Tengo resaca...

Today I discovered the Museum of  Sacred, Magical and Medicial Plants. A fascinating exposition of hundreds of plants used for thousands of years in the Andes.  It included coca, tobacco, San Pedro, ayahuasca and hundreds of others from potatoes to maca.  What a shame that in the UK much of the knowledge of herbal remedies has been lost for the majority of people.  Instead many rely on pharmaceuticals for their ailments, both physical and mental.  To make ever more money the pharmaceutical companies that market these drugs create new conditions which require treatment.  Chemical compounds that alter the brain´s biochemistry which suppress uncomfortable mental states such as shyness, anger, depression and hyperactivity.  Perhaps there are better ways to deal with these states of consciousness than popping pills which have questionable side effects.  I am also learning many physical problems from asthma to cancer have their origin in the mind.  Consciousness is primary, matter follows.  Negative mental states or long-suppressed trauma manifest in the body as disease if not addressed at their root. ¡Viva las plantas!

 

Aleisha, John and Jesus

Crudo - hungover.  The first throbbing head of the trip.  It began with a meal in a classy restaurant with my Spanish teacher and a couple of Aussie students.  Estaba contentillo (I was tipsy). We then went on to a bar followed by Don Diablo (the Devil), a club full of locals with no gringos in sight.  Estaba borracho (I was drunk).  I staggered home at four after dancing in the Plaza de las Armas (the main square) in the rain with the many revellers partying late into the night.

Whilst I don´t want this trip to turn into one long piss up, you´ve gotta respect alcohol´s power to grease the wheels of conversation turning strangers into friends with great rapidity.  The Peruvianos certainly know how  to enjoy themselves.  I just wish I knew a plant remedy for hangovers.