"Plodding through *Las Posadas*, all armed as I was, with a quarter Ashe staffe on my shoulder." (1590)

Today I went to another hospital to see what they think about the foot. They think I'm moving too much and slowing the healing / potentially worsening the badness. What to do?

Yesterday, today and tomorrow is Shroom Fest. An international thing, you don't need to go anywhere you just eat shrooms wherever you are. It's been going about 4 years now. I have an unweighed mass of shrooms in my pack that I'll be eating tonight or in the morning.

I'm not deciding anything till after that.


Peace,

kowalski

I could do shrooms. Since, even though I've long ago quit taking amphetamines and psychedelics, shrooms are technically natural.

I'm going to think about that.

Oh, Dan! You are so disgracefully ill informed it's hard to know where to start correcting the dumb shit you say... because I'm a philosopher I'll start with "natural".

There can not ever be an objective dichotomy of natural and unnatural. Therefore, when people use these terms it is merely an expression of their personal prejudice.

If you intend to mean by natural that it is safe or good for us, then I urge you to look at what in the world is unsafe or poisonous to us and define how those things are not natural... and you don't have to go far... there are many highly poisonous mushrooms that even appear indistinguishable (to the untrained eye) to some tasty nutritious ones or to some fun time psychedelic ones. You can't have a definition of natural that divides the world into safe / good for us vs unsafe / bad for us.

If you intend to mean by natural that it is something that has been processed in some way by humans, you are going to very quickly run into equally insurmountable difficulties in creating an objective definition that works... not least because nearly every living thing that humans are interested in has been selectively bred to "work better" at whatever it is that makes it useful to us.

The same goes for any way you try to slice it. You will always fail to provide an objective definition that works in all cases to satisfy whatever your instincts are telling you. Why? Because your instincts are mere prejudices. Human instincts were evolved to help us identify predators and throw sticks accurately over long distances, etc., etc., it's ridiculous to expect that the world is anything like our instincts or intuition. Just take a look at quantum physics. It is totally counterintuitive up to the point that we can't even tell a sensible story that any human can understand about what is actually happening at the scale of the smallest things in the universe.

And, without getting into the rest of how dumb your comment was, adding "technically" is nothing more than a linguistic confidence trick. "Technically - according to the facts or exact meaning of something; strictly." But you said nothing according to the facts nor exact meaning of something: nor strictly.


In other news: You should definitely stop confusing being a recovering speed addict with thinking it is not ok to consume shrooms or weed meanwhile consuming alcohol and caffeine. Eat shrooms at appropriate doses and start reading proper books, both'll help you.


Peace,

kowalski

It was worthwhile participating in Shroom Fest.

I laid in my hammock in la sierrezuela and drifted in and out of a light sleep, intermittently being woken by my own voice telling me things: First, that I should continue with this journey despite being told to stop by the doctor lady. Second, was about being more patient with how inertia effects change. Third, I spoke to myself about fear being a poor indicator of danger.


Peace,

kowalski

Might have to participate next year...

Los Hornachuelos has, on balance, the best landscapes, animals and people of my journey so far. I spent a long time there going to the dam, the old king's farm, the monastery, the eagle route and the cave route. There's so much more that I didn't get to see. I saw deer, but was too early to hear the rut.

Now I've arrived again at Posadas. Tomorrow is the first night of their feria. Ferias are great even if you have a bad time.

Tonight I'm gonna sleep again in La Sierrezuela. I kept hearing woodpeckers up there, maybe I'll see one in the morning. Last time I never spotted one. I was close to one but it was on the other side of the fucking tree.


Peace,

kowalski

In a BnB and they told me - no rooms. I knew it was a lie, it was all throughout her. Got WiFi in a nearby bar, told the owner I was looking for a room because La Melchora is full. He also knew it was a lie. He said "que va" [no way] and that "she... maybe she thought you are homeless but that's stupid you have an expensive hat and sunglasses". Made the reservation on booking.com and went back and checked in. I knew that if they refused me without good reason booking.com would pay the difference for me to stay in the best place in town. It was win / win.

Now I'm freshly showered. Unencumbered by my pack. I need to find a laundry place and a shoe repair place and take a long siesta.


Peace,

kowalski

I did a 20k hike recently. Starting to feel like I could get back to moving good distances in a day, instead of orbiting villages.


Peace,

kowalski

Back in Cordoba today to pick up some decent Mary Jane. I met people in the villages that had good hashish, but I don't like to consume that, and really bad weed, which at best means you have to consume more plant material for the same effect or more often means that you can only get half high off it no matter how much you consume.

Before I was heading west for a bit. Now I'll head east for a bit.


Peace,

kowalski

Being not too far from where we last were, I decided to go see if he would be there and interested.

So, last night I headed towards where Brian and I parted ways. I set up my hammock in that exact spot. Called and whistled for him in the evening and in the morning, then set off again.


Peace,

kowalski