CACTI

Went to this cactus shop near Winkleigh in Devon today. I used to keep cacti as a kid, and then I began again about 10 years ago when a friend gave me a bunch of seedlings. On my way out, I asked the owner - who has been dealing in cacti since he was 10 years old - if he had any Peyote. I expected him to say no, but got an enthusiastic yes. He keeps them hidden above a stand, and has sold about 150 this winter. So I bought a couple at £3.50 each. (You need about 4 for a 'trip' - not his word - he told me). 

Peyote

He does most of his trade online now, he posts cacti to people, but paypal threatened to drop him if he continued to sell Peyote online. Then it turned out that one of the cacti I had bought was a San Pedro, another teacher plant. He only thought to mention it because of my interest in Peyote So I bought another one. You need to ingest about 4 inches of the stem in this case. 

The owner, Ralph, is getting on now, but he is good to chat to. He's managed not to do much, if any, in the way of teacher plants himself, but he wants to, and he suggested we could meet in the pub sometime to talk about it. His friends keep inviting him to Peru for that purpose. I'm not that drawn to doing much of it myself - having done a load of it when I was 20 and been changed by it - but I like being around the plants themselves. Maybe it is their spirit