Enjoying Bolivia 163an entrepreneur charged with violating banking rules in a
controversial case. He had been locked in for fi ve months
without a trial. He resided in the ‘fi ve-star’ La Posta section,
in a cramped, two-fl oor apartment, including kitchenette
and bath.
Through the other entrance is the proletarian section of
the San Pedro jail. Here, the ultimate redundancy is possible:
to be homeless in prison. Those prisoners who can’t afford
to pay for a cell must sleep in the cold corridors.
A prison population of over 1,600 fi ts into a space originally
designed for 300. In the worst section, there are 111 prisoners
for each shower. However, proximity to visitors is a priority
and thus San Pedro inmates oppose being transferred to the
frigid and more spacious Chonchocorro on the Altiplano.
The Outdoor Museum
If the north-west quadrant of La Paz looks like a rugged capital
of Third World survival artists, the mellow north-east quadrant
contains La Paz’s fi nest examples of preserved colonial
architecture, centred around the narrow Calle Jaen.
The best of these streets is just north of Plaza Murillo,