San Pedro...

For those who are unfamiliar with San Pedro, it is a cactus that also goes by the name ´The Remedy´.  It´s been used for over 3,000 years in the Andes for healing and divination.  As with other mind-expanding plant preparations, San Pedro is illegal in the UK but permitted in Peru and other South American countries.  The question has to be asked why mind expanding compunds are made illegal by British authorites when mind dulling substances like alcohol are affectively promoted?

San Pedro is ingested as a thick, gloopy liquid.  A full tumbler needs to be drunk as quickly as possible as the texture is difficult to stomach.  The excellent guides, La Gringa and her apprentice Steve, encouraged the four participants to find a quiet space in a secluded garden in the mountains where they could journey.  In this safe environment we could relax and let San Pedro do its work.  Unlike other hallucinogenic substances, this is taken during the day.  The main reason for this being the enhanced perception of colour and form, especially of natural features.  Flowers seemed to glow with increased vitality, the normally ignored presence of insects and birds was in full awareness and the clouds shifted endlessly with their ever-changing formations.  All this under the watchful protection of our guides and their three dogs who continually protected the space.

At the height of the experience Luis, an indigenous shaman who normally lives at 6,000m, gave cleansing and healing to us all.  This produced the only visions I saw which were capillary-like lines of glowing red lava encompassing my entire visual field.  I then sat in a deck chair wrapped in a blanket as the Andean winds became stronger and grey clouds rolled in to replace the blue skies.  As I sat time seemed to compress to a point where the past and future were no more and all that was left was the ever present now.  Pretty amazing.

After exploring the nearby Temple of the Moon we headed back to town feeling a little fragile for an evening of pizza, gentle music and conversation filled with laughter.  An incredible day.