Going to jail in Bolivia

Only visiting...haha i bet you were concerned for a second there, or at least i hope you were concerned for me. But that story comes later. Firstly, as I was leaving Cusco Peru I heard from alot of sources that there were a lot of protesting going on and that the roads from Cusco to Puno, where I was headed were blocked by protesters placing huge rocks and trees in the roads closing all traffic to and from the city of Puno. I heard alot of stories about these buses getting attacked by protesters who would throw stones and objects at the buses and smashing the windows and all kinds of crazy things. Being a daredevil risk taker i was i decided to go anyway. As i was leaving the bus terminal from Cusco i saw alot of buses arriving from puno that had tape over the windows that were smashed. The bus company told me that they were going to take a different route that would take 12 hours instead of the standard 5. Luckily i had a first class seat that fully reclined into a bed and I slept the entire bus ride to Puno and nothing at all happened to me. I dont know if i got lucky or the protests were over but it was probably the easiest bus ride ive ever taken. I woke up only 8 hours after we left and asked the pasenger next to me where we were and he rosponded with Puno. After arriving in Puno i set out to check out the cool different islands of the lake next to Puno called Lake titicaca. Lake titicaca is the highest navible lake in the entire world and is just massive. First i checked out these really cool floating islands of the uros people, which are basically made from these reeds found on the shores of the lake and constructed together about 100 yards long and host several families. These floating islands can also be maneauvered to other areas of the lake. After the floating islands me and the group I was with set out to another island by the name of amantani where we met up with a host family for which we stayed the night, and partied with the local indigenous people. The next morning we set out to check out another island by the name of taquile where we explored a bit had lunch and returned back to the shores of Puno for halloween. At first i thought my halloween was going to be really boring this year because i didnt even know if people in south america celebrated halloween. But as soon as night came the streets were soooo packed with people and little kids in costumes going trick or treating. But instead of saying trick or treat they say halloween! halloween!. My friend Tim and I saw these little kids going around to all the stores and all the tourists saying halloween halloween asking for candy, so we decided to join in on the fun and say or ask halloween halloween to all the little kids and store owners. Within an hour we had handfuls of candy and then started giving some of it out to other kids. All in all it was a pretty fun halloween.

Next comes Bolivia. When i arrived in La Paz Bolivia the first glimpse of the city is just astonishing because you come in from high up in the mountains and get a clear view over the entire city which is situated right in a valley in the Andes. After spending a day of exploring i found the black market and a place called the witches market which sells everything from aborted llama fetuses to dried frogs and different kinds of weird potions. the next day i went to a local wrestling event called cholitas wrestling which was like a bolivian version of WWE which was actually really fun with lots of crowd participation. The next day i booked a mountain biking tour on a place called the worlds most dangerous road. At first i thought this was just a lame marketing slogan but after starting it i realized that it actually is classified as the worlds most dangerous road and that they are not joking about it. You start off pretty high up in the alititude and start a 64 km journey all downhill on a road that is only one lane wide and all dirt and gravel roads with straight cliffs on the corners that were about 1500ft down. Sometimes we would reach speeds of about 65km an hour and some corners were insanely sharp and the dirt road didnt help either. Our guide told us that he has seen alot of people die and that he takes people to the hopsital on a weekly basis. Every 20 minutes we weould stop and he would tell us things like oh this is the corner where a girl fell off the cliff and it was too far for us to rescue her with a safety rope so she suffered a long painful death. Or things like this is where a guy bailed and need facial reconstruction. Even while your flying down this super steep and winding road you would see tombstones on a bunch of the corners. But everything was fine and we all made it to the bottom where we arrived at a really cool animal rescue center which had a bunch of monkey that you can play with and even a swimming pool. On our way back on the bus to La Paz we encountered a huge bus accident where the bus flipped over and almost went off a cliff. We stopped for a bit to see if everyone was alright and then gave a ride to some of the victims to the hospital in our bus.

As for my prison story. Me and some people at the hostel i am staying at got in contact with a prisoner from the San Pedro prison and set up an illegal tour of it with him. After arriving to the prison we realized that there were huge protests going on in the section we were supposed to be going into which was known as the gringo section, Where alot of tourists can come to visit. After sitting out front for awhile we were approached by a guy by the name of kennith which was a former inmate and told us we can get into the Bolivian side of the prison which was actually more authentic and a better experience where not alot of people get to see. So after giving the guards a bribe of about $30 we got into the prison and were met with a different prisoner guide by the name of Manuel and 2 body guards which were other prisoners also, one of which was a murderer and reminded of, and kinda looked like the bad guy in no country for old men except a Bolivian guy instead of a white guy. My first impression was a little shocked and intimidated because we were surrounded by all these crazy Bolivian prisoners who have killed people and stuff. Oh and also our guide Manuel was super hopped up on cocaine too, but a really nice and friendly guy. He started the tour by showing us different sections of the prison like the hospital which only had a few beds for the entire prison, and the doctors are other inmates. Manuel then explained to us that you have to pay for EVERYTHING in the prison including a room and bed and food. And if you cant then you sleep on the ground and die. For this reason everybody in the prison sets up there own little business which might include a restaurant, or dealing drugs. They even have a cocaine factory inside the prison which produces a majority of the drugs found in bolivia. All the guards except bribes or drugs from the prisoners for things in return like allowing there family and children to come stay with them inside the prison. Therefore there were a bunch of little kids wondering around this prison, I thought ahead to buy a bunch of lollypops and handed them out to the kids and every kid i gave one to had a huuuge smile on his face. Manuel then showed us other sections of the prison like the part they put prisoners to punish them and showed us a bunch of peoples cells. Some were pretty decent and some were really terrible, I guess is all depends on how much money you have and the type of business you do in there. One guys room was this little storage space under the stairs that looked even too small for a midget, and manuel explained to us that he has lived there for 21 years. Walking around this prison talking with some of the inmates and even sharing a laugh with some known murderers was a really strange experience for me and something i wont forget. Well i only have one more day in La Paz then i head down more south of Bolivia and then over to Chile. Thanks for reading

Justen Ortiz