Travellers Beware—tea that makes your pee test positive for cocaine: Coca leaves aren’t cocaine. You don’t get high from coca but it helps you deal with being high in elevation. I get more kick from coffee than coca tea and coffee tastes better. Coca whether chewed or brewed tastes like what I’d imagine a horse turd tastes like.

I’ve consumed large quantities of coca leaves in Peru to help prevent altitude sickness and felt nothing and wasn’t sure it even did anything. Then at high elevation in Kyrgyzstan my face swelled, sticky fluid seeped through my skin and my lungs gurgled. It was the first time I’d been over 13,000 ft. in elevation without coca and I suffered dangerously from edema.

So, coca doesn’t get you high. It hasn’t been processed into a drug. It is a bad tasting cup of tea (better in toffees) that alleviates soroche (altitude sickness) and your tour guides, plus the hotels and restaurants in South America will innocently push it at you, assuring you that it isn’t cocaine, because it isn’t, just like poppy seeds on your bagel aren’t heroin.

But here’s the problem: if you work somewhere that does urine testing for drugs, coca leaf consumption can cause you to test positive for cocaine use. A study published in 2006 found even 36 hours after having consumed coca tea that the majority of test subjects still tested positive from a cocaine urine analysis. And yes, there have been cases in the US of job loss due to coca tea consumption being misinterpreted as drug use.

By Kirsten Koza

(Below photo from my first trip to Peru: “spit and a prayer” - after chewing coca leaves the locals spit it out respectfully and then make a little monument for the coca)

(Coca monuments from thousands of years as far as the eye can see)

(More detailed reading on the topic available at US National Library of Medicine)

You can join Kirsten for a cup of coca or cocoa in Peru Aug 2-15.

Having difficulties viewing August’s expedition on your device, then click here and view details directly on blog.

Writers’ Expedition Southern Peru (Aug 2-15)

Adventures for Travellers Who Like to Write and Writers Who Like to Travel
You’ll journey through Peru with two acclaimed travel authors and your local travel experts, who will immerse you in the real Peru and pamper you with hospitality and idyllic hotels.

This August you can dance centre bullring with a matador in a remote village, take a spiralling flight over the Nazca lines, sample Pisco’s pisco and chicha too (but not the kind made with spit), devour local chocolate, star gaze in the Colca Canyon, go sandboarding, relax at an oasis, see spooky mummies and ancient sex pottery, explore the ecological curiosities of the Islas Ballestas (dubbed Peru’s Galapagos) while getting feedback and encouragement on your prose, plus valuable publishing tips . (group size just 8-12)

Workshop Hosts for August:

August 2-15, 2013: with Lavinia Spalding, editor of The Best Women’s Travel Writing anthologies (Travelers’ Tales USA) and award winning author of Writing Away named one of the best travel books of 2009 by the L.A. Times; and with Kirsten Koza, author, humorist and adventurer. CBC Radio Canada says Kirsten’s book Lost in Moscow is “the ultimate what-I-did-last-summer essay ever” and Gary Buslik, author of A Rotten Person Travels the Caribbean says, “Koza writes with biting wit and delicious irony.”

The days and nights will be divided between activities designed to excite all your senses, workshops, personal writing time, and private tutorials with your workshop hosts.

If you want to, you’ll leave Peru with a publishable story and (if you don’t already have this) the know-how to get it published and profit by writing about all your travels.

Basic Itinerary, Prices and Contacts:

A Sensory Adventure of Peru
August 2 -15, 2013

LIMA – PARACAS – HUACACHINA – NAZCA – COLCA CANYON – HUAMBO – CHIVAY – AREQUIPA

The tour operator for this trip is Peru Adventure Tours (registered and licenced). The writing workshop is coordinated by Kirsten Koza.

Small group: 8-12 participants

AUGUST 2: LIMA
Check-in at Miraflores
Meeting and introduction at hotel followed by walk in Lima - find food - find local afro-Peruvian fusion music
Hotel Nobility (single room)

AUGUST 3: LIMA
Culinary Tour: Surquillo Market/fruit tasting/ceviche demo/coffee. Yuyanapaq Photography Exhibit/Meeting a survivor of Sendero Luminoso
Hotel Nobility (single room)

AUGUST 4: LIMA - PARACAS
Stop in Chincha to visit the Afro Peruvian colony in EL Carmen – This is the only place where you can see this culturally rich community preserving their strong traditions.
Hotel Gran Palma (WiFi)
Hotel Gran Palma (single room)

AUGUST 5: PARACAS - HUACACHINA
Islas Ballestas Boat Tour (dubbed Peru’s Galapagos Islands)- Paracas National Reserve Tour
Optional: Sandboarding (prepare to exfoliate on the sand and you may find new ways to describe screaming).
Hosteria Suiza (WiFi) (some single rooms, some shared)

AUGUST 6: HUACACHINA
Pisco Tour: Tres Generaciones/La Caravedo
Optional: Dune buggy ride on dunes
Hosteria Suiza (WiFi) (some single rooms, some shared)

AUGUST 7: HUACACHINA - NASCA
Ingenio: Jesuit church ruins
This remote desert lodging will be provide a private spot for our writing sessions.

AUGUST 8: NASCA
Archaeological Tour: Flight over Nasca Lines/Cantayoc Aqueducts/Antonini Museum/Pachamanca Feast
INCLUDES PACHAMANCA CEREMONY

AUGUST 9: NASCA - ATICO
Tour to Sacaco oasis - the Paleontological Museum of Peru – 100km away from Nasca – Visit Puerto Inca beach to have lunch next to the ocean and, if time permits, walk through the rock forest.
Hotel Alicia (WiFi) (shared rooms)

AUGUST 10: ATICO - HUAMBO
Drive from the coast up to the highlands passing through an arid region and snowcapped mountains over 5000m – Huambo (3320m) is an Andean Catholic town located on left bank of the Colca Canyon. Peru Adventure Tours will provide emergency oxygen tanks for issues with the altitude.
INCLUDES: LUNCH - DINNER
Lodging: Stay with local family who eagerly await your visit. The accommodation will be very simple.

AUGUST 11: HUAMBO - CABANACONDE
Huambo Festivities: Dances/Bullfight/Procession
INCLUDES: BREAKFAST - LUNCH
Shared rooms this night.
Hotel Kuntur Wasi (WiFi)

AUGUST 12: CABANACONDE - CHIVAY
Colca Valley Tour 1: Cabanaconde/Cruz del Condor/Maca/Achoma/Yanque
Optional: Hot springs
Hotel Colcainn
(WiFi) (some single rooms, some shared)

AUGUST 13: CHIVAY
Colca Valley Tour 2: Coporaque/Ichupampa/Lari/Madrigal
Hotel Colcainn
(WiFi) (some single rooms, some shared)

AUGUST 14: CHIVAY - AREQUIPA
Santa Catalina Monastery
Arequipa’s Foundation Day: Dances/Music/ Fireworks
La Casa de mi Abuela (WiFi) (single rooms)

AUGUST 15: AREQUIPA
Historic Center: Cathedral/Compañía/Recoleta/San Camilo Market

Suggested return flight: LIM 6:20 pm or other arrangements/extensions can be made with Peru Adventure Tours for those who would like to continue to Lake Titicaca or Cusco etc. We will have had an opportunity to acclimatize to the elevation so this is a great place to connect to another high-altitude destination.

INCLUDES
Writing workshops/classes/private tutorials
One internal flight from Arequipa (not international)
Boat Tour
Flight over Nazca Lines
All accommodation – single rooms where marked (sometimes shared rooms at smaller inns) with breakfasts
Private vehicle and driver – minibus for 19 people with roof rack
Expert Peruvian Tour Guide
Museums/entrance fees
Culinary Tours/ Tastings where listed on itinerary
All breakfasts
All meals while at Wasipunko and in Huambo

NOT INCLUDED
Meals not listed
Optional tours such as sandboarding and dune buggy
Laundry service
International flight tickets
Travel and health insurance – which you are required to obtain

There are just 3 early bird sign-up specials left at: $2,949 USD
Regular Price: $3,299 USD

Contact:
info@kirstenkoza.com and CC expeditions.for.writers@gmail.com
for more information.

Want to talk to Kirsten on the phone about the trip? Just send her a message with your phone number, area code, country, time zone, and a couple of times that work well for you to chat.

More detailed information and slideshows at: www.kirstenkoza.com on the Writers’ Expeditions page.

www.laviniaspalding.com

Want to know more about us not by us—then Google: Kirsten Koza or Lavinia Spalding

Feel free to chat with us on Facebook on the Writers’ Expedition page.

Peru Adventure Tours is highly recommended by:
The Rough Guide to Peru
Footprint Peru
Le Petit Fute Perou
DK Eyewitness
Thomas Cook; Travellers Peru
South American Handbook 2009
DreamScapes Magazine (Canada) in Kirsten Koza’s story “17 Days in Peru with 10 Intrepid Internet Strangers”
peruadventuretours.com

Taking Reservations Soon NOW for Two Writing-Workshop Expeditions in Peru: I have posted the full details about two adventures for both writers who like to travel and travellers who like to write. The first two-week expedition will navigate through Peru’s south (in August, 2013), and the second (in June, 2014) will travel throughout the north.

We will excite all the senses (and maybe find some that you never knew you had) as our Peruvian guide immerses us in the real Peru.

(below image: sandboarding, Olympic-skeleton-style, at Huacachina)

Our small ensembles will seek out the best local Afro-Peruvian music, eat chocolate, smell the guano, dance with bulls (literally), drink pisco and chicha (not the kind made with spit), hike in lush rainforest to the base of the world’s third tallest waterfalls, stuff our faces with pachamanca, go sandboarding and cross dunes on super-charged dune buggies, see spatuletail hummingbirds and condors in the wild, soak up the humidity in high elevation Amazon jungle in the north and shrivel like the mummies in the dry heat of Nazca.

(below image: writing workshop hosts Lavinia Spalding and Rolf Potts)
Lavinia Spalding (writing workshop host for August 2013): is an award-winning writer and a journaling advocate. She’s the author of Writing Away: A Creative Guide to Awakening the Journal-Writing Traveler, named one of the best travel books of 2009 by the L.A. Times, and co-author of With a Measure of Grace, the Story and Recipes of a Small Town Restaurant. She is also the editor of the 2011, 2012, and 2013 editions of The Best Women’s Travel Writing. She is a regular contributor to Yoga Journal, and her work appears in a wide variety of publications, including Gadling,The San Francisco Chronicle, and The Best Travel Writing Volume 9.

Rolf Potts (writing workshop host for June 2014): is the author of Vagabonding, and Marco Polo Didn’t Go There. He has reported for National Geographic Traveler, The New Yorker, Outside, Guardian UK, New York Times Magazine, Sports Illustrated, National Public Radio, the Travel Channel, and his stories appear in dozens of anthologies.

“Potts is one of the best travel writers to emerge in the last decade. Intrepid and thoughtful, he’s a Paul Theroux for the backpacker generation.”—San Francisco Chronicle

Rolf Potts is “Jack Kerouac for the Internet Age” —USA Today

(Kirsten Koza) I will be hosting and organizing both June and August’s workshops:

“Some writers are famous for writing love poetry—Pablo Neruda, for instance. Others, like Scott Adams, have managed to pin to the page the preposterousness of corporate America. Rohinton Mistry is known for his poignant portraits of Mumbai; Sir Arthur Conan Doyle changed the face of detective novels by creating Sherlock Holmes. But no one can describe an unfamiliar bathroom quite like Kirsten Koza.” —CBC Radio Canada International

I read an excerpt from “Easter Island and the Chilean with the Brazilian” (the ultimate vagina monologue, not in the Vagina Monologues) to a fabulous, fun, full house at Ben McNally Books.