Felipe Guamán Poma de Ayala Documenting coca use in his letter to the king of spain - Primer nueva corónica y buen gobierno

While going by boat down the caqueta river the river shores were lined with cultivations. Mostly Yucca, Bananas and Sugar cane but form time to time there would be piece of land full of coca plants. In Colombia coca leafs are legal. The coca plant is a sacred Inca plant which is still used by many Andean people in South America. The leafs are either chewed on, made into mambe or brewed as a tea. While in Bogota (2600mt) we were advised to drink coca tea to acclimatise. Colombia is still stained with the image of being the land of Pablo Escobar. In Putumayo, Cauca and Caqueta the reality is different. From the perspective of a farmer planting coca is the highest paying crop. For a days work on any other crop we were told they earn around 20 dollars a day. One day on a coca field earns them 100 dollars. 300 kg of coca leafs produce 1kg of cocaine. The process is often done in makeshift labs in remote places. Kerosene is often used to produce the cocaine paste together with many other toxic solvents. On its way to the consumer, other substances are added to stretch the product ranging from talco to cement.