Prison, the most bizarre correctional facility in the world. In this gaspingly high prison, outside Bolivia's capital La Paz and 11,500 feet up in the Andes, more than 2,400 male prisoners work as pastors, food vendors, tour guides, prostitutes, barbers, carpenters, shoe-shiners and cocaine manufacturers. One even ran for vice-president of Bolivia from inside the prison's walls. The 50 or so guards monitor the inmates from outside the prison; their only job is to see that no one escapes.

aspiringgentleman.com — The regional drawl of Alabama, unpretentious dining, laid-back beach towns, and straight-out-of-a-book Southern charm make Alabama a state to experience now.

Daily Beast — Just two weeks after she beat out 87 other beauty queens from around the world, Colombia's 22-year-old Paulina Vega may find herself in a bigger role than just Miss Universe. She has found herself in the unique position to be the first beauty-pageant participant, save for Sandra Bullock in Miss Congeniality, to deliver on the most common answer to what is the one most important thing our society needs-world peace. Vega offered to help end her country's 50-year-old civil war between the left-wing Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebel group after she donned the crown on Jan. 25.

HuffPost Live — This past weekend, a Colombian beauty queen was arrested over her alleged role in a child prostitution ring.

BBC Radio 5 — Closed out the BBC Radio 5 live Up All Night Show with a short interview on the cost of living around the world. You can skip to 03:53 to listen to my segment.

Daily Beast — A top Colombian beauty queen was arrested this past weekend for her alleged role in a child prostitution ring aimed at foreign sex tourists. The United States Immigration and Customs (ICE) led a joint operation, Cristal II, in cooperation with the Colombia's Navy and Coast Guard to arrest 22-year old Kelly Johana Suárez Martínez Moyam and four others during a party attended by 25 minors, among others, on Colombia's Caribbean Islas de Rosario islands. An additional three were arrested in Armenia and four in Medellín for their involvement, according to ICE.

thelip.tv — Writer and entrepreneur Jason Batansky explores the shortage of breast implants in Venezuela - a nation known for being obsessed with beauty and plastic surgery - and also discusses other crucial issues facing Venezuela and its neighbor, Colombia. Speaking via remote from Bogota, Colombia, Batansky said Venezuela's fascination with looks and beauty pageants goes back many years and was more or less fueled by one individual who personally selected contestants with amazing results. The country actually holds the record for winning the most global beauty pageant titles, despite the fact that the pageant process - as well as widespread breast implant surgeries - was often criticized by the country's former socialist leader Hugo Chavez.

Daily Beast — Venezuela is known for both its socialist economic policies and its beauty queens. Now, the policies of Hugo Chavez and his successor, former bus driver turned Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, have begun to affect the nation's women-famed for their beauty and curves-in their hearts. Or rather, what surrounds their hearts: their breasts. Venezuela faces shortages in everything from toilet paper to bread, but one of the most overlooked items is breast implants. Though superficial on the surface, in Venezuela at least, breast implants and accompanying plastic surgeries are what you might call an important staple of many households.

unfinishedman.com — After years of attracting only the most professional riders, motorcycle racing fans, and well-connected locals, travelers like me are finally coming around to seeing the MotoGP Grand Prix as an opportunity to tour a lesser-known - and remarkable - region of Italy: Emilia-Romagna.