Bill Drake

Searching For Mama Coca Bill Drake

Because of the growing worldwide interest in the sacred medicine leaf of the Andes, and while I'm sure that Coca Grows by serious, innovative people developing Coca Leaf medicines are already happening in many places, experienced growers can't share their knowledge publicly with instructions and photographs without entirely too much risk. That's why I decided to reach into the distant past for knowledge that can be shared today, hoping to help along the liberation of Mama Coca and inviting growers to add their new knowledge to what I've gathered here from those who have gone before. Throughout the book you'll encounter writers from hundreds of years ago, some with voices that strike an almost contemporary tone, as if they are communicating with us today. When they describe Coqueros of the Altiplano planting ripened Coca seeds, they are describing how Coca seeds are planted to this day in the high country of Bolivia and Peru. I hope that you'll also enjoy hearing these writers talking as if they were walking a Cocal with a friend, sometimes arguing passionately about the best ways to age and dry their Coca leaf, prune their young plants, time their first harvest, and sharing all their intimate knowledge of Mama Coca with each other. You'll find a long and I hope useful bibliography with 'tinyurl' links to online sources for browsing any of the writers whose long-forgotten work on Mama Coca attracts your interest.