On our way from Copacabana our 3 hour combi ride had 3 minor breakdowns all quickly repaired by the driver. The winding roads were getting to our stomachs but not as much as a local woman who was sick out the window in front of Courtney. Good thing Courtney’s window was closed. Then we had to cross a portion of Lake Titicaca on a small boat while our combi crossed on a separate barge. We were somewhat worried we’d never see our luggage again but the combi was waiting for us all ready to continue on to La Paz. La Paz is a beautiful city set in the valley of the Andes; it’s amazing to see the houses built throughout the valley and up the mountain side until the land turns into sheer rock. The houses look as if they are sticking out and could fall off at any point. It’s not until we climbed up for a view that we could see their sturdy construction. The majority of our time in La Paz was spent catching up on blog posts and trip research. We needed to come up with a plan as to how we could get to Ushuaia (the southernmost tip of South America) by bus and plane before it gets too cold in Patagonia to camp. We had first heard about the San Pedro prison from Claire, an Aussie girl who we met in the Galapagos. She was reading a book called Marching Powder and it was written by a guy who spent time living in the Prison. The prison is like no other in South America, it is completely run by inmates and the only guards at the prison are stationed at the main entrance. Basically when people are arrested and enter the prison they have to rent or buy a prison cell. So wealthy drug dealers typically live in large nicely furnished cells that could be mistaken for luxury apartments while the poorer people live in small shared cells that they rent. In order to afford to pay the rent the people of the prison have to work inside of it. Some people sell goods or food, some people shine shoes, some people are hairdressers, etc. The prison is divided into several small districts and each district elects a representative to look after their needs inside the prison. The districts also have their own soccer teams and it’s not uncommon for the wealthier districts to pay the good players to play for them. We wanted to take a tour but a few years ago tours have been restricted because tourists were going to the prison to buy drugs rather than to have a tour. We were in La Paz over Easter weekend; it was neat to see the cities Easter celebrations. On Good Friday we were walking the streets and ended up in several Good Friday Processions where men carried the body of Jesus in a glass coffin while the women carried a weeping statue of Mary. A truck would follow with a loud speaker where the Priest would speak or a lady would sing. We especially enjoyed watching the truck drive through the streets with the loudspeaker attached to the roof. The streets have very low-hanging power lines so every time the loud speaker got hung up on one of the lines, a man would climb onto the roof of the truck and use a specially made stick lift the power lines over the loud speaker allowing the truck to drive under them. Only in Bolivia. Well that's about it from La Paz. Check out some of the pictures below for further enjoyment!
2 Comments
|
Get updates by email!
Archives
January 2014
Categories
All
|