Guided tours and expeditions make up an integral part of the holiday experience for most when travelling abroad. Usually with a local as the guide, they provide a unique insight into the culture and history of a place that cannot always be garnered from the usual holiday pastimes of bars, restaurants, and hotels.
I spoke to a serial traveller who has travelled to over 50 countries. In that time, he has been a part of numerous tours. Some of these were so unmemorable that they have been forgotten, but a tour he did in Colombia still sticks out for its uniqueness: a guided tour on how to make cocaine.
Whilst travelling a route known as the Gringo Trail, which incorporates the most famous attractions in Latin America, he was advised by other travellers to visit the town of San Agustin, located in the foothills of the Andes.
The holiday company Responsible Travel recommends the tours available in San Agustin, which include visits to a UNESCO World Heritage site home to South America’s largest collection of religious and megalithic monuments. Trips to coffee and sugar cane plantations are also proposed.
If you viewed the website, it would seem like a typical travel destination. But the traveller’s experience certainly didn’t reflect this.
Upon arrival in the town, he quickly realised that every kind of drug was readily available. MDMA, acid, and, of course, cocaine could be purchased from shops, hotels, bars, and even restaurants. The price of cocaine was around ten pounds a gram, a tenth of the average price in the UK.
On the advice of another traveller, he checked into a hostel where the tours were organised and was told to wait for a certain man to begin his shift at the desk. The man started his shift at 6 o’clock, so the traveller approached him nervously.
He started off by asking him about nice things to do in the area, to which the man suggested a 5 km mountain trek and a swim in a local lake. The traveller made it clear that he had grown tired of such expeditions and wanted to try something different.
The hosteler checked down both ends of the corridor to make sure no one was around before he posed his next suggestion: “Wanna make cocaine?” The traveller’s response was instant: “Hell yeah!”
The traveller was advised to be at the hostel by 6 o’clock, where a taxi would be waiting to drive him and the other guests up to the location. After acquiring some rum and beer with the other participants, a taxi came and picked them up, driving 40 minutes out of the city to a shack in the jungle. They were completely alone up there, apart from the occasional bark from one of the many stray dogs that are found in Colombia.
The tour commenced as most do, with general talk between the travellers about where they were from and where they planned to travel next. After some time, the tour guide announced that they would begin, before pulling out a plate of the final product so they could see what they would be making. He offered each participant a line of cocaine from the plate, which they all obliged. Then the tour began.
The first part involved a huge cleaver and the fine chopping of the coca leaves, described by the traveller as chopping them the same way that you would chop parsley. The leaves were then placed in a bucket and mixed with concrete dust, this would be the first of several ingredients that users will not be pleased to find out they put up their nose.
Half petrol and half diesel were then added to cover the mixture, which was then left for half an hour. This would usually be left for a longer period, but parts of the process were fast-tracked for the purpose of the tour. During the break, the guide handed out more cocaine to the participants.
The mixture was then strained, and the coca leaves were thrown away. Only one hour into a six-hour process, and the original product was no longer needed. Bleach and countless other chemicals were then added to the concoction before a propane gas hose was used to boil it.
The final ingredient was a chemical that turned the reduced mixture very pasty. It was then placed into tins under heat lamps for it to dry out.
The cocaine was then divided up and handed to the participants as a prize for taking part in the tour. After seeing how it was made, the traveller decided to throw it away immediately. He vowed to never put cocaine anywhere near his body again.
Whilst he has still dabbled with the drug in the subsequent years, the experience has changed his outlook on what he puts up his nose. Every time he takes it now; he is forever reminded of the gas bottle bubbling away under the repulsive white mixture. This has lessened his cravings for it at times. Maybe some of the one million Brits who take cocaine could benefit from doing a similar tour.