La Paz: Lockdowns, Prisons and a Miniature Festival

I had no idea comming to La Paz that the city would be shutting down for the weekend. A vote for a new constitution was in order and that meant that much would be closed in the city. The popular president for the people Evo Morales had made a referendum for a new constitution. It would limit the amount of land that people could own in a country where ninty percentof the land is owned by ten percent. One of the problems is that the land is not being used and Bolivia is importing vast quantities of food when they have the resources to produce it themselves. Friday there were peaceful demonstrations in the streets. However a feeling of uneasiness was felt by the foreigners in the hoslte as signs read:

NO BOZE WEEKEND!!!
Friday- No selling alcohol after 12PM.
Clubs will be closed. Anyone found
outside drunk is liable for arrest
and can be detained for three days

Saturday- No selling alcohol all day
Clubs will be closed. Anyone found
outside drunk is liable for arrest
and can be detained for three days.
Groups of three or more can be
arrested and held for three days

Sunday - Same

However the following day new signs went up.

SHHHHHHHHHH!!!
We are going to do our best to keep the bar open for the weekend. However we need your cooperation. There is a police station across the street and we need to be quiet or we risk being shut down. (not only the bar but the whole hostle and we assume you would like a bed to sleep in) Please be cooperative and don´t leave the hostle after drinking because you and the manager are liable to be arrested and detained for three days. If we shush you during this time it is because we need to keep the noise down.

So Friday afternoon the maintenance crew came into the bar/restaurant with huge inch thick styrofoam sheets and hundreds a egg crates. Soon after the windows were covered and the room was very dark. It stayed this way all weekend. At one time I asked about the police station directly across the street noticing that the windows were suddenly covered. I was informed that they had been paid off and that the reason for the noise barrier was to keep the noise from reaching the patrol cars on the street two stories below. This was the fourth time such actions had taken place and the managers knew how to approach the situation by now.

Saturday we were able to go out in the day. There was a minature festival going on where you would buy miniature replicas of items you wanted to manifest into reality for the upcomming year. So in the main square two blocks from out hotel where the Presidental Palace is located a huge celebration was taking place. Minature stacks of US hundreds, Euro notes and Bolivianos could be purchased and after you would have them blessed over smoke and flowers. Other people carries miniature houses, stores, cars, roosters (to ensure finding good husband), horseshoes...blah blah blah. name it and it was there.
After this we visited the popular tourist destination San Pedro Prison. As nine of us were walkng toward the prison a guy named Daniel approached us and said he could take us in on the tour. He was a prisoner about to finish his time and was able to leave during the day, yet had to return at night. So we followed him in through the side gate and the guards signed us in. We all paid the 250 boliviano fee which is about thirty five US dollars. We got a stamp on our hand and we were in.
Now this isn´t an ordinary prison with guards and cells. Instead there are families and apartments. Once past the gate we went into a courtyard where tables of men and women and children were eating meals. Othere children ran around and played games. Inmates and their visiting friends roamed freely, played guitar and sang and did anything else they felt like doing.
The way it works in San Pedro is this. You get arrested for smuggling drugs which almost everyone there is incarcerated. You then are thrown into the prison. From then on its up to you to work your way up. If you have money you buy your way into the part we took a tour of. Its called the international section and is the nice part. If not you stay in the other side. Here you have to find a job such as cleaning rooms or whatever. Then you can get paid money from other inmates. So with your money you can purchase a cell or food or blankets, clothes whatever. If not you just sleep in the courtyard dont eat and be miserable. There are no guards comming to help you or feed you. You have to figure it out for yourself.
So we toured the rich section. There was a small shop where you could buy snacks, a weight room, a game and tv room wth a pool table and a big courtyard and a church. We went into a cell, or apartment, of one of Pablo Escobars partners. He had purchased his cell for twenty three thousand dollars. It was three stories high. The rooftop floor had panoramic views of the city. He showd us his gunshot would from his shootout with the Bolivian army and the DEA when he got caught. We then watched movies about the prison. Unfortuantly we got the crappy tour. The tour into the Bolivian side is much longer. Otheres talked about playing vollyball with the prisoners. There is a famous water pool which just happens to say martin in the bottom. The pool is famous for people being murdered in and also one way of punishment is to throw the icy water on to someone early in the morning or throw them into the pool.

Sunsday night people gathered in the presidential square and celebrated the voting in of the new constitution. We watched on tv as celebrations took place throughout the country. After all the uneasiment the weekend went pretty smoothly and today everything is fine. Tonight I take a bus to the Salt desserts in the south where I will tour the next three days.