Words By Adriana Alves and Artur Tavares, Photos By Beatriz Ramello
Ever wondered how a Brazilian without a source of disposable income or a reliable drug connection gets high? Us too. So we asked some buddies of ours down there to sate our curiosity. They gave us three simple recipes for frying up neurons that can be made with crap lying around the house. Just so we’re on the same page, we are not to be held responsible if you try these out and end up catatonic. Seriously, do not do this. We are NOT telling you to do this. Bad things will happen to you and we will not apologize to your mom when you become a drooling vegetable.
But yes, stupid people really do ingest this shit down there.
VHS TEA
INGREDIENTS:
cachaça
PREPARATION:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
“It’s kind of a harsh trip—there’s no notion of space at all. I think I sat on my bed the whole time, but I’m not sure. There was a lot of mental confusion. I had mixed thoughts and couldn’t control their flow. It was very confusing and I did it alone, so nobody was there to tell me what was going on. The only things I know for sure are that I wrote a lot of nonsense in a notebook and woke up naked, which is something that never happens. The following day I had a slight hangover, kind of like the ones I get from alcohol. When I told some friends that I drank this tea, they made me scared by saying it contains heavy metals like lead. But I’m OK. There have not been any lasting side effects.”
CRAZY HORN
INGREDIENTS:
PREPARATION:
1. 2. 3. “Getting high on the Crazy Horn is the kind of stuff you do when you’re out of options. It’s easy to get, and one can is enough to get a couple of people high. First your head gets a little dizzy and then you start to hear sirens. If you inhale too much, you fall down and then you go completely crazy. There was a time when I inhaled so much gas it seemed like I was in a tunnel full of colors that kept changing. Another time I was at a beach house with some friends, huffing while standing. I was so high that I fainted and hit my head against the floor. People who saw me said I looked as stiff as a piece of wood. Then my friends came to rescue me, but I was having such a good trip—everything was white like snow—that I didn’t want it to end. I told them: ‘C’mon, leave me. I’m so high!’ I didn’t even realize that I had bumped my head.”
LANÇA-PERFUME (AN ETHER-BASED PERFUME USED AT CARNAVAL) INGREDIENTS:
PREPARATION: 1. 2. 3. “Many times I’ve inhaled what we call the ‘original’ lança-perfume, the one made in Paraguay that’s sold as air freshener, as well as the homemade variety. The kind you make yourself is good, but it can make you faint if you get too excited. Your feet feel cold, you experience spatial confusion, people’s voices sound weird, your blood pressure drops, and you feel like laughing hard and grabbing somebody. It’s kind of an aphrodisiac.”
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PREPARATION:
1. 2. 3. “Getting high on the Crazy Horn is the kind of stuff you do when you’re out of options. It’s easy to get, and one can is enough to get a couple of people high. First your head gets a little dizzy and then you start to hear sirens. If you inhale too much, you fall down and then you go completely crazy. There was a time when I inhaled so much gas it seemed like I was in a tunnel full of colors that kept changing. Another time I was at a beach house with some friends, huffing while standing. I was so high that I fainted and hit my head against the floor. People who saw me said I looked as stiff as a piece of wood. Then my friends came to rescue me, but I was having such a good trip—everything was white like snow—that I didn’t want it to end. I told them: ‘C’mon, leave me. I’m so high!’ I didn’t even realize that I had bumped my head.”
LANÇA-PERFUME (AN ETHER-BASED PERFUME USED AT CARNAVAL) INGREDIENTS:
PREPARATION: 1. 2. 3. “Many times I’ve inhaled what we call the ‘original’ lança-perfume, the one made in Paraguay that’s sold as air freshener, as well as the homemade variety. The kind you make yourself is good, but it can make you faint if you get too excited. Your feet feel cold, you experience spatial confusion, people’s voices sound weird, your blood pressure drops, and you feel like laughing hard and grabbing somebody. It’s kind of an aphrodisiac.”
