This article about wild magic mushrooms is a guest post by Regan from refinedmindset.com.
In Colombia, there is a little town called Guatape.
On the outskirts of Medellin, this little town rivals your current idea of what heaven would look like.
With a population of no more than a few thousand people, this town possesses a warm and cozy culture. The community has countless cafes (with coffee’s for less than one U.S. dollar), outdoor gyms, public soccer fields, and just about anything else one would need to have a good time. It’s hard to find a person who isn’t wearing a smile here.
Furthermore, the houses are all painted and throughout the town not one color of the rainbow was forgotten. Artwork further decorates each house making you feel as though you are living inside of a cartoon.
And the nature…
A gorgeous lake with countless inlets surrounds the town. Off in the distance, mountains overgrown with lush jungle canopy make you stare in awe.
If the scenery wasn’t enough to tickle one’s soul, the possible outdoor activities are seemingly endless.
Pack a bag with a lunch and set off for 10 minutes in any direction. Before you know it, you will find yourself sweating and smiling until the sun comes down. Kayaking, biking, hiking, swimming, cliff jumping…You name it, you can do it here.
My first day in Guatape had me questioning if it was the best day of my life simply for seeing it all. When I really experienced Guatape, this place forever cemented itself in my mind as heaven on earth.
Rivers, Waterfalls, and Wild Magic Mushrooms
I was lucky enough to have a connection in Guatape before I even arrived.
A friend of a friend owned one of the main hostels in town. While he didn’t provide me with free accommodation, he gave me experiences that I won’t soon forget.
On my first full day in Guatape, we set off at sunrise on our pedal bikes up into the mountains. A brief 30 min uphill battle rewarded us immensely with well over two hours of downhill action.
As we coasted down the mountains on our bikes, we were surrounded by a multitude of jungle flowers and trees to our left and a massive cliff to our right. In the lowlands of the cliff was endless coffee fields, rivers, and secluded farms.
Eventually, we pulled off the road and hiked for 30 minutes to a secret waterfall that hid all evidence that any humans had ever seen it before. We jumped off cliffs into pools below and forgot that life at home even existed.
On our way back to our bikes we took a different route and this is when things got interesting…
At one point, without warning, my new best friend dipped down to the ground and returned with a plant that, I shit you not, had an aura to it.
He looked me in the eyes and, hardly containing his laughter and excitement, said “Golden Teachers”
After shouting a “this is the best day ever”, we became laser focussed on the ground and began to find wild magic mushrooms in abundance…More than two men probably should have eaten. But that is neither here nor there.
Munching On Magic Mushrooms
After hitting the jackpot, we finished our bike ride in a town about 30 minutes south of where we left our bikes.
We stopped for a quick breakfast as the day was still young and then we grabbed a truck to drive us back. Of course, this wasn’t your typical Dodge Ram 3500.
This was a Colombian pickup which meant me and my friend were riding in the truck bed with our bikes. We didn’t mind. After all, the scenery wasn’t so bad.
As the truck carried us back into the mountains we shoved mushrooms into our gullet. One for you, one for me…Ten for you, ten for me.
The Trip
We arrived back to the main town about 30 minutes after our initial munchdown.
Since we made the mistake of eating, the mushrooms took an alarming amount of time to kick in. My friend needed to stop at his house quickly, so we walked through the skittled colored town, all smiles.
At this point, I was starting to feel a bit stoney. The colors on the walls looked frickin sweet…But they did before anyways, was this still a placebo?
My friend got what he came for and told me he had one more spot to show me.
We once again took off into the hills, this time on foot. After a 20 minute walk, we ended up in deserted pastures with wild horses and cows. The sun was abnormally cooperative that day and had the surrounding trees and fields bursting with pristine color and definition.
After roughly one hour of our initial munch down, the blue of the sky and the green of the trees was starting to look highly pleasant. However, both of us were still confused as to why we weren’t tripping. To be clear, we still had our wits in full.
A river ran through the pastures and my friend assured me that it came from a waterfall that was highly worth checking out.
On our way to the waterfall, we found more wild magic mushrooms. Since our first batch wasn’t proving to be too strong (yet), we enjoyably munched a few more wild magic mushrooms as they came.
Ten minutes later and things got intense.
For some uncommunicated reason, we both took our shoes off at the same time. Just minutes later, the open pastures disappeared and we found ourselves surrounded by dense jungle.
At this point, in a single instant, I felt like something had been lying dormant within in me for my whole life and this jungle was the home it had been waiting for.
We continued to hike up knee dip in this river. My friend and I couldn’t stop telling each other how free we felt. Soon, all of the rocks within the water were smiling at me with cheeky faces.
Shortly after, we arrived at the waterfall we came to see.
What I was expecting was much less than what I got. This waterfall was more like three waterfalls.
At its peak, it must have been 70 feet tall. However, it cascaded over three levels and left a nice pool at the bottom for us to swim in.
We laughed in ecstacy for the next 20 minutes or so until things took a scary turn. My friend went off to take a crap and it turns out the mushrooms were just getting started.
I lost my sense of control and momentarily panicked. I wanted to crawl back into bed and sleep it off. Fuck! I was having so much fun before…
When my friend returned, I found my center. A little positive talk from my friend and a little mental self-talk and I was as good as gold again.
Just five minutes later, the same thing happened to my friend. I looked at him and could sense panic. For the next five minutes, it was my turn to bring him back to his happy place.
Success! We were both back to earth. Actually, we were more alive than ever.
We exited the jungle and returned to the piercing beauty of the sunshine covered pastures. Until the sun went down, we walked barefoot and discussed the meaning of life as if we had all the answers.
It was the most therapeutic experience of my life.
The mushrooms seemed to open a portal to the secrets of the Universe. On this day, I understood the source of all my anxiety, worry, and misery. It was highly apparent why they call them “Golden Teachers”.
The magic mushrooms began to wear off just as the sun was setting.
Still High On Life
We returned to the hostel to have a beer and discuss the experience. We both sat with the biggest smiles on our faces. When others asked what we got up to, we could only laugh.
I write this roughly two months after the experience and I remember everything…The experience, the lessons, and the ways I restrict my own happiness. I still feel high on life.
Not only did Guatape show me a little piece of heaven, it showed me heaven within.