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10
LA NOCHE DE SAN JUAN

wanted to celebrate the good news immediately. 'Let's get a bottle of
something. My shout,' I suggested to Ricardo.

'But we're already going to Carlos's party.'

'But I don't know him.'

'Doesn't matter. You're invited.'

After what had happened with the standover gang, I was becoming
more accepted in the prison and Ricardo had started introducing me
to other inmates. Occasionally, they invited me around to their rooms.
The rest of the prison was also celebrating that night because it was the
twenty-first of June - the longest night of the year and around the
same time as la Noche de San Juan - a significant date in the Bolivian
calendar. I wasn't sure if it was the longest night, but it certainly felt
like the coldest, and it took several rums to get warm.

A group of about seven of us, including Ricardo, Carlos, Carlos's
wife and some of her girlfriends, were sitting around a table in
Carlos's room. Not all the women who came into San Pedro were
wives, sisters and girlfriends. Sometimes women accompanied their
friends to parties. The girl sitting next to me was beautiful. After a few
more rums, I felt confident enough to try out my Spanish, which was
improving rapidly by that stage. I couldn't understand every word she
said, but if I concentrated, I could follow the general conversation well
enough.

Then someone pulled out a small plastic bag of cocaine and
handed it around with a key to sniff puntitos, which was done
by scooping a small amount onto the tip of the key, putting it just
below your nose and inhaling. Everyone took two small puntitos, one
in each nostril.