Politics seduced many power-hungry drug traffickers in Colombia, and Pablo Escobar and Carlos Lehder were just two of the criminals who successfully burst onto the political scene.

By acting like a kind of Robin Hood who helped the poor in his city, Pablo Escobar had a great deal of social and political impact on Colombian society.

As Pablo Escobar's popularity continues to soar to the point of being worshipped like a God in Colombia, he continues to publicly deny his drug trafficking ties.

Let's continue to examine the context in which Pablo Escobar began to rise to unparalleled power and the way in which Colombian society initially condoned this provincial man who was beginning to amass a drug trafficking fortune.

Experts on Los Tiempos de Pablo Escobar [The Times of Pablo Escobar] tell about the formation of the infamous "Muerte a Secuestradores" [Death to Kidnappers], or MAS, a Colombian paramilitary group formed in the eighties with the goal of combatting kidnapping as well as furthering the interests of their supporters: Colombian drug cartels, politicians, U.S. corporations, and wealthy landowners.

Modesto Nicolas Gomez Burgos shows us how organic brown sugar is produced at the Santa Barbara factory located in Imbabura, Ecuador.

Manuel Quispe, owner of the indigenous clothing shop, Colors, in Saraguro, Ecuador, explains to us about some of the items they sell, particularly their handcrafted traditional necklaces.

A member of the Quechua people from Peru shares with us a bit about the traditional use of the plant San Pedro, or "huachuma," which is thought to have medicinal and spiritual qualities that could help one get in touch with the cosmos, and oneself.

For some Colombian cyclists from humble backgrounds, cycling has been a manner for them to travel the world and better themselves.

The people of the Chapare region are harassed by military coca-eradication patrols that not only destroy their crops of coca but also frequently injure, insult, and even commit atrocities. But the will of the people and the culture fight on.

The Ideas Club accompanies Carolina, an aspiring veterinarian in her freshman year, to the Fuengirola Bioparc to see first-hand how some of their exotic animals are cared for.

Conservationists in Gorgona Natural National Park monitor endangered sea turtles, capturing them at night and marking them before releasing them back into the wild.

Medical students in Almeria, Spain gain some hands-on experience using technology to diagnose diseases.

The Ideas Club asks some high school students from Cordoba about the advantages of studying at the library vs. at home and for their suggestions on how to improve libraries.

While many Spanish greyhounds are meticulously taken care of, many animals considered unworthy or past their prime are simply abandoned by their owners.