Tag: mushrooms

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Austin, Phish, Hugging Pavement…

Had a great trip to Austin! I’ve been there a long time ago for work and didn’t really get to see much of the city. I really enjoyed it even though the city felt like a Finnish sauna at times 🙂

Short flight and checked into Carpenter Hotel. Cute hotel…

One of the good things about the hotel was that it had a great coffee shop downstairs! My day doesn’t take off without having a coffee first! Met this cute dog there too…

I have a couple that I’ve known for a long time that moved there about 4 months ago. Nothing better than knowing locals who already tried out spots and then just guide you around to the best places. We went around on those electric scooters and I love how much water and greenery there is in town…

Being in Texas meant that there were a lot of cowboy boot stores. We stopped at Allens Boots that has been around almost 50 years. Obviously had to get a pair and roll like a local 🙂

I’ll show you the pair I got shortly 🙂 It’s always a plus when the place you visit has an abundance of great coffee places. One of the places is Maaribu Cafe + Gift. Great coffee, cute little gift shop inside and we enjoyed our coffees in their quiet backyard…

You can’t go to Texas without having BBQ. Terry Black’s Barbecue hit the spot! Delicious meats! Ate like an elephant! I just assume they eat more than a horse…

A quick stop at the hotel to grab my bikini and we went to Barton Springs Pool. The water comes from Barton Springs and it’s super refreshing in the heat. Packed with people though…

There was this tree in the park outside and someone said it’s called the Monkey Tree and people do acid under it. Hmm, might have to check if that’s true next time 🙂

Had to try the hotel pool too to cool down after getting back. Wish I could’ve spent more time there because it was very relaxing later on the day when there was not that many people there.

I think I looked pretty damn cool in my bikini matching it with my new boots!

A quick shower and then it was time for the main event of the trip – the Phish concert! Made a pit stop at the Cosmic Bar on the way.

We were right by the concert riding our electric scooters when my hat is blowing off. Don’t think go to grab it with one hand. Get off balance, wobble and crash right in to the pavement! Felt like it went in slow motion and though I must be bleeding all over my face, Was bleeding by my right eye and thought the scar from the eye surgery had ripped open. My friends checked me and no bigger damages than some scratches. Lesson learned, both hands on the handlebar 🙂

No time to waste, so cleaned up in the bathroom, popped some mushrooms and Phish started! They went off and it was magical! People were ecstatic and it was intense at times. So good though!!! My friend has been to over 100 of their concerts. I saw them in Vegas like 6 years ago on psychedelics, and it was awesome then too!

I finally got to get a ride in a Waymo when heading back to the hotel! Very cool! But why waste space on a drivers seat when they’re self driving???

Got a burger and a chocolate milkshake from P. Terry’s right outside the hotel too 🙂 Got a bit hungry 🙂

At 1.30am Hunter’s sitter calls and says Hunter has had a little accident. Immediately thinking he’s been run over by a car. Yup, I can be a bit dramatic at times… Turns out he had jumped on the kitchen counter and got one of the fly traps stuck on his fur. Running around in panic so it got stuck more. Luckily the sitter is very cool and was able to clean him up good and all was good! But went on Amazon and order fur cleaning products to be delivered the next day just in case… A bit intense when coming off the mushrooms, but was finally able to sleep hahhaaa…

A bit bruised up the next morning from my attempt to hug the pavement…

After a coffee at the hotel, the next stop was Merit Coffee. Sooo goood!

Then Brown’s Bar-B-que for lunch. It was a food truck and didn’t disappoint!

Cross the street was this cool looking gift shop so had to check it out. The coolest thing in there was the store cat 🙂

There can never be too much caffeine, so also tried Proud Mary Coffee. Merit was the best coffee spot that I tried if I had to rate them!

A little stop on the way to check out a trail. Realized after 11 minutes it was way too hot to attempt even a lazy stroll…

I had to keep eating and TexMex food is another undoubtedly great option here. Veracruz had an incredible Mezcalita and probably the best chicken quesadillas I ever had!

My friends have a little toddler so we checked out some ducks and turtles in the next door park. It’s fascinating how many parks they have in town!

Something that hit me while visiting was that people are very friendly everywhere. You can walk, scooter and bike, (and some hardcore folks were even running in the middle of the day) everywhere. They really seem to make an effort in decorating and making places nice with cool designs. The Uber driver that took me to the airport said that they even support street art/graffiti if it’s nicely done. I’m pretty sure I will go back to Austin 🙂 I mean, I got my cool ass boots now!

Got home and Hunter had survived his fly trap trauma. Now lying next to me like the good semi-little boy that he is 🙂

Plan to start yoga next week. Can also start lifting weights now after the eye surgery. Not sure my shoulder will be in shape for that though. Seeing Tony next week too so really hope he can fix it because then he goes on a 1 month long vacation 🙁 Other than that I will be shooting, got friends coming into town, Angel is back in town, and 4th of July is coming up… You got plans?

Oh, I got so into the BBQ that I want to get a smoker. Anyone here a big BBQ’er that can give any tips on one?

Wishing you a superb upcoming week and Happy 4th!!!

XXX Puma

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Happy New Year

This post took longer to write than I expected. It was supposed to be ready on New Years Eve, but I got sidetracked hahhaaa… But here is a little recap of 2024 🙂

Overall it was a great year with travel, moving, and feels like I got a good dose of adventure and experiences…

In January I went to Tepoztlán with some friends. It’s a small town about an hour from Mexico City. I love that place and they believe aliens made a visit there at some point. Never spotted any even though I wanted to 🙁

In February I visited La Paz which is the capital of Baja California Sur. A cute town and best part was snorkeling with whale sharks. And my giant Margarita 🙂

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Also got to go to the big yearly art show Zonamaco in Mexico City with my Swedish friend Sanna. I love art shows…

Apparently I became a carrothead too. Not a huge success if I look back at it hahhaaaa….

Changed back to blond pretty fast 🙂

In March I found a photography school and started taking lessons. So much fun and it’s rewarding practicing a semi new skill 🙂

Traveled to Japan for a wedding. I met Nick & Annie when living in Puerto Rico. It was one of the fanciest weddings I’ve been to 🙂

Stayed after the wedding in Japan visiting Kyoto and Hakone. Too crowded in Kyoto for my liking, but I can see the charm if you would visit when there are less tourists…

Really enjoyed Hakone. The hot spring spa and nature there…

I also booked a room at a love hotel in Tokyo and did a shoot, had some of the best sushi, a fun night at the Muscle girl bar and visited a pig cafe 🙂

One of the highlights this year was going back to Mycelia Retreat in Jamaica. Invited my writer/journalist friend Cyril from Sweden. It was my most powerful mushroom trip to this day and I went through every kind of emotion, but what a reset! I hope to revisit 2025…

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In June I decided 3 years in Mexico was amazing but it’s time to go back to the US. Having a bit of a hoarder mentality it took some time to get rid of almost everything and it was hard to say goodbye to friends… Also spent the last 2 nights sleeping on the floor since I got rid of all the furniture hahahahaa… But I see a visit back in 2025 to visit them all again 🙂

Hunter got prepped with his papers and practiced going outside in his carrier and then his flight carrier. He was such a champ handling the whole trip from Mexico to Utah!

July was spent in Utah. I missed the nature and clean air while in Mexico so took full advantage of Utah…

Utah is where I first encountered pickleball and now I’m hooked!

Flew to Vegas and got my hands full with Tyler Faith. Maybe that’s when the idea of living in Vegas was born?

Also flew to Sweden for my yearly hike with my sister. Longest hike we’ve done so far, 7 days, 6 nights AND we made it up Kebnekaise. Definitely top 3 of 2024!!!

2 of my best friends had their 50th birthdays too which got celebrated!

In August I packed the car and moved to Vegas…

September was spent exploring what Vegas has to offer. Reunited with friends from back in the day, found great hikes, celebrated my birthday and a gym with pickleball! I’m loving it here and Hunter is very happy too as long as the neighbors cat Ocean keeps a paws distance 🙂

Finished off October with Halloween…

In November I had a looooot of shoots with fun people 🙂 Even made it out to LA, Nelson’s Ghost Town twice and got taped for the first time which was really cool…

Tried new hikes. Happy I have friends who enjoy hiking as much as I do 🙂

My sister came to visit and we did Vegas and LA. I love that I’m so close to my extended family and wifey Sandy now that I love in Vegas 🙂

And Masha from Russia paid a short visit too. Met her when I lived in Puerto Rico 🙂

Finally December and there was some christmas prepping to be done as yo can see in the previous posts so I’m not going to bore you with those pics again 🙂 My holidays were great. I got some relaxation in, I guess I’ve been pretty good since I got a lot of presents hehheeee… Hunter got presents too obviously and he is spoiled year around whether he behaves or. not hahhaaaa…

Everyone here recommended the show ‘Absinthe’ and I finally got to see it. Wow, it was so good! Funny, incredible acts and now I’m looking into taking lessons in roller skating because this couple looked so cool doing their act with roller skates. It was so fast paced and that they manages to stay on stage without just impressed the shit out of me! If you get the chance, see the show!

Did a mushroom trip and it was great 🙂

Didn’t have any plans for New Years Eve other than wanting some outdoor access. Went hiking with Angel and it was an easy hike and I always feel so good after being in nature!

Ordered lobster & crab nachos for dinner and watched the movie Small Engine Repair. It was pretty good 🙂

How were your Holidays? Any goals/plans for 2025? I’ still figuring mine out and fine tuning them. But some things I’ve been thinking about and on my bucket list are:

-visit Vietnam and Iceland

-try a new experience every month, like rollerblading, shows in Vegas, rage room, grow shrooms, race car driving, new recipes and the list goes on.

-having eyelid surgery

-yearly hike with my sister

-add more mindfulness into my life like yoga and meditation… So far I’ve done short meditations every day, but it’s haaaaard with my brain being all over the place hahhaaaa…

I’ll probably be adding to the list, but this is some of it 🙂

I hope your year has been off to a fabulous start! I’m off to LA next week for work and see to see my wifey Sandy 🙂

Hugs & kisses, Puma

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Feasting, Decorating & Shooting

Started the week by decorating Angel’s Xmas tree. I love Christmas and all the decorations and lights!

I tried decorating one of her dogs too, but she wasn’t as enthusiastic as I was 🙁

On Wednesday I had an interview with a Swedish radio channel. Because of the time difference, it was at 05.45 in the morning! I was barely awake until it was over hahahaaa… It was about me and Cyril’s experiences with mushrooms in Jamaica. Needless to say, I went back to bed after…

A lot of shooting and catching up with custom requests…

How was your Thanksgiving? On Wednesday I was invited to a Swedish guy’s house, Mattias, and his girlfriend Shay. Very nice couple and met some more Swede’s there and other fun people. In Sweden we drink ‘snaps’, but we substituted that for some Tequila shots 🙂

On actual Thanksgiving I went to Angel’s house. Had to pop by Costco for some stuff for my Swedish dessert I made and it was pretty loco there… I kind of got stuck in the candy section for too long!

We had fried turkey. First time trying that and it was delicious. Another super nice evening with great company 🙂 Left looking like I was 4 months preggo!

On Friday Angel and I shot with the great photographer Dean Capture. He shot me in like 2010 and he was as great now as back then! The shoot was Christmas themed and the video is hilarious! Some BTS pics. I have a tendency to insert myself in almost every shot hahhaaa…

We looked like 2 clowns after with our red lipstick covering half our faces! I believe that if you have naughty fun, it should show!

Hunter is not too impressed with the colder weather and spends most of his time on his heated blanket 🙂 He loves when I make little blanket covers for him that he can sleep under…

Here are some more pics from last weekend when we shot with Tyler in the ghost Town and at the party…

Been skipping the gym and going to go now. Way too many treats and I like the feeling of being drained of energy after. Next week I’m getting some fat injections in my face and hopefully I won’t bruise too much since I have a couple of shoots! Plan to get a Christmas tree too and decorate it. I already have Hunters sock ready 🙂

That’s about it…. Glad Första Advent to all the Scandinavians here and to the rest of you, Happy Dec 1st!

XXX Puma

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The Trip

So the big journey took place on Friday. I journaled before and really tried to set and clarify my intentions. Something that I questioned is what should I focus on? Is it photography or something else? I also wrote and said that I have fear, but I don’t know about what… I talked to Stacey, our facilitator, about how in my recent journeys with psychedelics I have felt fear/anxiety going into my trips. Fear of going to dark places. Nothing has been revealed when I’ve been in the ‘darkness’, mostly just feeling unease.

Mushrooms being measured in to individual doses by Troy and Jamie…

At 6.34pm I ate 5,5 grams of dried mushrooms and drank mushroom tea that was about 2 grams. Stacey suggested 7 gr when we talked, but my fear kicked in and we agreed on 5 gr. When I realized that I would be taking 7 gr after all, I decided to go with it. I felt pretty calm. In my mind I was saying I wanted it to be a good trip. Beautiful visuals and just feeling good. 

It kicked in really fast for me (it always does) and I laid down and closed my eyes. The first thought I remember coming to me when I felt the effect was – promise yourself to never do psychedelics ever again, but then I started to have beautiful visuals and I was like, oh yes, this is going to be a great trip! Why would I not want to trip ever again in my life? I had 2 miniature guys that kept talking to me and I started asking them questions on what I should focus on. Is it photography? Will something else come up? They kind of just laughed and said that I can do whatever I want. I think we were in Vegas. Then I saw and visited a very light place, like a cave that felt like peace. 

Then it was like the mushrooms decided that hey, let’s stop bullshitting around and deal with the real issue – your fear. I have always said “mushrooms don’t give you what you want, they give you what you need…” But I never experienced that, until now! I don’t exactly remember what I saw visually, I think it was mostly feeling fear, anxiousness and it being dark. I started to move and tried to get comfortable in my body. At one point I came to and my face was covered in tears without me realizing I’ve been crying. I think the mushrooms let me take a breather and then took me back in. At one point I came to and I was covered in sweat. I thought about calling for Stacey or Jamie to check on me. But I decided to just keep laying down and went back in.

At one point I was going in circles in my mind. I came back to the first thought, made conclusions and then I was back again. It was scary and I remember thinking I might never come out of this. Is this forever? I know from previous journeys that there are no other options than surrendering and pushing through. They played very calm music, and at times the music was quiet, making time stretch, and there were just my thoughts. I kept thinking, please put the music back on. I knew it was just a short break between songs, but it felt like the quietness lasted forever. Very hard to handle. I tried to guess how much time had passed and had to accept that I still probably had a lot of time left.

I think I finally started to come back and Stacey had in her notes that it was around 10.30pm. I needed to go to the bathroom and I was walked to one by Jamie. The floor was morphing so much. Going to the bathroom took me out of it a bit and I decided to put my headphones on and listen to my own music. I got up and started to move and dance a little. I remember thinking I was so fucking happy I was out of it and alive! I had a feeling that I went through hell and made it through. Felt relief and a feeling that I can make it through anything! Cyril was the only one left out on the chairs. I then started to dance more and then rocked out. I sat down at times and thought about my mom. First I wanted to brush it off, but decided to really take that in, sit with it and concentrate on my mom. The pain and hardships she went through. I realized I caused her a lot of worry. I cried. 

In the end I sat by the pool just thinking about my experience and what I went through… All of a sudden I noticed this little bug crawling around me. Then there was more and it felt like they were all coming towards me. Not scary, just feeling that maybe I was connected to everything. 

I think I went into my room around 12.30 am. Then Cyril came knocking and we went sitting outside and we talked about our experiences. He went through a big trip as well. 

At 2 am I decided it was time for bed. I saw a lot of creatures when I closed my eyes, but I fell asleep fast and slept the whole night through… 

So what do I feel now? I am more present and feel that I don’t need to know exactly where I’m headed or what’s next for me. It will be revealed if I have patience and stay open. I had a knot in my stomach before and Mama Orah said that our feelings a lot of times express themselves in our stomachs. I don’t have that anymore. I don’t feel fear or anxiety anymore. I will definitely keep doing psychedelics and appreciate the trip I went through even though it was a hard one. I think I have one more big trip ahead of me that is about forgiving someone. But who knows, maybe the mushrooms will take me elsewhere… 

Also made a decision when returning home to move. I’m moving to Utah. I’ll save that for the next post, but I’m very excited about it!!!

Hope your weekend has been superb!

XXX Puma

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Mycelia Psilocybin Retreat

Last week on Wednesday I took an Uber at 02.00 am to the airport. Tried to sneak out without waking Hunter up, but no luck with that. When I grabbed my bags and was ready to head downstairs, he came out stretching and yawning and walked me to the door.

Sooo tired and happy when it was about time to finally board the plane. I find out that the flight to Houston is being cancelled because the plane is broken. Or I guess in less dramatic terms, has technical issues.  Ugh!

There are not many options for flying from Mexico to Jamaica. They tried to find options, but all of them meant staying somewhere overnight and continuing tomorrow. I finally got the brilliant idea to look for a flight to Kingston in Jamaica instead. It wasn’t guaranteed I’d get on it though because it was overbooked. I thought some good thoughts, crossed some fingers, and at 08.40 am I flew to Atlanta instead. Pretty much passed out as soon as I sat down on the plane.

In Atlanta the pIane was overbooked and they started offering money to people to fly the next day instead. Luckily enough people took the offer and at 5.59 pm we took off to Jamaica finally! I think the Atlanta airport had very interesting artwork. Or is just me that has a dirty mind?

Got to the villa around 22.30 and met everyone. Chuck who I met last year from the US. So great seeing him again! Cyril from Sweden. More about him later. Dev from Australia, Alex who is Armenian, Derryck from USA (but grew up in South Africa and lived in Russia among other places) and Rob from South Africa but came from Cayman Islands the next day.

Thursday

Slept good and woke up at 7.30am. I always get excited if I have a pool or access to a beach and feel the need to get in instantly. Afterwards I had coffee and mingling while having a light breakfast. 

Around 11am Mama Orah came over to give us a yoga session. If you read my blog last year you already know I love Mama Orah. I believe she’s past 70 years old and she just radiates compassion and you want to hug her which I obviously did 🙂 While the rest of us are in the shade yoga-ing she’s in the sun like it’s nothing! I’m guessing it was about 31 Celsius! 

After that it was time for lunch and Marcel was the chef this time too. He cooks the best food and is a sweetheart! 

What I like about this retreat is that there’s no stress. You have time to relax on your own or with the group. I love meeting new people, and we were a great group with a lot of interesting stories and experiences on why we all came here. Cyril is a writer/journalist from Sweden who I had only been in contact with on Instagram a couple of times. About a month ago he posted about psilocybin on his feed. I sent him a DM that I had micro-dosed and asked him if he didn’t want to come to Jamaica on a retreat with me. Cyril had been traveling for work and rerouted his return by Jamaica so here we were meeting for the first time. 

Around 4pm we were on a private beach for our 1st mushroom dose. A lighter dose and I took 2 grams in a gummy and 1 gram of chocolate.

We all were swimming and a rainbow appears. So cool. I didn’t expect to feel as much as I did, but I had a lot of visuals. The clouds were in 3D layers and I saw geometrical patterns when I closed my eyes. Felt a bit restless and lied down on a towel on my own and let go… When I felt that I was coming out of it I started listening to my music and dancing. Damn, I love dancing when ending my trip. It’s like I release all of the built up and leftover energy. I feel so free and great after… We also had a beautiful sunset on the beach before packing up and headed back to the villa. 

Marcel had cooked us dinner and we sat talking about how our trips had been. Cyril and I sat up until midnight because he just has the craziest stories to tell about people he interviewed, wild parties, and wars in Syria and Ukraine he’d reported from. 

Friday

The day started with coffee, chilling in the pool, breakfast and then another yoga session with Mama Orah.

After lunch we had individual sessions with Stacey who was our facilitator. She is from Jamaica and very calm and wise. We talked about my intention for the upcoming journey and how much mushrooms I was going to take. There will be a longer and separate post about this because this was probably my most powerful trip ever in so many ways. I finally understand the meaning of “The mushrooms give you what you need, not what you want” and it was so true for me on this trip. This is us getting to ready to take off…

The night ended with Cyril and I sitting up talking about our experiences until 2am. I felt elated and drained after and still had some visions when I went to bed and closed my eyes…

Saturday

One of my favorite things form last year is when we all shared about our trips. This morning was no different. Everyone was curious about each others journeys. Seemed like everyone had a powerful one. Stacey was also around to answer questions and listen to us sharing…

At 4pm it was time to head to another beach for our last dose. I only took 2 grams and felt it in my body, but didn’t really have any visuals. It also started raining so we had to take shelter and it’s different when you are interacting with other people versus just lying down and letting go. I also believe the mushrooms felt I’d received what I needed the night before so now it was mostly relaxing. Witnessed a beautiful sunset before heading back to the villa to chill…

On Sunday we packed up and checked in and Sand & Tan where I stayed last year too after the retreat. It’s a simple hotel right on the beach and it felt good to reflect on the past few days.

My favorite was to just walk out from my balcony and go swim first thing in the morning. There was barely any other people there so we were just journaling, talking, eating and hanging out. I went paddle boarding every day and just laid on the board. Was even able to get one sunset on the water on the board. 

Lunch with gang. Anyone else think this sign is funny?

Dinner at the hotel…

Pulled myself together and worked a little. Can’t really say it feels like work when you’re on the beach in yet another beautiful sunset 🙂

Met this artist at the hotel and he painted this mural. I suspect he even might of planted this weed plant next to it 🙂

On the last night the last stragglers visited a strip club. I love visiting strip clubs in different countries. We had a couple of drinks and watched some great pole tricks before leaving and crashing in bed. 

My flight was not until 2.30pm on Wednesday so I had time to swim and have breakfast with Troy and John who runs the retreat and Cyril.

The guy who runs Sand & Tan buys fresh caught fish every day from the fishermen…

Had to stop for some great jerk chicken on the way to the airport too…

Made it home and I feel much more relaxed. Something I’ve taken home is to feel more present. Be in the moment. I sometimes do 5 things at the same time, but I think I’m a bit more focused now and able to concentrate on only 1 (or 2) things at the time. 

Hunter was very happy about me coming home and talked a lot before he slept glued to my side the whole night 🙂 

I think I will have some other exciting news to share in the next few days 🙂 Just finalizing details now wohooo 🙂

The next retreat in Mycelia is June 23 – June 27 and there are a couple of spots left. If you’ve ever been thinking of going to a retreat, I can’t recommend Mycelia enough! Here is how our itinerary looked for the days we were there.

Hope you all will have a great weekend! Got plans? I’m going to polish my notes about the big trip experience and hopefully post it tomorrow. Hopefully getting together with Dayana today before she leaves for her summer travels. Tomorrow I’m helping Astrid with some computer stuff, but will read and relax too 🙂

Laters, Puma

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Highlights of 2023

Thinking back on 2023 and trying to summarize it with a couple of words. What comes to mind is adventure and experiences. I also have some questions about my direction and where I’m headed. Still can’t answer that one hahhaaaa… I love to travel and being in nature, so I hope 2024 includes that. I also hope I get to be healthy so I can keep exploring and experiencing!

Here are a few highlights from last year…

Visiting Patagonia in Argentina in February. Stayed in Bariloche and it was beautiful. Surrounded by water and nature. Also visited the little town El Bolsón where I would spend more time in if I visited again.

It was weird travelling and being in a country with such high inflation. You paid double for things if you paid with a card. To get cash you had to wire it to yourself and then line up at Western Union to get it.

Went to a wedding of a good friend in Palm Desert. Everything was kept off social media so I couldn’t post pics of the beautiful groom & bride. I really enjoyed Palm Desert and hope to go back.

After Palm Desert I went to LA and my sister came too from Sweden. We stayed with Sandy and her family so I got the good stuff all at once, family & friends while visiting LA. Took advantage of Sandy’s make up skills and got some work done too… I’m trying to plan a trip to LA asap to see Sandy as I miss her a lot!

In April I visited Puerto Escondido here in Mexico for the first time. Wow, what a cool beach town. Not busy and developed like Tulum. Very chill and relaxed. Would definitely go back here too 🙂

In May I went to the Mycelia Retreat in Jamaica. Definitely one of the top experiences in 2023 that made a big impact on me. Such a beautiful time with mushrooms and an amazing group of people. I hope to host my own retreat this year. Let me know if you’re interested in coming 🙂

In June it was time for a yearly hike up north in Sweden for my sister and I. 3rd year in a row and we plan to keep this going. This time we did the first part of the Kings Trail. 6 days and 5 nights and we loved every day of it!

In August I visited Oaxaca the city. Very beautiful. Drove to the small village called San Jose del Pacifico. It was mushroom season and had a great mushroom trip out in the woods there.

In October it was time for Medellin in Colombia. First time trying paragliding and another mushroom trip 🙂

And the last adventure of the year went to San Miguel de Allende. That trip included trying Kambo and San Pedro for the first time. Very powerful and intense experience.

Not to forget, Hunter celebrated 1 year as a new family member. I love him so much 🙂

Soooo, how about you? Got goals, direction or things you want to do/achieve in 2024? I hope you gotten a fabulous start to this new year!

XXX Puma

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Staycation, health, Xmas

Finally feeling almost back to normal. Even went to a class at the gym yesterday and struggled through it. At night we had dinner with people from the gym. Most people speak Spanish so I did my best to follow along. Luckily there is always someone translating for me when I’m looking completely lost 🙂 Finished the night off with a Mezcal shot!

Oh, and one guy had this awesome tattoo of an alien handing out mushrooms.

Also got a Christmas tree and started decorating last night. I love the feeling of Christmas being around the corner. Hunter inspected the tree, and so far it still standing. Also forced Hunter to pose for some pictures with his Santa hat, and he was less than impressed by that. I’ll show you next week when I’ve chosen the pics where we both are most photogenic 🙂

I went on a small staycation in Coyocán last week. It’s very popular and a lot of tourists visit during weekends. I stayed at Mansión de Papilo. WOW, what a place!

There were peacocks strolling around and a cat or 2. The colors on the male peacocks are so vibrant. The females looked like regular turkeys next to them lol… And they had an albino peacock too!

I got a whole building to myself in the back. It even had this private pool for me. I hope I can go back soon because it was sooo nice and relaxing there. There was a full tree growing out of the bathroom…

I think I accidentally shot a picture of the toilet too, but now you know how that looks too hahahaa…

Before I left for the retreat I had a girl come over and give me a trippy set of nails. I loved them. I would do it all the time if it didn’t take so long. But pretty cool, or what do you think?

After the retreat I was sick and exhausted for a week. I didn’t do much else other than sleep, cuddle with Hunter, or watch movies. A lot of mornings Hunter and I watch the birds outside together 🙂

When I finally felt better it was time to put on some outfits and get to work…

Catched up with Milla, saw this cute dog, a huge spider, and then it’s just the regular selfies 🙂

I bought more lights for my Christmas tree, so I’m gonna throw them up. Tomorrow starting off with the gym and then going to get my hair done. I have Spanish and a dance class this week too, and on Friday I’m having some friends over for some Swedish Christmas foods 🙂 What are you up to?

XXX Puma

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Corason Retreat Part 1

It’s been a lot to process as it was four very intense days with different medicines. I’ve decided to make two different posts as it became very looooooong and I’m still polishing the last part. Hopefully post it tomorrow 🙂

I took the bus from Mexico City to San Miguel de Allende. Very smooth ride about 4h away.

I wanted to have a relaxing day before the ceremonies and not arrive the day of. I stayed at Maison Mexique, a cute little hotel in the middle of everything. I threw my bag down and spent the day walking around the city.

In the evening I sat on the rooftop writing down some thoughts and intentions for the days to come.

Next morning I walked around a bit in the sun and had some fruit for breakfast.

We were notified that they would also be offering Kambo before the Ayahuasca ceremony the first day. I decided I wanted it, and drank 2 liters of water before leaving for the retreat. It was a short 10 minute Uber ride away. I’m always early, so I checked into my room at the house we were staying at, and then walked around checking out the hood 🙂

“Kambo is the name of a natural substance derived from the glandular secretions of the amphibian Phyllomedusa bicolor, a species native to regions in South America. The communities living in these areas administer the substance generally transdermally during rituals for religious-purifying purposes, producing small skin burns.” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9061256/

The retreat was held by Miryana & Michael. More about them later 🙂 There were four of us who showed up to receive Kambo. The room had mattresses and buckets. I knew Kambo makes you purge and I remember thinking that I’ve never purged in a group setting. First time for everything…

We were told how it would be administered, the duration and what to expect. Miryana burned 3 holes on my ankle with the end of a burning stick. Didn’t hurt as much as I thought it would, but it still stinged. She rubbed the burnt skin off and applied the Kambo.

We were told to keep drinking water. I think it took around 15-20 minutes until I started to get an uneasy feeling in my stomach. I let out a small purge. Michael kept encouraging us to drink more water. Kept drinking and then I purged out what felt like the rest of what I had in my stomach.

I thought beforehand that I would feel a lot worse, but it wasn’t too hard to handle and I felt good after purging. You are pretty focused on what you are going through, so I barely noticed the others purging. The Kambo is then wiped off the skin and it took about 1 hour in total. I felt pretty much back to normal afterwards.

In the afternoon two more people arrived. We all met up and talked about the upcoming Ayahuasca ceremony that was happening later at night. When it was time we first had an ‘exercise’ led by Michael. It was about setting your intentions. What is your perception about yourself right now and what would you like it to be. Before going at it, we danced together and then settled down and wrote whatever came to mind. Then more dancing and again settling down to write about the ‘new’ and improved you.

I like to draw and this is the new me going who knows where hahahaaa….

Then we all shared a word that summarized it all. My word was peace. I would like to live and be aware of the present more. Not to feel that I need to be effective all of the time. There was also a table set-up and you could leave an offering there…

At 8.15pm we were served Ayahuasca. (Ayahuasca is commonly made by the stems of the Banisteriopsis caapi vine and the leaves of the Psychotria viridis shrub). Photo by: Jana Klintoukh

I think about an hour after drinking the first cup, we all opted for a second serving. As usual when I’m doing larger doses of psychedelics, I remember thinking, ‘I don’t feel anything’, and then all of a sudden it hit me full-force. Wow, what a journey it took me on. There were times when I had to ask the medicine to take it a bit slow as it was so intense. At one point I think I experienced some kind of death. It all became white and my face was covered in tears when I came to again. I had a lot of visuals. I had visions of wolves howling and eating a carcass. I might of howled at one point too hahhaaaa… The feelings were mixed between fear, mostly because it was so intense, a lot of love for people I know, and in the between I just tried to surrender to everything and take it all in. Not very easy though lol…

Around 4am they told us we could go to our rooms or we could stay where we were. I did not hear this as I think I had fallen asleep. It was 6.30am when I was able to get up and go to bed exhausted. I’m still trying to make sense of my journey. I have a follow up call next week on Tuesday so maybe I can get more clarity then…

On the 2nd day we got together around 10 am to share about our different journeys. I’m always amazed how the experiences differ from one person to another. Some had people from their past ‘visit’ them and no visions of patterns. Very interesting to hear about the various trips.

We then talked about the mushroom ceremony, and it was going to be in silence with no music or drums. Around noon we were served the mushroom tea. Miryana said before that it was important to not compare this journey with other shroom journeys we might of had before. Well, my trip was nothing like any other I’ve had and there’s been a few. I felt the effect, but had no visuals like I always have. I walked up to the rooftop and put my headphones on and started dancing. Felt so good moving in the sun. After about 4 hours the effect of the mushrooms were wearing off, and we gathered downstairs again to share. I asked about my trip because I thought maybe I had become immune to shrooms. One suggestions was that I had asked for peace during Ayahuasca and maybe that was what I was experiencing. Hmm, makes sense to me…

We then had 1.5h to ourselves and I decided to emerge from our ‘container’ and go for a walk and clear my head a bit.

In the evening we gathered again for a breathing exercise. Mryana & Michael told us beforehand that it could get intense and to just let go and do whatever you felt you needed to do. Move, make sounds or whatever. I remember thinking – How powerful can a breathing exercise be? It was all very simple. Sit with your eyes closed and take deep breaths, inhale & exhale, with your mouth only. It varied with drums and then music. It started with everyone concentrating on their inhales and exhales. I don’t know at what point it happened, but soon we were making sounds. Pretty quietly at first. Then it got louder and louder. I remember pretty much letting it all out, crying loudly at one point. I had visuals appear. A giant flower with a tunnel leading into it. I remember thinking that this is like no other breathing exercise I ever done and it felt so good. Maybe I had some leftover shrooms and Aya that helped with the visions, I don’t know. It calmed down and we were told to take deep breaths and hold. Hold when we exhaled. The last holding of your breath was 2.5 min long. I didn’t quite manage that, but held my breath far longer than I thought I could… I really liked it. We then all gathered at the rooftop and hung out. It was a very cool group of people I was with, and it is always very interesting to hear everyone’s stories and why they’ve chosen these medicines.

OK, I’m going to leave at this, and next post will be about the 2 remaining days with San Pedro and Bufo 🙂 And I’m going to share a pretty badass video of myself!

Hugs, Puma

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New places, Botox, dance…

A guy at the gym told me about a place called Laguna. I decided to Uber there and check it out. It’s now one of my favorite spots to drink coffee and work at. There are stores, offices, food, and the design of the place is very cool. I was also chasing after this black cat who I think lives there, but he could care less about me. – “Don’t you know who I think I am”

There are always new places opening here. Took a new route home walking one night and discovered this new cafe/restaurant. When the sun sets, they project silent movies on a wall there. Decided to try it out and definitely going back. It’s called the Treehouse.

One of the girls at the new gym is a dancer. I love dancing, but don’t really have any moves. I asked her if she would be willing to teach a class or two. Wow, sooo much fun even though I felt like a tree trunk trying to copy her moves hahahaaaa…

Can’t just waltz around trying new places so here’s proof that I work too 🙂

Dropped by for some Botox too…

I also applied for the Fjällräven Polar 2024. You have to do three challenges and in December they will choose 20 winners who get to go on an Arctic Expedition with Fjällräven next year. It sounds so amazing. It’s not too late to apply and do the challenges if you are interested. Here’s the link – https://foxtrail.fjallraven.com/articles/challenges-fjallraven-polar-2024?sc_src=email_5047628&sc_lid=513245132&sc_uid=SdfqStOQHN&sc_llid=834&sc_eh=217bca01252d904f1&utm_source=FJR_en&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=en_Brand_FJR-POLAR-APPLICATION-JOURNEY-WEEK-1-E2-FINAL_20231030_&utm_content=AUTOMATIONS

Tomorrow the last challenge is revealed. Cross your fingers for me 🙂

Next week on Wednesday I’m heading to San Miguel de Allende for the retreat. I’m very excited about it as it’s going to be different from previous experiences. We will be doing ceremonies of Ayahuasca, mushrooms, San Pedro and Bufo. I will be returning next week late on Sunday so probably won’t hear from me then, but I will update on Instagram (@thepumaswede) and here as soon as I can 🙂

And here’s a photo dump of Hunter and I!

Hugs, Puma

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Ceremony in Colombia

I’m still processing the experience as it was a powerful one. From the beginning though…

Our original guide/facilitator had to cancel, but recommended for us to go to Andres at La Ofrenda Para Ti. It was me and three friends arriving at 8pm. It was my first time doing a ceremony at night time. The space was pitch black and there were a few ‘huts’ with some light in the woods. We just stood there dumbfounded not knowing where we were supposed to go until our guide, Andres, appeared from one of the huts cheerfully. He showed us around and told us that all the huts were made of clay and wood. We then walked a short path to a big dome.

There were matts and blankets laid out individually for each of us.

Andres started working the firepit in the middle while we all shared a bit about ourselves and our intentions for the journey.

My intention was that I wished for some guidance. I feel there are new things coming for me and I have some ideas on my own, but feel a bit hesitant, and have 105 different ideas hahhaaa… I have long since learned that with mushrooms, you don’t get what you want, but what you need.

We finally had a big fire going and we were first served Ambil (tobacco paste) that you licked off a stick, and then after a small spoon of ground up Mambe (coca leaf powder). This is used for the equilibrium between masculine and feminine energy, thinking and feeling, to open up your heart, not from the ego, and to clarify purpose. Not super tasty, but it eventually dissolved and you swallowed it. Then we got rapé. And then we got two different types of dried mushrooms that we ate. Three grams of Blue Moon (lab) and one gram Mexican (earth). I was told that the one from lab helps with focus and Blue Moon is more visual and keeps a connection to earth.

I always note the time down when I ingest any type of psychedelic. It was 10:05 pm.

I laid down and after, what probably was 15 minutes, remembered thinking: ‘these shrooms are probably not that powerful since I’m not feeling anything’. Shortly after it hit me full force and it took me on a powerful ride. I remember sometimes it being so intense so I opened my eyes and looked at the fire which kind of centered me and reminded me that I’m safe and can let go.

At points it is like I cease existing and I’m a being in a different realm. I’m not seeing it, I am in the midst of it all. For me it is like cartoon images. It’s not realistic surroundings and people, but they are drawn and cartoonish. I see things and then I’m swooshed away like I’m flying to new imagery. I also remember looking up at the dome and it was all purplish with tentacles dancing around me.

After about 2h I sat up and everyone was laughing and having a great time. I felt exhausted after my initial ‘ride’. I put on my headphones and danced a bit. The music always sounds so good and evokes all kinds of feelings in me. I felt a lot of love and most of the times my family, friends and people I know come to my mind. I lied back down, cried, and watched the fire. The crying is not out of sadness, more a feeling of love and it feels like I’m clearing my head/body of tension.

We had our driver come at around 2am to pick us up. We all felt that we were not ready to leave yet. I think at some point we all slept. I spotted this mask and felt like it was a sister Puma meant for me 🙂

It was refreshing to step outside in the fresh air and sit in the darkness. I liked hearing the laughter from inside the dome…

I went in and out of sleep and at 8am we felt ready to emerge from the dome. Andres served us some fruits and drinks and we sat talking about our journey. I felt a lot of gratitude and a beautiful connection to everyone in the ceremony. It is always funny how different everyone’s trip is. Some did not have a lot of visuals while I felt that I was emerged in them. All together a beautiful ceremony and night and I hope to visit Andres and La Ofrenda Para Ti again.

Not much got done the day after. We all smelled like a fire pit after a night in the dome, so a much needed shower felt amazing. Later we went to Crepes & Waffles and this dessert hit the spot.

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I was going to share George’s dog adoption story here too, but since Hunter’s adoption is going to be 1 year next week, I’ll share them together 🙂 Instead you get this little video of our night that I scramble together 🙂

https://videopress.com/v/o30m2ggg?resizeToParent=true&cover=true&preloadContent=metadata&useAverageColor=true

While on the subject of mushrooms, my next retreat is coming up now in November. I’m sharing 2 videos about it. It’s in San Miguel de Allende here in Mexico. About 4h drive from Mexico City 🙂 I’m very excited about this one as it’s going to involve other psychedelics and not just mushrooms.

https://videopress.com/v/CTqepflQ?resizeToParent=true&cover=true&preloadContent=metadata&useAverageColor=true
https://videopress.com/v/hvac7VsL?resizeToParent=true&cover=true&preloadContent=metadata&useAverageColor=true

There are 2 spots left and if you are interested, contact @miryana.gongora.hernandez or @michaelhokkinensoder on Instagram. They are both super nice and can answer all your questions 🙂

Until the next trip you all 🙂 Happy Halloween and Día de Muertos!

XXX Puma

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