Venomous Snakes, Poisonous Plants + Medicinal Curandera Practices

EP 96: Venomous Snakes, Poisonous Plants + Medicinal Curandera Practices with Christian Rodriguez

During our travels in Costa Rica, we struck up a conversation with Christian Rodriguez. In this podcast episode, be a witness to the spontaneous conversation that arose between us, when Taylor and I stopped at an organic store to buy dark chocolate and local kombucha.

Christian opened up, sharing his life story of growing up in Costa Rica, spending nearly ten years in the U.S. and then coming back home to discover that massive amounts of chemicals were being used in banana and pineapple crops. He described his life trajectory, sharing stories about organic farming and his 2.5-hour weekly drive to Costa Rica’s only organic farm to create a hybrid CSA/grassroots organic food delivery. He talked about his experiences using hallucinogenic mushrooms and other plants, his curandera ‘witch’ grandmother, his current spiritual path, and about the different kinds of venomous snakes we might encounter. His stories + experiences were so fascinating, we just let the recording roll, capturing as much as we could, over the hot tea he made us of fresh coca + lemon verbena leaves plucked straight from his garden.

LISTEN to this episode on:

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The garden tour is the first 12 minutes:
We drink Coca leaf tea, munch on “jackass bitters”, chew on stevia leaves, and get a tour of his local + medicinal plant garden.

Skip to minute 12:00 for more about:

• His curandera grandmother’s practices of drinking clay, packing mud on the body + colored light-water therapy)
• Psychedelic plants vs. relying on yourself for methods of awakening
• The practice of being in constant transition + evolution
• Agricultural chemicals vs. organic farming
• Poisonous snakes of Costa Rica
• His experience eating poisonous plants

Christian's Favorite Botanical: Flores de San Juan

His words to describe Flores de San Juan, which also perfectly describe how he brings his gifts into the world: 

Ever-changing, constantly transitioning/evolving + simple.

CONNECT WITH CHRISTIAN:

Follow him on Instagram: @christianrsalas

CONNECT WITH KATIE:

Follow her on Instagram: @iamkatiehess @lotuswei
LinkedIn: Katie Hess
Media Kit: Katie Hess, International

Happy listening,