A couple months ago, Greg and I took our first driving trip in Bolivia to Coroico, a small village at about 4,500' in a tropical zone about two and a half hours drive from La Paz. Much of the fruits and vegetables grown in this area make their way to La Paz; coca leaves are also grown in abundance here, decimating the soil and driving up the prices of food crops as farmers find coca production a more profitable cash crop. There is a large coca market in La Paz; sacks and sacks of raw coca leaves are traded and sold to be produced into tea, medicinals and of course, cocaine.
I recently finished a book about San Pedro prison in Uptown La Paz where apparently the world's purest cocaine is produced in the prison itself with the collusion of prison guards and administrators. If you're interested, the book is Marching Powder and is a first-hand account told from the perspective of an English narco-traffiker who spent over five years there. Prisoners have to pay for their own accommodations and food, medical treatment and basically everything you would pay on the outside. The prison is divided into different economic classes with cells in the most expensive section boasting cable TV, in-suite kitchens and bathrooms and the ability to lock-up their section after 10 p.m. for safety. Inmates that cannot afford to pay for a cell sleep outside risking exposure to the harsh elements or in cramped cells shared with five to six other inmates. A watery soup is provided once daily for those inmates who do not have money or a family to provide for them. Shockingly, wives and children are allowed to live in the prison, coming and going at will, and there is a strict code of honor surrounding exposing children to violence or drugs; when a child appears all hostility pauses until the child has passed. There was a time during the late 1990's that prison tours were run by this particular inmate; backpackers and others would show up, pay a few Bolivians to the guards as an entrance fee, then eat lunch, snort coke and listen to prison stories. For a bit extra, they could spend the night with this particular inmate in his 'flat'. My understanding is that corruption is just as prevalent now as it was when the book was published; narco-traffikers still run their business from inside and money buys privilege, safety and comfort as the wealthy wait-out their sentences while their lawyers bribe the judges and police. Regardless, I would not want to spend any time in a South American prison.
Back to our trip to Coroico. We brought Sharon (head of primary and middle school) and Nova (college and student counselor) in our car; Grace (asst. principal) and her family brought their own vehicle. Unfortunately, altitude can have dire effects on vehicles; when we stopped at the mountain pass to take pictures and have a snack, Grace's vehicle wouldn't start-up again. The men fiddled with it for a bit to no avail and eventually, Grace and her youngest son, Lawrence, joined us on our journey to Coiroico while her husband a middle son dealt with getting a mechanic and tow back to town, switching vehicles, then eventually meeting up with us that evening.
Driving over a mountain pass that is over 15,100' was an insane experience; it was cold and windy and the air was obviously very thin. When we came back over two days later, my limbs tingled and I felt faint until we dropped to below 14,000'. However, the uncomfortable travel over the pass was worth it; it was great to be someplace small, intimate with plenty of oxygen and warm! Greg did a great job driving and avoided what could have been numerous accidents.
The road to Coroico is new but rock slides are frequent; we delayed our return by a day due to a sudden torrential downpour that we determined would make our travel back on the mountain too dangerous. In fact, when we drove back the next day, we came upon a just-happened accident that could have killed the driver. The old road is know as "The Death Road" and is now a major tourist attraction. If one is so inclined, bikes can be rented for a death-defying ride down the mountain. Hmmm....we'll see.
Minutes after the accident
Grace and her husband Jaime were our guides to Coroico and since Jaime was delayed, they decided to stay a bit later on the final day then we planned. So back home we drove, which was an easy route until we got to the city, then none of us really knew where to go. So, we came up with a simple plan; go down in elevation long enough and eventually we would find where we were looking for...amazingly enough, it worked!
Looking for our way back to Calacoto, La Paz
Mostly, it was just nice to get out of town and work for a couple days. We're very much looking forward to Machu Picchu this Christmas and more exploring locally as well. If you'd like to see what Coroico and it's inhabitants, click on the following link:
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