The book also denounces “narco culture” and takes it down from the pedestal that topic still enjoys. There aren’t any more details surrounding the story but seeing as the book unfolds in a similar way, it seems to be a way to tell her story. Bolivar’s Catalina is based on a real-life teenage girl he met while in Pereira, who told him she had gotten breast implants with money she had received in exchange for “sex”, the girl was in a critical health condition at that point, as the doctor who had performed the surgery had re-used implants on her which led to a severe infection. The telenovela is an adaptation of the book written by Gustavo Bolivar, whose intention was to showcase the struggles that some young girls face in his home country, Colombia. If you saw the novela you probably remember that it was so normalized for them, that the novela borders on romanticizing it, but as the story unfolds and Catalina suffers so many hardships, it brings you back to the reality of what’s going on. In a neighborhood heavily influenced by narcotráfico, Catalina, her friends, and other girls her age are led to believe that the only way to live in the luxury that they desire is to render sexual services as “pre-paid girls” to powerful men in the drug trafficking world. In case you can barely remember it, the telenovela centered around Catalina, a 17-year-old girl from Pereira, Colombia who very desperately wants to escape poverty.

Rewatching it as an adult made me realize how heavy the topics are, and later finding out that it’s based on a real–life story had me shooketh. But to be honest, it’s not like I understood any of it – but I definitely do now. I remember being way too curious and wanting to see what my abuela was watching. I was 8 at that time and the Telenovela was not PG at all, so she would tell me to go play while she watched. I remember catching small glimpses while hanging out with my abuela, who was an avid telenovela watcher. If you were around 2008 watching telenovelas, I bet you watched Sin Senos No Hay Paraiso.

Sin senos no hay paraiso