Drug mules in South America

Inside the Garcia Moreno prison

Everyone who has travelled knows how drugs and backpacking often go together. All of us have heard stories: strangers slipping things into your luggage when you are in the toilet; hostels being raided and everyone getting arrested; the suspicious ‘retailer’ who offers a bag of something, even travellers on their way to a jungle village to sleep in a hammock all day and eat magic mushrooms. This is the other side of those stories. The dark side, when travelling turns to tragedy thanks to drugs.

The first time I ever came into contact with drugs was in Quito, Ecuador. I’d been offered lines of cocaine in a bar by some travellers I knew, yet I was so inexperienced that I thought they were offering me a drink. Turning down their offer, I didn’t realise that my drug story was only beginning.

Two days later, I was in the Quito tourist office. Scanning through the noticeboard I came across an unusual leaflet. “Plan to do something exciting whilst in Ecuador? Why don't you visit Quito prison,” it read, followed by the list of names – the foreign prisoners imprisoned in Garcia Moreno prison. I found one western name – Marc – and decided to visit this bizarre tourist attraction.

A strange attraction

The next day, I climbed the high mound in the heart of Quito where the Garcia Moreno prison had been built, back in 1875. I’d filled two plastic bags with Nutella, chocolate, honey, cigarettes and newspapers, and joined the long queue that snaked down the hill, full of relatives, lawyers and prostitutes.

“Drugs,” a local shopkeeper whispered in my ear, smiling as he observed the queue. I looked suspiciously at the pretty young girl in front of me carrying what looked like a birthday cake. “Inside the cake... drugs,” he whispered. I decided to ignore him and queue patiently for my turn at the gate.

The guard didn't take one look at the birthday cake when he waved the girl through. Then he checked my bags – a lot more carefully, I have to say. He asked a lot of questions in fast Spanish, leading....

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