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Okay well I got a few of you worried on facebook after saying I had just spent 4 hours in prison. I was actually a visitor but what an experience. I have been trying to remember every last detail so that I can put everything in this blog without forgetting anything. So here goes.... Had heard from a few people along the way that you can spend a day in San Pedro (the prison in La Paz). A guy gave me a name and number to call, but upon arriving was given the low down. Go to the prison and look for a south africian guy called Kenny and then ask to see Daniel. Kenny has just been released but is working outside the prison getting people in. Apparently he will find you before you find him, which is near enough true. Saw some other tourists looking a bit lost and followed these guys to the entrance. Here someone passed me a mobile and Daniel said he was coming down, to sign in and he'll meet us. Signed in as Daniels Amigo and got given a number stamp on my arm. No searches, just in we went and a tall mixed race South African with blue eyes and a sniffly nose met us through the gates. Had 9 of us in our group by now and off we go. A few of the inmates are playing cards/basketball in the yard, kids and woman hanging out of some of the rooms but overall everyone seems quite okay with us being there. Now all along in the La Paz you get used to the sound of gun shots or seeing a truck full of riot police, but being in prison when you hear gun shots its quite scary so we all jumped and ducked our heads when a loud bang shook the walls. We later heard this was protestors outside letting off firecrackers as a politcian had just been put in there for ordering the deaths of 30 people at the border and another 150 people were unaccounted for. We were then shown into a room which was actually quite pleasant, had a kitchen in and a little staircase where apparently we would be going to watch a dvd called Marching Powder. Here we paid our 300 bolivias (about 30 quid). This money is appantly split 10 ways to include the guards. People kept coming in and out and apparently the cell belonged to one of the guys that we had just met who was Paublo Estavas right hand man. He was doing 24 years of which he had done 17 so far and had been shot in the leg, but now this was his best leg. His room cost 23,000 dollars. Everyone who is sent to the prison has to either buy their own accommodation or has to rent it. The rooms we were in were the 5star rooms, apparently the 1 star rooms sometimes have to hold up to 10 people. Daniel makes a few jokes with us, like when someone comes to the door he makes one of us stash his mobile phone. We then saw the marching powder dvd. This is a very famous book which was written by a tourist coming in the same way we did, but then he bribed the guards to let him stay to write about an English guy who was there. It also includes stories of some of the other inmates including red beard, who was still there but we didnt meet him, he got caught with 7 tonnes of coke in a plane. It also has stories of inmates being drowned in the swimming pool. We then go up to the third floor and Daniel tells us his story. He was in South Africa when he found out his wife of 8 years had been cheating on him. He then went into self destruct mode, drink, drugs when he got into a small mafia group and wanted to wear the Tshirt. Went over to Peru, swallowed over a kilo of coke and got caught at the airport trying to get to Switzerland. Woman and children are allowed to come and stay over at the prison and he has now met a woman who is having his baby. He is due to be released, but plans on staying around because of this. We then met Sebastian and Anglelo who were both Dutch. Sebastian showed us his room which again had private toilet, bed, dresser. Basic but liveable. Sebastian was a self confessed drug addict who bought some suitcases from a shop only to find it had 7 kilo of coke in the liner when he got to the airport. We then sat up in Angelos room where they asked who would like to buy some coke. The price was 50 bolivias a gramme (about 5 pound) Half the group wanted to, so we sat while people snorted coke in a cell in prison for about 4 hours. Quite normal really. Angelo said that when he first got in there he didnt touch the stuff for 11 months but then his girlfriend left and now they all just get on it every night. Apparently there isnt the famous lab in there that the book talks about but I am sure many people in there know how to make it. He showed us pictures of himself before he went in and he was quite buff now all you see is skin and bones, he said he is just too lazy to eat. Got the feeling that everyone was actually really pleased to see us and have someone to talk to, they said its a lot different when everyone goes home, although you can stay overnight if you want. Hope I have remembered all of this as this was an amazing experience that I am sure wont be allowed forever.
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