Coca

I have a new heroine by the name of Alison Spedding, a British academic living in La Paz, Bolivia. I’ve come across her in a book about banned substances, and the chapter on coca. Coca leaves are totally legit and commonly chewed for a buzz in the region, and in fact a porter shoved some into my mouth to gee me up when I was feeling feeble on the Inca Trail.

Alison Spedding was jailed in La Paz for marijuana possession in the 1990s, and it was probably politically motivated. She was interviewed about her jail experience, and said, ‘life is hard, so it doesn’t really matter where you are as long as you’re experiencing it.’

A wise woman indeed.