Just chilling in a little Almuerzo joint - set meal restaurant. The waiter just asked me what i wanted for second course in rapid spanish. when he saw the blank look on my face and felt the 15s silence he chose one for me. good bloke. It's cheap here for a meal. 14 bs which is around 2 australian for a couple of courses and good service. Bolivia's good like that.
I've been feeling a bit under the weather recently and a tad homesick. i'll be glad to get out of La Paz. I want to be with nature, I feel like a bit of solitude.
Yesterday we visited the prison, the infamous San Pedro correctional facility made famous by an english inmate with his book 'Marching Powder'. Anything is possible in this prison. They have a whole new world in there. You have to BUY your prison cell, there are poor and rich sections to the prison. Cocaine is made INSIDE the prison. Tourists are allowed to go in, wives are allowed to go in and fuck their husbands. inmates regularly call prostitutes to fuck after they've fucked their wives... and they're allowed in also. Children live inside aswell - where else do they have to go? Every copper is probably corrupt. Crazy in there
We were met at Burger King on the Prado, a nice little plaza, by one of the wives of the inmates. I really liked her, it was such a short interaction though i felt we were both really relaxed and were able to have a great little conversation. Ney ney's falling for incarcerated cocaine dealers' wives. awesome.
We arrived at the prison and before going in scoped out any possible journalists snapping shots or taking footage of obvious tourists entering the prison.
We were searched for weapons or drugs and then shown to the cell we would have our main conversation with the inmates with
His name was 'jan' or something, a south african man. He had a skinny, carved out face probably due to the copious amounts of cocaine he had self admittedly taken. He estimated over the 1 and a half years he had been there he had snorted over half a kilogram though he had probably smoked a lot more in the form of base. supposedly you can smoke up to 25 grams of base a day, whereas with refined coke 2 grams would be heaps.
Had a bit of a break from writing there and searched around for a decent net cafe with a fast connection no luck. ended up at one joint waiting for entourage to load whilst playing diablo 2 and GTA san andreas. Reminds me of back in the day chopping heads on the good ol' PS2
Got 10m in after 45m loading and decided to give up.
anyway back to the prison tour
Thedude had been in the army back in South Africa, he'd kill 12yr old militant African boys. He told us it takes 4 years to get past the mental scarring anof army life and brutal murder. Another man mentioned in 'Marchy Powder' Came in to chat as well. He was caught for some rediculous amount of coke, supposedly 4 tonnes or the like. You could tell this man thought he was the biggest legend going around. He talked about the way he handed himself in to save others who were suspected of involvement. Bullshit. I bet he was caught outright and made that story up to impress others and elevate his 'celebrity' status. That aside, he was entertaining. Jan seemed a bit on edge and his pupils seemed dilated, maybe he had done a line before hand to let the conversation flow and be a good host however it seemed it wasn't doing him any favours because the conversation at times seemed to lul and awkwardness ensued. His plans after leaving prison in 6 years time is to go straight back to drug smuggling which he was locked up for. Smart dude, rehabilitated fo sure. Prisons work everyone.
I'm definitely glad i went. We were shown around and i felt a connection to how many if not all the prisoners might feel. They have accepted their situation and live life on a day to day basis. In fact, some addicts prefer life in prison. They can do as much cocaine as they like without fear of getting in trouble, and because it is manufactured right there in the prison, they are never short of the best product available.
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