"Also learned that there is so much balsa wood available in Columbia that there wouldn't be any shortage if we could get wood out of there. And they can get the wood, but by the time they finished paying all the drug lords to get it out it would be even more expensive than anything else in the world. "

Sorry, but I have to call bullsh** on that one...my wife's from ColOmbia...been there 5 times...people are very nice (unless they're behind the wheel of a car!) and the country is nowhere near the lawless hellhole with blood flowing through the streets as is portrayed by the media. Tourism from USA and Europe is up due to the markedly increased security situation, Bogota is one of the financial center hubs of South America, their currency is doing well in the world market, and the place is crawling with the hottest women on earth. We already get most of our fresh flowers and coffee from Colombia, so there's no reason we couldn't get balsa from there too. I'm not meaning to turn this into a political rant, it's just that if Colombia is flush with our precious wood then someone should look into that. (maybe me...LOL!!!)