DOSE:

3 cups

oral

Cacti - T. pachanoi

(tea)

BODY WEIGHT:

145 lb

Some background info. I’m a professional male in my 50s, lightly built and generally quite calm and stable. Other than very occasional puffs of cannabis (maybe once or twice a year) I had no previous experience of any recreational drugs. The experience described below took place at the beginning of 2018.

I arrived in Lima and flew directly to Cusco in the Andes where I met up as planned with a very good old friend. Flying directly to Cusco was of course a mistake. The city is over 11,000 feet above sea-level so I was inviting altitude sickness which is exactly what happened. On the first day we were driven to a beautiful spot by our Peruvian guides. My friend (who lives in the Canadian Rockies) had a most enjoyable day after drinking the tea. I on the other hand spent most of the time with a pounding headache and nausea, crawling around the hillside retching. I barely managed a sip of the tea. Note to self: do not fly directly from sea-level to 12,000 feet.

Fortunately by Day 2 I was feeling a lot better. We were again driven by our guides to a lovely location about 30 miles outside Cusco. We sat on a warm hill-side covered in aromatic herbs, with a view of the snow-covered high Andes. This time I managed to drink 3 mugs of San Pedro “tea” (served rather prosaically from an old plastic coke bottle) over a period of about 45 minutes. The tea consisted of a greenish bitter tasting slop. It was a struggle to drink it but the taste was greatly improved by the addition of fresh lemon juice (some sugar would have made it even quite palatable). The time was about lunchtime.

Nothing much happened for the first hour or so, so I then had a few puffs of cannabis. That seemed to act as a trigger. The next few hours were delightful. I wandered about the hillside, stopping every so often to lie down, gaze around and generally take it all in. Visuals were mostly closed-eye and were very much the sort of thing I read about: predominantly brightly coloured geometric patterns. I felt very peaceful and at rest. Best of all was the sound. I had one ear bud listening to music and the other ear free to hear the birds and the wind. The combination of Pink Floyd and the sounds of nature was incredibly soothing and lovely.

I wasn’t really aware of time passing but eventually the sun began to go down and our guides decided it was time to leave. I definitely wasn’t ready and was still slightly high but the alternative was being left on the hillside so down we went. A shame. I could certainly have stayed another two or three hours.

This was a very gentle and mellow experience, enhanced by the cannabis. I was probably under the effects of the tea for a total of about six hours. I have read that some people experience nausea with San Pedro tea but I had nothing like that. I actually ate a fair bit during the afternoon. There was no hangover, I slept well and the next morning I felt absolutely fine.

Overall a most gentle and enjoyable introduction to a new world.

Exp Year: 2018	ExpID: 112322
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: 55
Published: Sep 24, 2018	Views: 1,093
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Cacti - T. pachanoi (64) : Nature / Outdoors (23), First Times (2), Small Group (2-9) (17)