Hitchhiking to Machu Picchu and Arequipa

Jump to Section

Jump to Section

This following is excerpted from The Jeweled Highway: On the Quest for a Life of Meaning by Ralph White, published by Divine Arts. 

 

Most young males have the impulse to push themselves to the limit, to test their capacities. For my father and grandfather’s generations, they had no choice but to find their tests in the trenches of the Somme or the fields and towns of Normandy and Nazi-occupied Holland. For many of my age in America, Vietnam, or the struggles against the war, pushed them to find parts of themselves of which they had been unaware. For me, this time of youthful testing was South America.

There is nothing in Central America to prepare you for Colombia. After months of easygoing people, mostly poor but friendly, Barranquilla was a very rude shock. An air of menace seemed to hang over. It seemed that life was cheap, and blood flowed easily.

A few days after arriving, while attempting to travel from Santa Marta to Cartagena, my bus broke down in the hardcore slums of Barranquilla, and it was every man for himself. I was the only foreigner on board and, instead of trying to flag down a taxi and heading for somewhere vaguely safe, I was in money-saving mode and tried to make my way on foot to a bus stop. Unfortunately, a gang of destitute youths was in the way.

This was the only time in my life I have known a direct physical attack with a broken bottle. Set upon by two men at night in a neglected, rubbish-strewn public park, there was no appeal to reason. One of them had a maniacal strength born of some kind of derangement. When he tried to get his bottle edge near my throat, I forgot all notions of fair fighting. I grabbed the bastard’s hair and pulled it viciously with all the strength I could muster. This was enough for him to let go his iron grip on my neck and I broke from their grasp. Deciding that the sleeping bag and clothes in my backpack were not enough to die for, I used the fleetness of foot developed by years of cross-country running and headed for the streetlights and a group of people, yelling loudly, “Ladrones, ladrones,” the only word I could remember in Spanish for thieves.

My hands were cut up a little, but the shock was so intense I didn’t know if I was cut nastily on the face or not. I still had my faithful leather jacket, complete with passport and $240 worth of traveler’s checks. I found an all-night emergency clinic where they patched me up and assured me I didn’t need stitches. Briefly I pondered whether enough was enough and maybe I should head back to the safety of North America. I was deeply shocked and upset, but I wasn’t going to let this deter me from reaching Machu Picchu. I bought a couple of cheap cotton shirts and a towel, put them in a ten-cent straw bag, and headed south. It seemed that hitchhiking was not advisable in this crazy place; besides, the rickety buses were so cheap that you could cross the length of Colombia for about ten dollars. As the bus rolled inland from the coast, I began to see the outlines of the Andes and my heart soared. Outside Medellin, the war with the guerillas was happening in earnest. All males were taken off the bus, lined up at gunpoint, and searched closely for weapons. In the city itself, I had my first encounters with Colombian bar life with its scantily clad, flirtatious women who emanated an intense sexuality that was both attractive and mysterious.

After Cali, the mountains became higher, more severe, and colder. I knew nobody who had ever been this way before, and my only preparation was reading Prescott’s marvelous History of the Conquest of Peru, a tale of vicious thuggery by the conquistadors in the face of a highly developed culture. As I began to hear the otherworldly clicking sounds of the Quechua tongue, my mind turned often to the forgotten world of the Incas that had stimulated my whole trip. By the time I reached Pasto near the border, the nights had become icy and star-filled. Rattling down the mountainsides in an old bus missing half its windows, my leather jacket pulled close around me, my feet bare but for sandals after months of tropical warmth, I shivered uncontrollably. The Andes stretched away into the distance in silent vastness.

During ten days crossing Colombia, I had met only three foreigners. What would Ecuador hold? At 10,000 feet, I was entering a new world. The ubiquitous presence of DAS, the corrupt Colombian secret police always on the lookout to extort money for some minor violation, fell away. Ecuador seemed much more peaceful and sane. My funds were running very low and I still had to get to Machu Picchu and back. Should I try hitchhiking again?

I turned a corner in the border town of Ipiales and encountered a sight I had never seen before in South America: A tall blond guy with John Lennon glasses, a plaid shirt, cowboy boots, and a ponytail alongside a small, intense, dark-haired woman standing by the side of the dirt road, both with their thumbs out at passing vehicles. “Por favor, atrás. Porque no?” the man shouted in execrable Spanish as he gesticulated wildly at each truck rumbling by.

Who on earth was this? These people looked as crazy as me. I walked up to them and learned that he was Californian, she Colombian, and they were heading for Peru. We had barely begun our conversation when a pickup truck suddenly pulled over. “Wanna hit it?” Cliff said.

“Sure. Why not?” I shrugged and clambered into the back of the truck with the two of them. And thus began a saga that lasted for thousands of miles.

Cliff had a beard, baggy jeans, and was carrying a hidden machete in his big orange pack. Leda was pale skinned with jet-black hair, dressed in a polo-necked sweater and white trousers. That day was the fulfillment of a hitchhiking dream. The truck teetered along winding mountain roads, crossing crumbling bridges over chasms, enormous snow-capped mountains above us. This seemed high adventure, heading into the unknown, a spirit of exhilaration infusing my soul after the danger and stress of Colombia. I stood in the back of the truck, the wind blowing my hair wildly, epic vistas opening up with each turn of the road, and felt fully alive. Yeah, this was living; this was free and adventurous and fun.

In Quito, the Ecuadorian capital, we rested a little, and then began the longest hitchhiking run of my life to reach the capital of Peru. We hitched a ride in a big truck to Guayaquil, the sleazy Pacific port. Standing at night at a truck stop outside the city in the humid, polluted tropical air, the vast container trucks moving out of the port and heading into the darkness, it looked like it was going to be a night at the side of the road for us. But Leda, with her flirtatious charm, convinced a trucker to open the back of his empty vehicle and let us in. I will always remember the booming, echoing sound of the sledgehammer as the driver sealed us into this huge, empty container coffin and we rumbled into the night toward who knows where. Sitting on the floor in pitch darkness, every whine of the brakes shrieked and howled through this gigantic echo chamber. Vehicles coming up behind sent long laser beams of light through the cracks in the rear door, creating a bizarre sound-and-light show. Rolling through the night in a blackness filled with otherworldly howls and strange light formations, Cliff revealed his capacity to see the light side of things. “Maybe we came here to die,” he confided.

Somehow we traveled through the night, all through the next day, and then a second night in the Atacama Desert. I had never imagined that deserts would be cold at night, but this was freezing and we were glad to arrive in fog-shrouded Lima. There was nothing romantic about this place. It seemed permanently wrapped in chilly, gray mist; a depressed aura hung over the whole city. So this was the long-awaited Peru? We left rapidly and headed into the mountains towards Cuzco. Passing the snow line, still without sweater or socks, I realized I was reaching the heart of the Andes. In Ayacucho, I bought for a few dollars a brown, llama-wool poncho, thick socks, and a hat with earflaps. There was little to suggest that this would become the future scene of numerous violent acts by the Sendero Luminoso, the Shining Path guerillas. Now the sky was becoming huge and the mountains increasingly vast. For days we journeyed through tiny villages where the cemeteries were much grander than the homes. In those days you only heard that evocative Andean pipe music in the Andes themselves, and each note took me deeper into a mysteriously beautiful world.

At last we rumbled down our final, brown-and-gray mountainside into Cuzco, ancient capital of the Incas. Nobody imagined then that it would become the South American Kathmandu within twenty years, but it had an immediately impressive and mysterious air. The fortress of Sacsayhuaman high above the town confirmed all one’s suspicions that something extraordinary had happened here. Vast irregularly shaped rocks fit together so closely that you could not get a razor blade between them. I read that the Peruvian army had been unable to raise even one of these massive blocks with all the benefits of modern technology, and yet here were thousands of them fitted together impeccably. Had the modern world wiped out some body of ancient knowledge?

Determined to make it to Machu Picchu the cheapest and most mystical way possible, we decided to hitch up the Valley of the Incas. In the small village of Písac, below a mountainside covered in ancient graves, I witnessed a too-common tragedy of mountain life. The narrow dirt roads of the Andes constitute the world’s most hair-raising land travel: terrifying drops and insufficient room for two vehicles to pass. When trucks and buses met, one vehicle often had to back up with its wheels only inches from the edge of the cliff. In these mountains you chose your driver very carefully. You saw upturned trucks thousands of feet below the road in riverbeds, the result of momentary poor judgment or sheer bad luck. While in Písac, I began to hear loud wailing and weeping. Women were crying and running through the center of the village. A truck carrying a large number of the village men had gone over a cliff and killed everyone on board. How do you respond to a tragedy like this? It seemed the latest in a long line of events that have battered these stoic people since the shameless and brutal destruction of their high culture by Francisco Pizarro and his gold-obsessed thugs in the sixteenth century.

Later, hitchhiking up the Sacred Valley of the Incas, surrounded by beauty, I felt free and alive. I was walking at dusk in the midst of mysteries into the unknown, with no certainty of a bed for that night. How far was the next town? Magic was in the air amidst the towering snowcaps, and the laughter in the eyes of the Indian women who wore high, white hats and spoke with clicking tongues.

Boarding a train from Ollantaytambo for the last hour or two to the sacred city itself I felt the intense exhilaration of almost reaching my destination. We climbed off by the railroad tracks. A small fleet of minibuses provided transport for the wealthy staying in the tourist hotel at the top of the mountain, but for the likes of us, there were a few wooden shacks with crude pallets made of tree branches by the side of the river. We dropped off our few possessions and headed up the steep mountainside by a small path. It was a demanding climb, but I was so excited that I had boundless energy. It was easy to see why this place was not discovered until 1911. As we got closer to the summit, the landscape began to open up and silent grandeur began to take hold of us. Finally, at the summit, we gazed on the ancient ruins. Above us, on the opposite peak, the Temple of the Moon; before us, the Temple of the Sun. For decades archeologists had mistakenly considered this some kind of fortress. It was clear that this was a deeply holy place.

There were few visitors and they left soon. Before long, we stood pretty much alone at the hitching post of the sun at 8,000 feet. The green and brown slopes of the mountains all around us swept down to the river as it made its U-shaped curve around the sacred mountain. As evening approached, the mantle of clouds above us and the higher mountains all around formed a vast, perfect natural amphitheater with a lilac-colored dome. A profound silence settled. The only sound was the distant rushing of the Urubamba River thousands of feet below us. We stood transfixed in the spiritual heart of the Andes, our souls gripped by an overwhelming sense of awe and wonder. As dusk began to gather, flashes of lightning outlined the Temple of the Moon on the peak opposite us.

Weren’t there also other natural holy places where a mysterious combination of landscape elements and some subtle presence produced a profound feeling of reverence among sensitive people? Perhaps ancient cultures had possessed a consciousness of this that we had mostly lost. As I gazed out on this vision of sublime beauty, I knew intuitively that there were many other spots on the planet where this feeling of magical reverence was generated organically.

Those moments at Machu Picchu have stayed with me as glimpses of a deeper order beneath the surface of life. I felt a quiet humility in the face of those ancient Incan secrets, and a longing to see into the mysteries of existence with a wisdom similar to that which had clearly inspired the priests. I felt I was granted a moment of insight into divine harmonies inaccessible to the five senses, and was truly grateful. This was the apex of my pilgrimage, and I had received something unexpected — a taste of inner peace that has remained with me all my life, and a glimpse of the sacred places of the earth where the old mysteries had been celebrated. I could ask for nothing more.

We could not drag ourselves away from this transcendent scene, but as darkness had crept upon us, it was unclear how we would find our way down the mountain paths. Arm in arm so as not to lose contact we stumbled downward in the darkness, silent lightning flashes occasionally illuminating the winding track and throwing the Temple of the Moon into dramatic relief high above us. At last, we found our way to the huts where we had left our possessions, and threw ourselves down on those primitive cots. It was bitterly cold and, wrapped in my poncho, I tossed all night trying vainly to sleep.

We left the following morning on the train. The visit had been brief but perfect. Now that the object of my adventure had been accomplished, there remained the knotty problem of how to return to North America with my meager funds. Still the Andes beckoned. Surely I couldn’t head back without seeing Lake Titicaca and maybe even Bolivia. After a night or two in Cuzco, we determined to hitch for the lake. Little did I know that I was about to experience the coldest night of my life.

In some remote village, notable only for the hostility of its inhabitants to any “gringos,” we flagged down a potato truck and after some hesitation climbed on top. There we found a handful of Indians atop the potato sacks. The slow-moving truck lumbered on and the temperatures fell lower and lower. By the time we reached a high pass I was shivering uncontrollably. The zip on my trusty leather jacket broke and I could only huddle with my poncho wrapped around my feet, still suffering the ill effects of a mutton soup given us the night before in which the lumps of meat still had wool attached to them. The driver stopped at one point to pull back that tarp to prevent the potatoes from freezing, not to protect us. My fingernails cracked and began to bleed. There was no heat anywhere in my body, no ability to revive warmth by blowing on my hands or rubbing any body part; warmth had disappeared totally. We stopped to ford a river under the clear night sky. It was bitter, bitter cold.

The night went on, with endless, futile attempts to find a comfortable body position and sleep. By the time sunrise came, we had reached Lake Titicaca, and I was close to suffering from exposure. We pulled into the lakeside town of Juliaca and climbed stiffly down from the top of the truck in the early-morning sunlight. I shivered violently for the next few hours. But there was this amazing lake, stretching endlessly before us like a huge inland sea. The sun was well up before we stopped shaking, and the night seemed no more than a nightmare. Had it been real?

On the far side lay Bolivia, a land where three quarters of the people were indigenous, the Tibet of South America, somewhere truly off the beaten path at that time. I couldn’t resist. A truck ride across the Bolivian border was the small town of Copacabana, where we decided to spend the night. Here a hill rose above the lake from which the small Islands of the Sun and the Moon — the legendary birthplace of the Incan gods — were visible.

The following afternoon I climbed the nearest hillside to gaze down upon the great lake. All afternoon I sat silently on the hilltop watching the shades of Lake Titicaca turn from green to blue to indigo while scarlet clouds hung on distant mountaintops. My being was filled with an almost inexplicable sense of wholeness. My heart was full, my mind at peace, my body at rest after long exertions. But there was something more than that. Again I had the sense of being at a sacred spot, somewhere where the harmonies of Heaven and Earth were more perceptible. As I descended the hill at dusk, I had a deep sense that this feeling was why I had come so far. There was no obvious source of such satisfaction, but for hours as I gazed on those mystical waters, I had been filled with a transcendent serenity.

I had done it. I had made it to my goal, all the way from Canada, and this was my first opportunity to rest and consider after the rush of leaving the sacred city, and the agonies of the journey out of Peru. I had endured many a crisis to be sitting overlooking that wondrous lake. I felt mature and capable of facing the world. I simply sat and sat. I did not consciously meditate. I walked down to the village at dusk with the clear feeling: This is why I came to South America.

Now we were ready for the capital, and hitched a ride in an open truck with Aymara Indians, each with his cheek bulging with a wad of coca leaves. The truck stopped to ford a shallow river and we found ourselves facing a group of goose-stepping, black-shirted marines. Posters of the dictator, Hugo Banzer, with his disturbing little moustache, were starting to appear everywhere. A soldier climbed the sides of our truck to inspect us. When he saw us, his eyes widened, and he spat one word — “Heepies!” — with a look of contempt. I suppose my headband and beard didn’t help.

The empty plains seemed to go on forever; suddenly we turned sharp left and dropped steeply. A huge crater appeared in the earth. There was a large city far, far below, as if at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. It was late afternoon, and the reflected pink rays from the enormous snowcap Illimani that rises above La Paz cast a beautiful if melancholic glow across the whole basin.

I had the desire to cross the Andes all the way to the savannah country in the east of Bolivia. We hitched across the Altiplano to the old silver town of Oruro, and the following morning landed a ride in a long flatbed truck all the way to Cochabamba, sixteen hours to the east. This journey stands in my memory as the most exhilarating ride I ever took. The truck passed a broken-down wooden sign reading 5,000 metres, meaning that we were approaching 16,000 feet. Sitting amongst pipes in the back of the truck, huddled together for warmth under our ponchos, we could see great condors flying high in the sky. Snowcapped peaks seemed to go on to infinity all around us. I had never felt so full, so able to see so far, so awed by the size and beauty of the world.

By the time night fell, we were under a brilliant starry canopy. That same deep love of the stars that I had experienced in Tucson three years earlier came back to me. How, I wondered, could anybody imagine that we mere human beings, on our tiny planet in this vast cosmos, have figured out the ultimate nature of reality? Beneath a brilliant night sky high in the world’s greatest mountains, it was difficult to take the certainties of scientific materialism seriously. How could we know, a mere 200 years after the rise of modern technology, that only the sense-perceptible world is real? It seemed shortsighted, to say the least.

Then it was time to head for Santa Cruz province, where Che Guevara had been killed six years previously. As we reviewed the various trucks about to set off in our direction, I knew this would be another hair-raising ride. I examined each driver very carefully to see who seemed the most sane, balanced, and sober. We made our choice, hopped in the back of the truck, and headed off. After a long, long ride, we began to feel the altitude dropping and a feeling of warmth in the evening air. This felt so foreign after months of icy cold at night ever since the mountains in the far south of Colombia.

This was the southernmost point of the journey. Now it was time to head north to Colombia; from there, fly to Miami, and then hitchhike to British Columbia. Leaving Lake Titicaca for the coast, we hitched a ride in the back of a pickup truck. Descending from the high Andes in an endless series of hairpin bends, I lay in the back of the truck, breathing that familiar South American mix of gasoline fumes and cold dust, trying to fight off nausea.

When at last we arrived in the city of Arequipa at about 4,000 feet, it felt like I had returned to “civilization” as commonly understood. As we approached the city, I could see industrial chimneys belching smoke. The faces of the residents seemed strained after the serenity of the Indian faces with which I had become familiar. That night I went to a movie theater for the first time in many months to see Paul Newman in WUSA, a film about a radio station in New Orleans. I remember nothing about the plot. What struck me with appalling force was the contorted expressions on the characters’ faces. Their anxieties had made them exceptionally ugly, or so it seemed to me after my mountain sojourn.

The whole experience of returning to modern urban life produced in me an overwhelming sensation that Western civilization was destroying both the Earth and the souls of its inhabitants. From the obscenely grim factories to the pinched, fearful, angry faces of the people, it was clear that this modern world of industry and profit that had so much of the planet in its grip was fundamentally out of balance with the universe. Right down to the deepest core of my being, I felt this truth. The world today must be restored to health and well-being.

I did not set out on a self-conscious vision quest in going to South America, but I had inadvertently experienced one. I knew from that point on that my life’s work needed to be about restoring wholeness to the human spirit and to the natural environment.

At Machu Picchu and Lake Titicaca, I had tasted insight into the sacred dimensions of the world. Now I saw with piercing intuitive clarity how this forgotten sense of harmony with the cosmos must be restored if we are to have a viable future. In a sense, the goal of the journey had been accomplished. I would return a changed man.

North America beckoned. In Lima, everything depended on maximizing my paltry financial resources. My Colombian friend and co-traveler, Leda, went out one day to the black marketeers to change into dollars the little money left from the various currencies acquired since the border of Ecuador months before. Then she disappeared. Cliff had remained in La Paz, and for two days I paced and wondered and worried. At six o’clock in the morning there was a knock on the door of my cheap little hotel near the Presidential palace. I answered with some trepidation. There was Leda. She looked at me and I could see tears in her eyes. “Ay, yo he perdido toda la plata,” she moaned. She had lost all the money and been harassed relentlessly by the police for days simply because she was Colombian.

By a stroke of good fortune, I happened to have two twenty-dollar bills in my jeans pocket. I was 6,000 miles from home. Now it was really time to return. The only question was how.

***

images

 

Join Ralph White at The Alchemist’s Kitchen in NYC on Monday, September 19, where he’ll be giving a talk on the Rosicrucian Enlightenment and the roots of Western alchemy. Learn more here. 

Psychedelic Resources

A Foraging Trip: Where Do Magic Mushrooms Grow?
Eager to learn more about the origin of psilocybin species? Read this article to find out where magic mushrooms grow and more!

How to Make Shroom Tea: Best Recipe and Dosage
A step by step guide on how to brew shroom tea, and why entheogenic psilocybin tea is a preferred method for psychedelic connoisseurs.

R. Gordon Wasson: Author and Mushroom Expert
Learn about R. Gordon Wasson, the “legendary mushroom expert” and popular figure within the psychonaut community.

Shrooms vs Acid: Differences and Similarities Explained
Ever wondered what the differences are between shrooms vs acid, or if you can take both together? This guide explains what you need to know.

Quantum Mechanics, Reality, and Magic Mushrooms
Scientist and author Dr. Chris Becker takes an in-depth approach in understanding how we perceive reality through magic mushrooms and quantum mechanics.

Psilocybin Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety
Our ultimate guide to Psilocybin has everything you want to know about this psychedelic fungi from its uses to its legal status.

The Psilocybin Experience: What’s the Deal With Magic Mushrooms?
From microdoses to macrodoses, the psilocybin experience has been sought after both medicinally and recreationally for millennia.

Psilocybin and Magic Mushroom Resources
Curious to learn more about psilocybin? This guide is a comprehensive psilocybin resource containing books, therapeutic studies, and more.

Paul Stamets Profile: Mushroom Guru, Filmmaker, Nutritionist, Scientist
Learn about Paul Stamets, read his thoughts on psilocybin mircodosing, the future of psilocybin, and his recent film “Fantastic Fungi”.

Microdosing Psilocybin & Common Dosage Explained
Microdosing, though imperceivably, is showing to have many health benefits–here is everything you want to know about microdosing psilocybin.

Psilocybin Nasal Spray: Relief for Anxiety, PTSD, and Depression
Microdosing nasal spray with psilocybin, is that possible?! Oregan a start-up Silo Wellness believes so and has created this new option for PTSD treatment.

Mazatec Mushroom Usage: Notes on Approach, Setting and Species for Curious Psilonauts
A look at traditional Mazatec psilocybin mushroom usage, and a comparison to the cliniical therapeutic approach, with an examination of the Mazatec setting and species used in veladas.

María Sabina: The Mazatec Magic Mushroom Woman
Magic mushrooms are incredibly popular today. How they became introduced to into American culture isn’t usually a topic discussed while tripping on psilocybin fungi. We all may have María Sabina to thank for exposing the Western world to the healing properties of the psilocybin mushroom.

Guide to Magic Mushroom Strains
Are there different types of psilocybin? Read our guide to learn about the different magic mushroom strains and their individual effects.

Kilindi Iyi: Mycologist, Traveler, Teacher
Learn about traveler and mycologist Kilindi Iyi known in the psychedelic community for his research and exploration of psilocybin.

How to Store Shrooms: Best Practices
How do you store shrooms for optimal shelf life? Learn how and why the proper storage method is so important.

Shroom Chocolate Recipes: How to Make Magic Mushroom Chocolates
This recipe provides step by step directions on how you can make mushroom chocolates with the necessary ingredients. Read to learn more!

Why Do People Use Psilocybin? New Johns Hopkins Study
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicines has just published a new study on psychoactive effects of psilocybin. Read here to learn more.

How-To Lemon Tek: Ultimate Guide and Recipe
This master guide will teach you how to lemon tek, preventing the onset of negative effects after consuming psilocybin. Read to learn more!

How to Intensify a Mushroom Trip
Learn about techniques like Lemon tekking, or discover the right time to consume cannabis if you are looking to intensify a mushroom trip.

How to Grow Magic Mushrooms: Step-by-Step
This step-by-step guide will show you how to grow magic mushrooms at home. Read this guide before trying it on your own.

How to Dry Magic Mushrooms: Best Practices
Read to learn more about specifics for the best practices on how to dry magic mushrooms after harvesting season.

How to Buy Psilocybin Spores
Interested in psilocybin mushrooms? We’ll walk you through all you need to know to obtain mushroom spores. Nosh on this delish How To guide.

Hippie Flipping: When Shrooms and Molly Meet
What is it, what does it feel like, and how long does it last? Explore the mechanics of hippie flipping and how to safely experiment.

Having Sex on Shrooms: Good or Bad Idea?
Is having sex on shrooms a good idea or an accident waiting to happen? Find out in our guide to sex on magic mushrooms.

Gold Cap Shrooms Guide: Spores, Effects, Identification
Read this guide to learn more about the different characteristics of gold cap mushrooms, and how they differ from other psilocybin species.

Guide to Cooking with Magic Mushrooms
From cookies to smoothies and sandwiches, we cover various methods of cooking with magic mushrooms for the ultimate snack.

2020 Election: The Decriminalize Psilocybin Movement
Are you curious if mushrooms will follow in marijuana’s footsteps? Read to learn about how the U.S. is moving to decriminalize psilocybin.

Oregon’s Initiative to Legalize Mushrooms | Initiative Petition 34
Oregon continues to push ahead with their initiative to legalize Psilocybin in 2020. The measure received its official title and now needs signatures.

Canada Approves Psilocybin Treatment for Terminally-Ill Cancer Patients
Canada’s Minister of Health, Patty Hajdu approved the use of psilocybin to help ease anxiety and depression of four terminal cancer patients.

Mapping the DMT Experience
With only firsthand experiences to share, how can we fully map the DMT experience? Let’s explore what we know about this powerful psychedelic.

Guide to Machine Elves and Other DMT Entities
This guide discusses machine elves, clockwork elves, and other common DMT entities that people experience during a DMT trip.

Is the DMT Experience a Hallucination? 
What if the DMT realm was the real world, and our everyday lives were merely a game we had chosen to play?

How to Store DMT
Not sure how to store DMT? Read this piece to learn the best practices and elements of advice to keep your stuff fresh.

What Does 5-MeO-DMT Show Us About Consciousness?
How does our brain differentiate between what’s real and what’s not? Read to learn what can 5-MeO-DMT show us about consciousness.

How to Smoke DMT: Processes Explained
There are many ways to smoke DMT and we’ve outlined some of the best processes to consider before embarking on your journey.

How to Ground After DMT
Knowing what to expect from a DMT comedown can help you integrate the experience to gain as much value as possible from your journey.

How To Get DMT
What kind of plants contain DMT? Are there other ways to access this psychedelic? Read on to learn more about how to get DMT.

How DMT is Made: Everything You Need to Know
Ever wonder how to make DMT? Read our guide to learn everything you need to know about the procedures of how DMT is made.

Having Sex on DMT: What You Need to Know
Have you ever wondered about sex on DMT? Learn how the God Molecule can influence your intimate experiences.

Does the Human Brain Make DMT? 
With scientific evidence showing us DMT in the brain, what can we conclude it is there for? Read on to learn more.

How to Use DMT Vape Pens
Read to learn all about DMT vape pens including: what to know when vaping, what to expect when purchasing a DMT cartridge, and vaping safely.

DMT Resources
This article is a comprehensive DMT resource providing extensive information from studies, books, documentaries, and more. Check it out!

Differentiating DMT and Near-Death Experiences
Some say there are similarities between a DMT trip and death. Read our guide on differentiating DMT and near-death experiences to find out.

DMT Research from 1956 to the Edge of Time
From a representative sample of a suitably psychedelic crowd, you’d be hard pressed to find someone who couldn’t tell you all about Albert Hofmann’s enchanted bicycle ride after swallowing what turned out to be a massive dose of LSD. Far fewer, however, could tell you much about the world’s first DMT trip.

The Ultimate Guide to DMT Pricing
Check out our ultimate guide on DMT pricing to learn what to expect when purchasing DMT for your first time.

DMT Milking | Reality Sandwich
Indigenous cultures have used 5-MeO-DMT for centuries. With the surge in demand for psychedelic toad milk, is DMT Milking harming the frogs?

Why Does DMT Pervade Nature?
With the presence of DMT in nature everywhere – including human brains – why does it continue to baffle science?

DMT Substance Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety
Our ultimate guide to DMT has everything you want to know about this powerful psychedelic referred to as “the spirit molecule”.

DMT for Depression: Paving the Way for New Medicine
We’ve been waiting for an effective depression treatment. Studies show DMT for depression works even for treatment resistant patients.

Beating Addiction with DMT
Psychedelics have been studied for their help overcoming addiction. Read how DMT is helping addicts beat their substance abuse issues.

DMT Extraction: Behind the Scientific Process
Take a look at DMT extraction and the scientific process involved. Learn all you need to know including procedures and safety.

Microdosing DMT & Common Dosages Explained
Microdosing, though imperceivable, is showing to have many health benefits–here is everything you want to know about microdosing DMT.

DMT Art: A Look Behind Visionary Creations
An entire genre of artwork is inspired by psychedelic trips with DMT. Read to learn about the entities and visions behind DMT art.

Changa vs. DMT: What You Need to Know
While similar (changa contains DMT), each drug has its own unique effect and feeling. Let’s compare and contrast changa vs DMT.

5-MeO-DMT Guide: Effects, Benefits, Safety, and Legality
5-Meo-DMT comes from the Sonora Desert toad. Here is everything you want to know about 5-Meo-DMT and how it compares to 4-AcO-DMT.

4-AcO-DMT Guide: Benefits, Effects, Safety, and Legality
This guide tells you everything about 4 AcO DMT & 5 MeO DMT, that belong to the tryptamine class, and are similar but slightly different to DMT.

How Much Does LSD Cost? When shopping around for that magical psychedelic substance, there can be many uncertainties when new to buying LSD. You may be wondering how much does LSD cost? In this article, we will discuss what to expect when purchasing LSD on the black market, what forms LSD is sold in, and the standard breakdown of buying LSD in quantity.   Navy Use of LSD on the Dark Web The dark web is increasingly popular for purchasing illegal substances. The US Navy has now noticed this trend with their staff. Read to learn more.   Having Sex on LSD: What You Need to Know Can you have sex on LSD? Read our guide to learn everything about sex on acid, from lowered inhibitions to LSD users quotes on sex while tripping.   A Drug That Switches off an LSD Trip A pharmaceutical company is developing an “off-switch” drug for an LSD trip, in the case that a bad trip can happen. Some would say there is no such thing.   Queen of Hearts: An Interview with Liz Elliot on Tim Leary and LSD The history of psychedelia, particularly the British experience, has been almost totally written by men. Of the women involved, especially those who were in the thick of it, little has been written either by or about them. A notable exception is Liz Elliot.   LSD Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety LSD, Lysergic acid diethylamide, or just acid is one of the most important psychedelics ever discovered. What did history teach us?   Microdosing LSD & Common Dosage Explained Microdosing, though imperceivable, is showing to have many health benefits–here is everything you want to know about microdosing LSD.   LSD Resources Curious to learn more about LSD? This guide includes comprehensive LSD resources containing books, studies and more.   LSD as a Spiritual Aid There is common consent that the evolution of mankind is paralleled by the increase and expansion of consciousness. From the described process of how consciousness originates and develops, it becomes evident that its growth depends on its faculty of perception. Therefore every means of improving this faculty should be used.   Legendary LSD Blotter Art: A Hidden Craftsmanship Have you ever heard of LSD blotter art? Explore the trippy world of LSD art and some of the top artists of LSD blotter art.   LSD and Exercise: Does it Work? LSD and exercise? Learn why high-performing athletes are taking hits of LSD to improve their overall potential.   Jan Bastiaans Treated Holocaust Survivors with LSD Dutch psychiatrist, Jan Bastiaans administered LSD-assisted therapy to survivors of the Holocaust. A true war hero and pioneer of psychedelic-therapy.   LSD and Spiritual Awakening I give thanks for LSD, which provided the opening that led me to India in 1971 and brought me to Neem Karoli Baba, known as Maharajji. Maharajji is described by the Indians as a “knower of hearts.”   How LSD is Made: Everything You Need to Know Ever wonder how to make LSD? Read our guide to learn everything you need to know about the procedures of how LSD is made.   How to Store LSD: Best Practices Learn the best way to store LSD, including the proper temperature and conditions to maximize how long LSD lasts when stored.   Bicycle Day: The Discovery of LSD Every year on April 19th, psychonauts join forces to celebrate Bicycle Day. Learn about the famous day when Albert Hoffman first discovered the effects of LSD.   Cary Grant: A Hollywood Legend On LSD Cary Grant was a famous actor during the 1930’s-60’s But did you know Grant experimented with LSD? Read our guide to learn more.   Albert Hofmann: LSD — My Problem Child Learn about Albert Hofmann and his discovery of LSD, along with the story of Bicycle Day and why it marks a historic milestone.   Babies are High: What Does LSD Do To Your Brain What do LSD and babies have in common? Researchers at the Imperial College in London discover that an adult’s brain on LSD looks like a baby’s brain.   1P LSD: Effects, Benefits, Safety Explained 1P LSD is an analogue of LSD and homologue of ALD-25. Here is everything you want to know about 1P LSD and how it compares to LSD.   Francis Crick, DNA & LSD Type ‘Francis Crick LSD’ into Google, and the result will be 30,000 links. Many sites claim that Crick (one of the two men responsible for discovering the structure of DNA), was either under the influence of LSD at the time of his revelation or used the drug to help with his thought processes during his research. Is this true?   What Happens If You Overdose on LSD? A recent article presented three individuals who overdosed on LSD. Though the experience was unpleasant, the outcomes were remarkably positive.

The Ayahuasca Experience
Ayahuasca is both a medicine and a visionary aid. You can employ ayahuasca for physical, mental, emotional and spiritual repair, and you can engage with the power of ayahuasca for deeper insight and realization. If you consider attainment of knowledge in the broadest perspective, you can say that at all times, ayahuasca heals.

 

Trippy Talk: Meet Ayahuasca with Sitaramaya Sita and PlantTeachers
Sitaramaya Sita is a spiritual herbalist, pusangera, and plant wisdom practitioner formally trained in the Shipibo ayahuasca tradition.

 

The Therapeutic Value of Ayahuasca
My best description of the impact of ayahuasca is that it’s a rocket boost to psychospiritual growth and unfolding, my professional specialty during my thirty-five years of private practice.

 

Microdosing Ayahuasca: Common Dosage Explained
What is ayahuasca made of and what is considered a microdose? Explore insights with an experienced Peruvian brewmaster and learn more about this practice.

 

Ayahuasca Makes Neuron Babies in Your Brain
Researchers from Beckley/Sant Pau Research Program have shared the latest findings in their study on the effects of ayahuasca on neurogenesis.

 

The Fatimiya Sufi Order and Ayahuasca
In this interview, the founder of the Fatimiya Sufi Order,  N. Wahid Azal, discusses the history and uses of plant medicines in Islamic and pre-Islamic mystery schools.

 

Consideration Ayahuasca for Treatment of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
Research indicates that ayahuasca mimics mechanisms of currently accepted treatments for PTSD. In order to understand the implications of ayahuasca treatment, we need to understand how PTSD develops.

 

Brainwaves on Ayahuasca: A Waking Dream State
In a study researchers shared discoveries showing ingredients found in Ayahuasca impact the brainwaves causing a “waking dream” state.

 

Cannabis and Ayahuasca: Mixing Entheogenic Plants
Cannabis and Ayahuasca: most people believe they shouldn’t be mixed. Read this personal experience peppered with thoughts from a pro cannabis Peruvian Shaman.

 

Ayahuasca Retreat 101: Everything You Need to Know to Brave the Brew
Ayahuasca has been known to be a powerful medicinal substance for millennia. However, until recently, it was only found in the jungle. Word of its deeply healing and cleansing properties has begun to spread across the world as many modern, Western individuals are seeking spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical well-being. More ayahuasca retreat centers are emerging in the Amazon and worldwide to meet the demand.

 

Ayahuasca Helps with Grief
A new study published in psychopharmacology found that ayahuasca helped those suffering from the loss of a loved one up to a year after treatment.

 

Ayahuasca Benefits: Clinical Improvements for Six Months
Ayahuasca benefits can last six months according to studies. Read here to learn about the clinical improvements from drinking the brew.

 

Ayahuasca Culture: Indigenous, Western, And The Future
Ayahuasca has been use for generations in the Amazon. With the rise of retreats and the brew leaving the rainforest how is ayahuasca culture changing?

 

Ayahuasca Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety
The Amazonian brew, Ayahuasca has a long history and wide use. Read our guide to learn all about the tea from its beginnings up to modern-day interest.

 

Ayahuasca and the Godhead: An Interview with Wahid Azal of the Fatimiya Sufi Order
Wahid Azal, a Sufi mystic of The Fatimiya Sufi Order and an Islamic scholar, talks about entheogens, Sufism, mythology, and metaphysics.

 

Ayahuasca and the Feminine: Women’s Roles, Healing, Retreats, and More
Ayahuasca is lovingly called “grandmother” or “mother” by many. Just how feminine is the brew? Read to learn all about women and ayahuasca.

What Is the Standard of Care for Ketamine Treatments?
Ketamine therapy is on the rise in light of its powerful results for treatment-resistant depression. But, what is the current standard of care for ketamine? Read to find out.

What Is Dissociation and How Does Ketamine Create It?
Dissociation can take on multiple forms. So, what is dissociation like and how does ketamine create it? Read to find out.

Having Sex on Ketamine: Getting Physical on a Dissociative
Curious about what it could feel like to have sex on a dissociate? Find out all the answers in our guide to sex on ketamine.

Special K: The Party Drug
Special K refers to Ketamine when used recreationally. Learn the trends as well as safety information around this substance.

Kitty Flipping: When Ketamine and Molly Meet
What is it, what does it feel like, and how long does it last? Read to explore the mechanics of kitty flipping.

Ketamine vs. Esketamine: 3 Important Differences Explained
Ketamine and esketamine are used to treat depression. But what’s the difference between them? Read to learn which one is right for you: ketamine vs. esketamine.

Guide to Ketamine Treatments: Understanding the New Approach
Ketamine is becoming more popular as more people are seeing its benefits. Is ketamine a fit? Read our guide for all you need to know about ketamine treatments.

Ketamine Treatment for Eating Disorders
Ketamine is becoming a promising treatment for various mental health conditions. Read to learn how individuals can use ketamine treatment for eating disorders.

Ketamine Resources, Studies, and Trusted Information
Curious to learn more about ketamine? This guide includes comprehensive ketamine resources containing books, studies and more.

Ketamine Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety
Our ultimate guide to ketamine has everything you need to know about this “dissociative anesthetic” and how it is being studied for depression treatment.

Ketamine for Depression: A Mental Health Breakthrough
While antidepressants work for some, many others find no relief. Read to learn about the therapeutic uses of ketamine for depression.

Ketamine for Addiction: Treatments Offering Hope
New treatments are offering hope to individuals suffering from addiction diseases. Read to learn how ketamine for addiction is providing breakthrough results.

Microdosing Ketamine & Common Dosages Explained
Microdosing, though imperceivable, is showing to have many health benefits–here is everything you want to know about microdosing ketamine.

How to Ease a Ketamine Comedown
Knowing what to expect when you come down from ketamine can help integrate the experience to gain as much value as possible.

How to Store Ketamine: Best Practices
Learn the best ways how to store ketamine, including the proper temperature and conditions to maximize how long ketamine lasts when stored.

How To Buy Ketamine: Is There Legal Ketamine Online?
Learn exactly where it’s legal to buy ketamine, and if it’s possible to purchase legal ketamine on the internet.

How Long Does Ketamine Stay in Your System?
How long does ketamine stay in your system? Are there lasting effects on your body? Read to discover the answers!

How Ketamine is Made: Everything You Need to Know
Ever wonder how to make Ketamine? Read our guide to learn everything you need to know about the procedures of how Ketamine is made.

Colorado on Ketamine: First Responders Waiver Programs
Fallout continues after Elijah McClain. Despite opposing recommendations from some city council, Colorado State Health panel recommends the continued use of ketamine by medics for those demonstrating “excited delirium” or “extreme agitation”.

Types of Ketamine: Learn the Differences & Uses for Each
Learn about the different types of ketamine and what they are used for—and what type might be right for you. Read now to find out!

Kitty Flipping: When Ketamine and Molly Meet
What is it, what does it feel like, and how long does it last? Read to explore the mechanics of kitty flipping.

MDMA & Ecstasy Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety
Our ultimate guide to MDMA has everything you want to know about Ecstasy from how it was developed in 1912 to why it’s being studied today.

How To Get the Most out of Taking MDMA as a Couple
Taking MDMA as a couple can lead to exciting experiences. Read here to learn how to get the most of of this love drug in your relationship.

Common MDMA Dosage & Microdosing Explained
Microdosing, though imperceivable, is showing to have many health benefits–here is everything you want to know about microdosing MDMA.

Having Sex on MDMA: What You Need to Know
MDMA is known as the love drug… Read our guide to learn all about sex on MDMA and why it is beginning to makes its way into couple’s therapy.

How MDMA is Made: Common Procedures Explained
Ever wonder how to make MDMA? Read our guide to learn everything you need to know about the procedures of how MDMA is made.

Hippie Flipping: When Shrooms and Molly Meet
What is it, what does it feel like, and how long does it last? Explore the mechanics of hippie flipping and how to safely experiment.

How Cocaine is Made: Common Procedures Explained
Ever wonder how to make cocaine? Read our guide to learn everything you need to know about the procedures of how cocaine is made.

A Christmas Sweater with Santa and Cocaine
This week, Walmart came under fire for a “Let it Snow” Christmas sweater depicting Santa with lines of cocaine. Columbia is not merry about it.

Ultimate Cocaine Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety
This guide covers what you need to know about Cocaine, including common effects and uses, legality, safety precautions and top trends today.

NEWS: An FDA-Approved Cocaine Nasal Spray
The FDA approved a cocaine nasal spray called Numbrino, which has raised suspicions that the pharmaceutical company, Lannett Company Inc., paid off the FDA..

The Ultimate Guide to Cannabis Bioavailability
What is bioavailability and how can it affect the overall efficacy of a psychedelic substance? Read to learn more.

Cannabis Research Explains Sociability Behaviors
New research by Dr. Giovanni Marsicano shows social behavioral changes occur as a result of less energy available to the neurons. Read here to learn more.

The Cannabis Shaman
If recreational and medical use of marijuana is becoming accepted, can the spiritual use as well? Experiential journalist Rak Razam interviews Hamilton Souther, founder of the 420 Cannabis Shamanism movement…

Cannabis Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety
Our ultimate guide to Cannabis has everything you want to know about this popular substances that has psychedelic properties.

Cannabis and Ayahuasca: Mixing Entheogenic Plants
Cannabis and Ayahuasca: most people believe they shouldn’t be mixed. Read this personal experience peppered with thoughts from a procannabis Peruvian Shaman.

CBD-Rich Cannabis Versus Single-Molecule CBD
A ground-breaking study has documented the superior therapeutic properties of whole plant Cannabis extract as compared to synthetic cannabidiol (CBD), challenging the medical-industrial complex’s notion that “crude” botanical preparations are less effective than single-molecule compounds.

Cannabis Has Always Been a Medicine
Modern science has already confirmed the efficacy of cannabis for most uses described in the ancient medical texts, but prohibitionists still claim that medical cannabis is “just a ruse.”

Related Posts

Ready to explore the frontiers of consciousness?

Sign up for the Reality Bites newsletter and embark on a journey into the world of psychedelics, mindfulness, and transformation. It’s where the curious minds gather.

Become a conscious agent with us.

Featured Partner

Cosmic Melts

Cosmic Melts are the latest mushroom gummies we’ve been munching on. Choose from five fruity flavors, each gummy containing 350mg of Amanita muscaria.
 
Amanita muscaria offers a unique (and totally legal!) mushroom experience, and Cosmic Melts is an ideal entry point for the curious consumer.
Featured Partner

Lab Link Supply

Our go-to source for spores so you can grow your own shrooms right at home. Carrying several of our favorite species including B+, Golden Teacher, Jedi Mind F*ck, Blue Meanie and more. Browse their selection of spores and get started with your home grow.

Our Partners

Welcome to Reality Sandwich. Please verify that you are over 18 years of age below.

Reality Sandwich uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. By entering Reality Sandwich, you are agreeing to the Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.