San Pedro Prison

So I have fallen behind on my updates...

But I did survive the world's deadliest road and 65 kilometer hike to see Machu Picchu, so yeah me!

San Pedro prison in La Paz was the most surreal 3 hours of my life. On my way to La Paz some Aussies on my bus were talking about things to do in LP. They recommended looking into going to San Pedro. When I arrived I asked the girl at the front desk how to visit San Pedro, so she gave me two numbers to call a man named Kenneth.

I called Kenneth, who as it turns out is a South African prisoner in jail for large amounts of drug trafficking. He arranged a tour for 6 of us from my hostel. He told me to bring 150 bolivanos and a goodie bag full of cigs, deodarant, and toys for the kids inside. Yes, there are kids inside of the prison. So we did as we were told and walked to the prison. Once arriving we walked through a metal detector that with 100% certainty was not working, and walked right past the guards. They didnt check our bag of goods or pat us down or anything. I could have brought 6 sub machine guns, a couple of stun guns, some grappling hooks and a Chipotle burrito and they wouldn't have noticed. Once inside we were rounded up into an apartment type room and given a brief overview. Another South African would be leading our tour through the prison. About the apartment, they dont have cells in the section we are in, they have different properties, which can be bought and sold Monopoly style. The rich live in what amounts to a crappy dorm room, while the poor cram into what the engine room workers on the Titanic would sleep in.

There are no guards inside the prison, the prisoners elect leaders who run the security and make sure things stay under control. There are 8 sections in the prison, the section we were in had 90 prisoner and plus or miuns 15 women and kids, overall the prison has 1100 or so prisoners. I visited the nice section, meaning many less stabbings and assorted violence. The prison as a whole averages 4 deaths amonth, some are natural and some are chalked up to ¨accidents¨. We walked through the courtyard where kids were playing soccer, visited some different apartments, and hid in the gym while our group leader sorted out some two year old beef with another guy who didn't like tourists. We visited zona roja, the area where all of the junkies elect to live. I talked to ¨Superman¨for awhile, a 49 year old Canadian who smokes 20 grams of crack a day. INSANE. When I looked around where I was inside of his room I seriously thought I was living in a dream world. I saw him and some buddies make some crack and smoke it, Jesus Mary and Joseph that was nuts. The prison is said to have the best cocaine in all of Bolivia, which would make sense seeing that 75% of the inmates are there for drug related crimes. After the tour we went back into the apartment where we originally started and were offered a chance to order a cornocopia of different products for sale. Since it was St. Patty's, I shared a bottle of whisky with some buddies from the hostel. After 3 hours I walked out wide-eyed and forever changed. I honestly can't explain what was going through my head throughout the experience, other than a lot of Torbush's.

p.s. The Machu Piccu hike was great. More on that later.


Torbush- http://www.utexasclan.com/images/wow.gif

Song of the moment- Sufjan Stevens- Chicago http://www.seeqpod.com/search/?plid=c29bfe9d21