I heard that next years Mind States will take place between the ears ~ Know Matter What

A few days ago I sent out a query to the Mind States e-mailing list asking what people thought about something held in Bolivia, and whether they were concerned more about the overall cost of the event or about when the event happened.

So far, the major response has been related to cost. It may be that Bolivia is not a reasonable option for many people, due to the plane fare. Fares are currently running about $950 to $1050 (for a flight out in October). I have spent 3-4 hours looking into smaller South American airlines to try to find better deals, entirely to no avail. The next step will be to deal with some travel agents who specialize in that area.

Another concern that has been expressed repeatedly is how far away Bolivia is, and that many people may not want to fly for that long. Why this concern weighs heavy in my mind is that--across the board--it has been expressed by people who HAVE attended my past conferences in foreign locals.

Finally, several people have expressed concerns about the political instability in Bolivia, and the fact that it is on the U.S. travel advisory list as a country to avoid. From everything that I have been told by people who I trust (folks who have either visited Bolivia or who live there currently), there is really nothing to fear. HOWEVER, the fact of the matter ("it is reasonably safe") doesn't mean that it will be easy to persuade people to go there when they see the travel warnings.

It is significantly cheaper to fly into Lima, Peru. That can be done for about $650 (which is still an expensive plane ticket for many, who are also paying a grand or so to attend a conference).

In response to the poll, three people who responded mentioned Costa Rica as an alternative. This is an option that I have considered several times in the past already, so I was glad to hear that there was some interest in it independently. It is much cheaper to fly into Costa Rica ($350 to $450). The country itself is not nearly as inexpensive to travel within as Bolivia, but it is still reasonable in the way that Mexico and Jamaica are.

Costa Rica is a central hub for cocaine trafficking (according to the DEA, $11 per gram), and there is a large quantity of Cannabis grown there. A friend who has gone there often and loves it relates that it is also easy to score mushrooms. A different friend tells me of a commercial Salvia divinorum field. However, there isn't really any indigineous entheogen culture that I am aware of there (please hip me to one if you know of it). On the other hand, coffee is a big deal there.

(As I was writing this message, another e-mail came in that both suggested Costa Rica and that mentioned concern about the travel advisory against Bolivia.)

Jonathan Ott recently gave me reason to think that Columbia is not the best alternative. (He loves Bolivia though.)

In any case, I have not written off Bolivia. My primary concern is airfare costs, and how that would impact attendance and production costs. (Consider that the Shulgins would need first-class plane tickets to travel that far due to their age, and these are running over $5,000 each!)

Next week I will be taking the Mind States bookstore on the road to the Symbiosis gathering [9/30 - 10/2] (a cool arts/music/tribal dance fest, expecting about 1,000 folks in the Santa Cruz mountains; see www.SG05.com ). The artist Mark Henson will be showing there (see www.sacredlight.to ), and I know that he owns some property in Costa Rica and spends time there each year. I will pick his brain a bit more about that country as a possible local for a Mind States seminar.

I would be interested to hear how people on the tribe list feel about the option of Costa Rica as well. Thanks. :-)

-- Jon Hanna

Kevin is correct in his assessment.

There are a few reasons that I only hold the conference every OTHER year in the United States.

First off is that the bigger Bay Area conferences are a lot of work to produce, and there are other projects that I have going which need my attention.

Second is that I feel as though a big Bay Area conference held on a yearly basis wouldn't support itself on a number of levels. But there are many smaller events on similar topics produced by other people that happen yearly, which draw perhaps 50 to 200 attendees.

On the other hand, the out-of-country Mind States conferences that happen every other year ARE smaller events. This is the nature of the beast: they are more expensive and longer, and hence harder for people to afford or fit into their schedules.

For myself, the conferences held on foreign soil are more enjoyable. I can relax a lot more, the pace is slower, the time we all spend together is longer, and folks get a chance to have extended conversations over meals with the presenters and other attendees, or spend some time voyaging, checking out the local surroundings, etc.

So I feel comfortable with the ping-pong schedule of one year in the Bay Area, and once year in some exotic foreign local. It keeps the continuity of a holding yearly gathering, but changes the scenery and feel of the events.

-- Jon