162 CultureShock! Bolivia
Across the traffi c circle from the cemetery may be the most
exciting attraction of the north-west quadrant. In an empty
parcel of terrain, a man with recently slaughtered snakes
gives a sales pitch to a crowd of people. The proverbial ‘snake
medicine’ salesman is not just a folk tale!
When you’ve become bewildered by the crowds in their
humming labyrinth, the way out is down. Streets with the
steepest incline will get you to the main avenue the quickest.
An alternative way out is south, parallel to the downtown
drag, at a mild incline, to the Plaza San Pedro, a community
meeting place for medicinal herbologists and old fashioned
portrait photographers.
The high painted adobe wall occupying a whole quadrangle
is the San Pedro Prison. Visiting hours at the San Pedro Prison
are Thursday and Sunday afternoons. Foreigners are allowed
in to visit their countrymen.
Many inmates are stuck here because they cannot afford
a lawyer, or worse, because they could not afford to pay an
escort on the date of their hearing. They may linger in jail for
months or years before their day in court. René Blattmann’s
presumption of innocence law has been diffi cult to put into
practice.
Within the prison, money talks, and prisoners pay for their
cells and other amenities. I visited with Guillermo Gutiérrez,San Pedro Prison—these prisoners couldn’t afford more luxurious cells.