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A VOLUNTARY INMATE

sometime. Even if it’s a long time in the future, you’ll always meet again. One day, at least.’

‘OK, then. Hasta luego.’

Yasheeda was away for exactly six-and-a-half days that first trip. I almost went out of my mind worrying about her. The bike ride was only supposed to take half a day, then the group had planned to spend the night in a hotel, wander around the town in the morning and come back to La Paz the following afternoon. However, she didn’t arrive at the prison and she didn’t call my mobile phone. I left it on the whole time and I must have checked the dial tone a hundred times to make sure the phone was working.

The road down to Coroico was officially the most dangerous road in the world; it twisted and turned along sheer cliff faces that dropped thousands of feet into the valleys below. In most parts, the dirt track was barely wide enough for one vehicle, but since it was the only road linking the town to La Paz, vehicles travelled in both directions. There was a fatal accident every single week. In fact, deaths on the road were so common that the media often didn’t bother reporting them.

Nevertheless, I watched the news closely for accidents. On the fourth morning, I found a small article saying that a minibus had gone over the edge in the fog, killing eight people. The paper didn’t mention if there were any foreigners involved, or even which direction the minibus was travelling. I rang the newspaper and television stations to try to find out. No one knew anything.

Eventually, Yasheeda turned up at the prison, tanned and smiling, like nothing had happened. I was so happy to see her and so relieved that she was alive, but I was angry with her. I was also angry with myself for letting myself think about her so much.

‘Did you miss me?’ she asked.
‘A little bit,’ I answered, not wanting to let on just how much she had put me through.
‘Ohhh.’ She appeared to be disappointed. ‘Only a little bit?’
‘No. A lot. I missed you a lot.’
‘That’s better,’ she said, hugging me. ‘We were having such a good time. You should be grateful I came back at all! The others are still down there. I came back especially for you.’

I doubted that was true. I didn’t believe it until the next day.