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RICARDO

in: I had no one else to turn to because all the other prisoners seemed to hate me, so it was only natural that I came to depend on him. But to this day, I have yet to meet anyone who was as kind to me as Ricardo. He became like a father to me. He was very easy-going and had only one house rule: ‘No smoking base in my room. If I catch you, you’re out. No questions. Straight out.’

Base was apparently what those men had been smoking in the abandoned building on my first day. It was the raw paste which they used to make cocaine powder in the prison laboratories; less refined, but cheaper and far more addictive.

‘Don’t worry,’ I reassured him. ‘I don’t even take cocaine.’

He laughed. ‘Oh you will, my friend. You will.’

Aside from educating me about drugs, Ricardo also took it on himself to educate me about the ways of prison life. Without his help, I don’t know how I would have got through those first weeks. San Pedro was no ordinary prison; there was a lot to learn. As I recovered my health, Ricardo taught me something new each day. The first piece of real advice he gave me I remember very well: make sure that all the other prisoners know where you are from.

‘You must learn the expression “No soy americano,” he advised me, ‘because it might save your life one day. This means, “I am not an American.” You have to be certain that everyone knows you are English. Remember that you are inglés. You are from Inglaterra. Now repeat!’

I noticed that Ricardo always made a point of calling me ‘Inglaterra’ or ‘inglés’ whenever there were other people around. Apparently, it was for my own good as well as his; if people thought I was American, being friends with me might cause him problems. This was the second time Ricardo had mentioned the Americans. Although I had already been picked on for being a foreigner, I still didn’t understand why the Bolivian prisoners hated Americans so much. However, it wouldn’t be long before I found out how dangerous being thought a gringo could be.

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Unfortunately, my body hadn’t yet fully adjusted to normal amounts of food and I got diarrhoea. The need to rush to the toilet struck without warning, at any time of the day or night. I didn’t like going to the bathroom at the best of times; it was small and cramped and dirty, and