Marching Powder

Marching Powder, Rusty Young

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I didn’t just read this, I read it years ago when a friend of mine put me onto it.  But, I wanted to add it to the books category here because it’s hands down, without a doubt, my favorite book of all time.  Fortunately I started reading it when I had a bit of time to spare, because I almost couldn’t put it down, ended up finishing it in two sittings.

Marching Powder tells the story of a British drug dealer’s nearly five years inside Bolivia’s San Pedro prison.  After being caught with cocaine in his suitcase en route to London, Thomas McFadden discovers the markedly different way in which Bolivian prosions operate: he’s forced to pay for his accommodations, buy his food and earn a living inside the prison, where he reports that the majority of Bolivia’s export cocaine is manufactured.  McFadden ends up earning his keep by running tours of the prison for foreign tourists, an operation that eventually saw him receive a mention in the Bolivian Lonely Planet guide book!