Garett: 00:28

Welcome to the deeper you go, the weirder it gets. I'm your host, Garett Renon. And this is part two of my journey to Kumankaya. Now in the last episode, I talked about how I got there. But in this episode, this is where things start to get interesting because this is where I begin working with a new plant, coca, a plant that most people completely misunderstand.

Garett: 00:57

A plant that's been used for thousands of years, and yet somehow in today's world, it's illegal. And that alone should make you pause for a second. So in this episode, I'm going to walk you through my first few days at Kumankaya, the infamous Vomitivo, and a deeper look at what happens when we stop working with plants as a whole system and start breaking them apart. But before we get into it, I wanna take a moment to acknowledge you for being here because this show exists because people like you choose to tune in. So, genuinely, thank you.

Garett: 01:41

And instead of doing the typical support the show pitch, I want to offer something a little different, more of a reflection than a request. So there's a pattern I've noticed. And if you've ever built something of your own, you've probably felt this too. See, it's incredibly easy to support big corporations. Click a button, spend money, no second thought.

Garett: 02:10

But when it comes to supporting real people, small creators, local businesses, there's often a hesitation. And I'm not saying that from a place of judgment. I catch myself doing it too, but it's worth noticing because a lot of people say they value community. They say they want to support better systems, more aligned ways of living, but those values only become real through action, through small decisions, through where you choose to put your attention, your time, and your money. See, every day, we're casting votes for the kind of world we want to live in, and none of us are going to do that perfectly, but we can still be a little more intentional.

Garett: 03:02

So if this show has brought you value, if it's made you think, question, and grow, and you feel called to support it in some way, whether it's sharing, leaving a review, or just continuing to show up, I appreciate you more than you know. Much love. Alright. So let's get in to the episode. So in the last episode, I gave a brief overview of the last two years and three months of my Ayumetto journey.

Garett: 03:35

I also talked about my adventure of getting down to Kumankaya. But now I'm here, or at least I was there. So let's get back to the journey update. So on Monday, March 16, which was basically day one at Kumankaya, after another subpar night of sleep and still feeling relatively sick, we started the day off with one of my least favorite activities, the Vomitivo. Now this is standard practice in the Shapivo tradition or at the very least, it's standard practice at both Ni Weirau and Kumankaya.

Garett: 04:18

And quite frankly, it sucks. And, you know, there's really no way around it. That said, I will give kumankaya some credit. Their Vomitivo is actually slightly better than what they use at Nihue Rao. See, at Nihue Rao, they use a plant called asocena, and that one is rough for a couple reasons.

Garett: 04:42

First, the smell. It smells terrible. In fact, it kind of has a faint smell of puke. And what's funny is the taste isn't actually as bad as the smell, but once you smell it, it doesn't matter. Right?

Garett: 04:57

You can't separate the two. I mean, I believe a big factor of what we taste is based on smell anyway, so there's that. And the second reason it sucks is because of the volume. You have to drink a lot of ajosena, and we're talking about multiple large buckets of it. And it's not even just the taste or the smell.

Garett: 05:22

It's the fact that it's physically hard to drink that much liquid. And then on top of that, once you are done drinking the plant concoction, you then have to drink even more water. And what follows is pretty predictable. You start purging, like projectile vomiting for about ten to fifteen minutes straight until everything is out of your system. And afterwards, you usually have this contradictory sensation of of feeling both really clean energetically, but also a little weird physically.

Garett: 06:02

I mean, you just shot a ridiculous amount of liquid out of your mouth very violently, so, of course, you're going to feel weird. So, anyway, at Kumankaya, the process is basically the same, but there's one key difference. They use a different plant called Sangre de Grado, aka dragon's blood. So instead of drinking buckets of liquid, you take about four ounces of Sangre de Grado, and it's really bitter. But four ounces is way easier to get down than two large bowls.

Garett: 06:38

Then after drinking the plant liquid, you move around for a few minutes, jumping up and down to shake the medicine up in your stomach. And then after about five minutes, you start chugging a ton of water, like four liters as fast as you can, which is really hard and actually really sucks because you start feeling nauseous from the medicine while at the same time, are feeling gross and waterlogged from chugging all that water. But once you get all that water down, the same thing happens. You start purging a lot. I mean, the water comes blasting out of you with an insane amount of force until everything is cleared.

Garett: 07:22

Now the reason for all this, for the Vomitivo, is to preclean you before opening up your dieta. It clears out the surface level energies, energies from travel, stress, bad food, and anything you've carried in. And while I hate the Vomitivo, this one wasn't too bad because if you remember from the last episode, I showed up to Kumankaya extremely sick. And it felt like the Vomitivo actually did what it was supposed to do as it seemed to pull some of that sickness out of me. It definitely cleared my sinuses, which released some pressure and and actually allowed me to breathe much easier.

Garett: 08:06

So in a weird way, as much as I hate the Vomitivo, that one might have been the best Vomitivo I've had so far. After that after that, we went to grab some breakfast, which is always kinda weird because you just got done puking your face off, and now you're sitting there eating a full meal like nothing happened. Then about an hour later, I was given my liquid concoction of my plant for my dieta. And after talking with Remy, Ashley, and their team, the decision was made for me to diet coca. Now I already kind of knew this was coming.

Garett: 08:44

In fact, I had been feeling the call from coca for the last several months, but I stayed open just in case Remy recommended a better plant based on my intentions and my situation. But after talking with Remy, he said based on what you got going on and where you are in your process, Koka is perfect. So I was happy to hear that. Now coca is real is a really interesting plant. And, honestly, I feel like it doesn't get the respect it deserves, and that's probably because it's illegal here in The United States and most countries for that matter, which is completely stupid and utterly mind blowing.

Garett: 09:27

I mean, how can a plant a product of nature, something that sprouts up from the ground all by itself be illegal? Well, that is a deep rabbit hole that we're not necessarily going to go down during this episode, but I'm sure many of you listening have your own thoughts and opinions on this matter. But I do wanna say this. It's interesting when you really step back and look at the world that we currently live in, a world where certain aspects of mother nature are illegal, not because they exist, but because of the effects their consumption has on human consciousness, which raises a deeper question. Who gets to decide this?

Garett: 10:17

Who gets to decide what we can and cannot do? Because when you really look at it, a lot of the plants that get restricted or controlled tend to be the ones that can shift your awareness, the ones that can make you think differently, the ones that expand your possibilities and potential, the ones that remove the veil from your eyes, allowing you to see the world from a different viewpoint. And on the flip side, a lot of what is normalized, promoted, and even celebrated, things like alcohol, prescription drugs, and highly processed foods tend to keep people docile, malleable, distracted, and numb. Now I'm not saying I have all the answers, and I know this is a complicated subject, but these are the questions that need to be asked. Are these decisions about legality of plants purely about our safety and well-being, or is there something deeper going on in how we relate to consciousness itself?

Garett: 11:28

Because at the end of the day, this isn't just about plants. It's about our connection to the natural world. It's about awareness. It's about responsibility, and it's about freedom to do what we want so long as we are not harming anyone else. I mean, is it right that one group of humans gets to tell another group of humans what they can and cannot do, especially when that group of humans has a track record of corruption and deception?

Garett: 12:00

Again, I'm just asking questions, but I would love to know what you think. So hit me up. Send me an email. Anyway, now that I got that off my chest, the reason coca is illegal in The United States is because cocaine is derived from this plant. Okay.

Garett: 12:21

So maybe cocaine isn't the greatest or healthiest substance in the world, but the truth is coca and cocaine could not be more different. And the difference between the two opens up a big rabbit hole, which we are going to venture down. See, coca isn't just a plant. It's a powerhouse with lots of depth and a long documented history of use. Coca is a health food, and it has many medicinal qualities, and it is an intelligent plant teacher spirit.

Garett: 12:58

And cocaine, even though it's responsible for many of the eighties action movies I loved as a kid, it has nowhere near the amount of depth, spirit, or intelligence as coca. And that is because it is just one part of that plant. More specifically, cocaine is an alkaloid of coca, and coca doesn't have just one alkaloid. It has a range of them, roughly 14 to 20 depending on who you ask. So what is an alkaloid?

Garett: 13:33

Well, an alkaloid is one of the active compounds inside a plant, and plants use these compounds for different reasons. Sometimes it's for protection. Sometimes it's how they interact with their environment. But when we consume the plant, the alkaloids are what creates the noticeable effects. So some common alkaloid examples you probably heard of are caffeine from coffee, nicotine from tobacco, morphine from the poppy, and psilocybin from mushrooms.

Garett: 14:13

Now here's where it gets interesting. So when we talk about cocaine, we're talking about one alkaloid pulled out of a much more complex system. And that extraction process, it's usually really dirty and dark. See, most cocaine people get and consume is extracted using things like gasoline, kerosene, or other harsh chemical solvents like sulfuric acid or acetone to isolate that one compound. Then other things are added to it, usually sodium bicarbonate, aka baking soda, or something similar.

Garett: 14:52

I mean, I don't know. To be honest, making cocaine is way out of my wheelhouse. But if that's not bad enough, here's the part that most people don't think about. When you isolate one compound from a plant, you're not just removing it from other chemicals, you're removing it from the entire system. So what cocaine really is is a hyper concentrated version of one part of the plant, stripped away from everything else that was designed to balance it.

Garett: 15:25

And this pattern of taking one compound, isolating it, amplifying it, and discarding the rest can be seen everywhere, particularly in the pharmaceutical industry, the cannabis industry, the tobacco industry with nicotine, and now we're even starting to see the same pattern play out in the newly emerging mushroom industry with the extraction of psilocybin. And in my opinion, this is not a good thing. In fact, it might be one of the major factors behind the chaotic nature of our current society. Because when you do this, when you isolate compounds at the expense of the whole plant or the whole system, you don't just lose the balance of the plant, you lose the spirit of the plant. You lose the intelligence and harmony of the plant.

Garett: 16:19

Because in nature, these compounds aren't random. Instead, they are instead, they are part of a highly evolved and intelligent system. These plant compounds and alkaloids are designed to work together in balance and in harmony. And in the old traditions that had been working with these plants for thousands of years, there's an understanding that you're not just working with chemistry. You're working with something that's alive, something that teaches, something that interacts with you.

Garett: 16:52

And when you work with coca or any powerful plant in its natural form, you feel this. And what's interesting is while coca as a plant isn't very popular in modern society, it's actually best known for two very popular things, cocaine and Coca Cola, which is kinda crazy when you think about it because Coca Cola, when it was first created, actually used the coca leaf as part of their recipe. That's where the name comes from. And as you just learned, the coca leaf contains small amounts of the cocaine alkaloid. So Coca Cola didn't contain cocaine as some urban myths claim.

Garett: 17:40

It contained coca. It contained the coca plant in its pure natural form. But over time, for some strange reason, that all changed. And today, Coca Cola still uses the coca leaf, but they use a modified extract where the cocaine alkaloid has been removed, which means that the Coca Cola of today is not what it was in the past. I'm not going to lie.

Garett: 18:10

This gets my conspiratorial mind going. Like, why was the cocaine alkaloid removed from their original recipe, especially when we know it was only a small amount of the whole plant. Was it for our safety? Was it because cocaine was made illegal, or was there something more sinister at play? Again, I'm just asking questions.

Garett: 18:38

But with that being said, I would love to try that original version of Coca Cola. I bet it was a far superior beverage. I bet it was more balanced and even much healthier compared to the crap we are sold today. Okay. So now we know that Coca Cola removes the cocaine alkaloid.

Garett: 18:59

So what do they do with it? Well, apparently, it goes straight into the hands of the pharmaceutical industry. Surprise. Surprise. Right?

Garett: 19:08

And apparently, they use it to make local anesthetics and other quote, unquote medicines. So, again, with Coca Cola, we're seeing the same pattern. Take the plant, strip it down, break it into parts, and send each part in a completely different direction. And when you step back and look at this, you start to see something that this way of working with plants where we isolate compounds and discard the rest is relatively new. And in a lot of ways, this new practice contradicts thousands upon thousands of years of knowledge and experience because our ancestors didn't work with isolated compounds.

Garett: 19:56

They worked with the whole plant. And before you assume that modern society is somehow improving on that, just take a look around. As a society, do we look healthy? Do we look happy? Are we living in balance with nature, with each other, or do we look disconnected, fragmented, isolated, and out of sync with the natural world?

Garett: 20:22

And I think you know the answer. And I'll say this too. I think our ancestors were far more advanced than we've been programmed to believe. Just look at all the magnificent structures they have built. This is not the work of primitive people living in caves with sticks and stones, but that's definitely a rabbit hole for another day.

Garett: 20:46

So when it comes to the traditional use of coca, particularly in the Andes, it has been used for thousands of years, not just as a medicine, but as a bridge between people and the spirit world. It's been used for prayer, for grounding, and for clarity in decision making. They even believe that Koka enhanced one's intuition and that Koka would guide people by speaking clearly, but only those who knew how to connect with it could hear Koka's wisdom. And based on my experience with coca so far, I can say that it's a beautiful and intelligent plant that is full of light and positive energy. And the best way I can describe it is that it feels like it's an enhancer, that it enhances and strengthens your ability to function in the physical world.

Garett: 21:42

And that's something I think a lot of people overlook in this type of work. Because in the world of plant medicine, there's a big focus on expansion, about going deeper into the energetic realm, transcending the body, and leveling up spiritually. And, again, that has its place. But we can't forget that we are spiritual beings having a human experience. So as humans, we live and operate here in the physical realm, and we can't forget this.

Garett: 22:13

So if we neglect our physical bodies, if we neglect our physical reality, we are limiting our own growth and potential. This is the holy trinity. Right? We are made up of body, mind, and spirit. And if you are serious about this work, then you will take care of all three aspects of your holy trinity.

Garett: 22:35

No exceptions. So with that being said, there's something powerful about a plant that brings your awareness into the physical realm and teaches you how to navigate it better with clarity, with presence, with energy, almost like it's saying, stay here, get sharper, pay attention. And that's the mindset I was stepping into as I moved into my first ceremony at Kumankaya. So later that night on Monday, March 16, we had our first ceremony. And overall, it was pretty mellow, which was expected.

Garett: 23:12

I was still settling in from travel, from being sick, from the Vomitivo, getting used to the space, the people, and also building a new energetic relationship with Coco. But there were still some key moments. Early on, I had a really solid purge, and then I received two songs. One to clean me and one to officially open my dieta. And during that cleaning, I noticed something right away.

Garett: 23:41

I noticed how good it felt to have someone working on me to actually feel those heavy energies being lifted off. And in that moment, I remember thinking, yeah. I definitely made the right call in coming here. And during the second song, I could feel the connection to Coca being made, and it felt strong, clear, and intentional. And by the end of the night, I felt really good, but I also knew this was just the beginning of the process.

Garett: 24:10

So then we moved into ceremony two on Tuesday, March 17. And at the beginning of ceremony, Remy made a joke. He said, Bomba Tuesday happens here too. And if you know, you know. See, at Nihue Rao, Tuesday is known as Bomba Tuesday, and Bomba means bomb.

Garett: 24:35

And in this context, it basically means a wild night, a night where things go really deep, where people can lose control, lose awareness, and where things can get really intense. And the reason this happens is actually pretty simple. See, at both Kumankaya and at Niue Rao, most people arrive over the weekend, and which means that Monday is their first ceremony. And that first ceremony is pretty mellow for all the reasons I just mentioned. So based on that first night's experience, people feel a little underwhelmed and disappointed at the lack of their experience.

Garett: 25:15

So the next night, they ask for more medicine. But what they don't realize is that medicine is cumulative, and after that first night, a lot of energetic blockages have already been cleared. So because of this, the medicine almost always hits harder and faster on the second night. Then you combine that with a larger dose, and you have the perfect recipe for a bomba. And despite knowing all of this, I made the same mistake as everyone else.

Garett: 25:48

I asked for a bigger dose. Is the magic number. Right? And, well, let's just say that Remy was right. Bomba Tuesday is definitely a thing at Kumankaya, and I was a part of that club.

Garett: 26:03

Okay. I'm going to leave you hanging. I will talk about my bomba and the rest of the ceremonies in the next episode. I gotta give you all a reason to keep coming back. Until next time.

Garett: 26:14

See you on the other side.