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Lick the Frog

Tollevin S Williams
sapo_blog2.jpg

Vice Magazine's resident pharmacologist Hamilton Morris risks life and limb in search of the Amazon's pscychedelic sapo frog in the "The Sapo Diaries." Known by its advocates as "the doctor," sapo secretes a jelly rich in opiod peptides claimed to be one hundred times stronger than morphine. However, very little data has been recorded detailing the psychosomatic experience of the user. After profuse vomiting and passing out, it is claimed that the user wakes up feeling an increase in physical strength, heightened senses, resistance to hunger and thirst, and an exalted capacity to face stressful situations. The Mayoruna, a formerly cannibalistic tribe in the Amazon, has used Sapo for generations to increase their hunting abilities.

Setting out from a small drug-trafficking town between Brazil, Peru and Columbia, Morris travels up the Amazon and its tributaries to the village of the Mayoruna. His aim is to be ritualistically burned and have the jelly introduced into his bloodstream through the fresh wounds.  You can watch Hamilton come face to face with "penis fish," swarms of mosquitos, and, eventually the elusive Sapo, all with a backup commentary in the sardonic style expected of Vice Magazine. The ever famous ayahuasca vine even makes a guest appearance. Hilarious at times, nauseating at others, "The Sapo Diaries" is an evolution of those Salvia Youtube videos, a perfect example of psychedelic experimentation in the digital age.

Comments

Check out Vice's documentary

Submitted by Iamthewalrus on Tue, 06/30/2009 - 15:08.
Check out Vice's documentary on North Korea. It's good. And scary.

sapo

Submitted by Morgan Maher on Wed, 07/01/2009 - 01:58.

 

Sapo cannot truly be labeled "psychedelic". It is more of a purgative and used by the Mayoruna/Matses for hunting.

Sapo is a very intense experience. After having the frog's venom applied directly to the bloodstream via small burns in the skin, the effects come on in 10-15 seconds and one goes through utter pain, purging and hell for about 10-15minutes. After which, yes one does feel stronger, full of energy, alert and so forth.

"Among hunters it was used to both sharpen the senses and as a way to increase stamina during long hunts, when carrying food and water was difficult. In large doses it could make a Matses hunter ‘invisible’ to poor-sighted but acute-smelling jungle animals, by temporarily eliminating their human odor. As a medicine, sapo also had multiple uses, serving as a tonic to cleanse and strengthen the body, and as a toxin purge for those with the grippe."


Peter Gorman was one of the first Westerners to have experienced the dow-keit!/Sapo. His research lead to further research by Vittorio Erspamer, a scientist at the FIDIA Research Institute of Neurosciences at the University of Rome whose groundbreaking work with the medicine yielded more than six dozen new proteins, all of which are bioactive — meaning they work in humans as if the human body had produced them — opening up an entirely new branch of study in Western medicine: the study of amphibian proteins as curatives in humans.

You can read more of Gorman's experience with sapo here:
http://petergormanarchive.com/at/amazon-jungle-stories/making-magic.html

fun and disappointing

Submitted by Daniel Pinchbeck on Wed, 07/08/2009 - 08:35.

watched this last night and found it fun but disappointing. Sapo is clearly not psychedelic, so there was false billing there. It is supposed to boost the immune system.

In the last episode, Hamilton goes in search of ayahuasca and instead of working with a shaman, tries to make it himself, with little knowledge about it. He drinks a gigantic nauseating cup of the vine and then a Ritalin to keep himself awake. I wonder why he didn't seek out a real shamanic experience? Perhaps the Vice audience is not ready to see someone undergo a spiritual catharsis. "Will the transformation."-Rilke

get real

Submitted by blivet on Tue, 07/14/2009 - 02:52.

I wonder why he didn't seek out a real shamanic experience? Perhaps the Vice audience is not ready to see someone undergo a spiritual catharsis. "Will the transformation."-Rilke

 

daniel's comment is incredibly pretentious. what defines a real shamanic experience? i assume one has to buy into the new age clichés about what an authentic psychedelic experience is supposed to be like for it to be "real." its time to realize that we are all shamans and we need no guide book for experience. you may recall the shaman in the video tried to feed hamilton datura and b. caapi, he might have died! would that have been a "real shamanic experience."

 

there is something really divisive about daniel's language and i see it a lot in this community. each and everyone of us who drinks ayahuasca - whether they like it with daniel on a pile of money and 2012 books or with hamilton and friends at a vice party - is having the same experience.

Hamilton also wrote a travel journal called the sapo diaries which goes into more detail about what he experienced

http://www.viceland.com/int/v16n5/htdocs/the-sapo-diaries-872.php

Kambo?

Submitted by Benno on Mon, 10/19/2009 - 17:10.

Isn't this what they call Kambo in Brasil? I've done this a few times. and it isn't easy. It is painful, but i wouldn't call it hell, the worst part is the fear before it's applicated. And after the experience i felt tired, but also very clean and relaxed. on youtube you can find more videos about Kambo. For instance: Elixir of the Toxic Frog: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SYotx5cHNQ

I like the openes of Hamilton, it seems that he is hiding little of himself from the camera.

Why he didn't take Ayahuasca with the Shaman

Submitted by Benno on Mon, 10/19/2009 - 17:43.
I can understand him that he didn't want to do it with the Shaman, because DMT is a nice ingredient if your drinking this brew. And the Shaman only brews a drink with MAO inhibitors. This frog poison extraction procedure doesn't seem really frog friendly though.