By Sergio De Leon Associated Press Originally published April 2, 2006 BOGOTA, Colombia // It's normal to return from vacation with a deep tan, but what about coming home with bigger breasts, a newly sculpted nose, a nip and tuck and fewer wrinkles?

Vacations promising such corporeal transformations are being promoted by travel agents and plastic surgeons in Colombia, one of those countries, along with Venezuela and Brazil, where there's no shame in taking your body in for alterations.

"I was unhappy with my breast size and had gained a lot of weight," said Mauikai Gold, a 21-year-old from Miami who recently traveled to Colombia for cosmetic surgery.

She had done her homework first, consulting friends and a half-dozen local doctors as well as beauticians at her favorite salon before choosing a plastic surgeon.

The ethnic Cuban had inquired as to the cost of having similar work done in the United States before opting for Colombia and calculated that she would have paid from $25,000 to $30,000 to have it done at home.

Add the quality reputation of Colombian medicine to the savings and you have got a good product to promote, according to travel agents and doctors in this Andean capital.

It doesn't hurt that this South American nation is enjoying a tourist boom that brought more than a million visitors to the country last year for the first time in two decades, according to the Ministry of Commerce and Tourism.

"Of all those people coming to Colombia, at least 3 percent come to get medical treatment," said Antonio Crespo, head of the Colombia Tours Solutions travel agency. In 2004, he said, about 21,000 people came for surgery, and in 2005, about 30,000 made the trip.

Colombia Tours Solutions arranges travel logistics for tourists coming for plastic surgery. "Surgery packages" include medical procedures, nursing, post-operative treatment, travel insurance, transportation, hotel, a tourist guide and air tickets.

The promotion of such vanity tourism got something of a shot in the arm with the signing of a new trade agreement last month between Washington and Bogota.

The American Society of Plastic Surgeons cautions that there are risks to having surgery abroad and U.S. laws do not protect patients treated outside the country. "There may be no legal recourse if surgical negligence by the physician or institution occurs," the society said.

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