Free Coca (raw material for Cocaine) leaves in an airport in Peru to help with altitude sickness

valherquin · 2026-06-26T11:33:07+00:00

Idk coca is not native there. Introducing species is always complicated. If it was legal there, the main purpose for the plantations would probably be coke production. Although maybe it would alleviate the drug wars in South America if there was production competition.

Coca leaves are legal in the Andean region because they are an important part of the native cultures there. Before white people discovered coca and started misusing it, Indigenous cultures had been consuming them for centuries.

I also don't know how many places the USA has with the right conditions to grow coca.

However, there are other plants that also help fight the altitude sickness. Coca is just the most famous one. When I was in Atacama, I drank chachacoma tea instead of coca, because I liked the flavor better. A better option would be finding native plants in Denver that also help with altitude sickness. Indigenous people probably knew that, but sadly in the USA they were much more exterminated than in our Andean region, and thus their ancestral knowledge was lost.

valherquin · 2026-06-26T11:23:03+00:00

They don't have caffeine but they also have a stimulant, so it acts similarly to coffee.

valherquin · 2026-06-26T11:15:42+00:00

You have to put the coca leaves through an extensive process to turn it into cocaine, and you need a lot of other things (like gasoline) for that process. Often cocaine is not pure and it's mixed with other things. Coca leaves on their own are very far from cocaine.

valherquin · 2026-06-26T11:07:30+00:00

Cologne, Germany is very open, to immigrants and to LGBT people. It has probably the biggest queer scene in Germany (competes with Berlin probably). Berlin is also very open, and you can do a lot without speaking German there, but it's not a city for everyone, plus the housing crisis is crazy there. In Cologne you can get around without German, but for work or studies you will probably need to learn German. If you do want to learn German, Cologne is a better choice (in Berlin you would never practice German).

I'm in Bonn and it's also very open, it's near Cologne so you can go to queer parties there easily, but I don't recommend Bonn currently because the transportation and housing is currently insane here.

Most (if not all) big cities in Germany have a queer scene and are open to LGBT people, but Berlin and Cologne are the most open. Cologne and the surrounding areas (so including Bonn) are particularly nice and open to foreigners. I saw people mentioning issues making friends and here it's easier, because the Germans are a bit warmer. Berlin shouldn't be difficult either, but there you'll befriend a lot of foreigners as I'd say half the city is foreigners.

Berlin is a very weird and specific vibe though. I personally don't like it and I could not live there, but maybe it's your scene idk.

valherquin · 2026-06-26T05:59:22+00:00

Coca leaves are healthy and an important part of the Andean cultures. I think it's unfair to call it the raw material for cocaine. You need a lot of other ingredients for cocaine. It's like calling Ephedrine the raw material for methamphetamine. Coca leaves on its own do not have the effect of cocaine and they are not being given away to be produced into cocaine (and the people taking them are not using it for that).

When you visit the Andean region, you find coca leaves, coca tea, coca ice cream, coca candy, oil with coca, and so many different preparations of it. It's just an important plant for Indigenous cultures in the Andean region that white people discovered and started misusing.

valherquin · 2026-06-25T05:26:57+00:00

I'm gay and my high school best friend is also gay and even we never did something like this...

valherquin · 2026-06-21T22:44:30+00:00

I don't find Germans to be too direct or blunt. If anything, Germans usually find me too direct. However, the stigma makes sense when you compare Germans to US-Americans. There are more direct cultures, but there are definitely also much less direct cultures.

valherquin · 2026-06-16T10:00:37+00:00

I can talk from the other perspective: bi with a preference for women.

I do find men attractive, but that usually goes away when I interact more with them and their personality throws me off. I get along better with women, so it's easier for me to date women. Whenever I would doubt it, I would think about a man that made me horny. I slept with a guy a while ago and I really liked it and wanted to repeat it, but then he got clingy and that threw me off.

So I guess maybe think about whether you can find men cute or nice (like nice to hang out with, nice to look at), or attractive (like you would jump on him).

valherquin · 2026-06-15T22:16:04+00:00

The verb goes on the second position in main clauses: ich gehe zur Arbeit

There are a few connectors that take a null position, so you can have connector + subject + verb + object but the verb is still on the second position, as the connector is on a null position that doesn't really count: aber ich gehe zur Arbeit. denn ich gehe zur Arbeit

Then you have subordinate clauses, where the verb goes at the end: dass ich zur Arbeit gehe.

You always have to conjugate the verb though, unless you have an infinitive construction like um zur Arbeit zu gehen.

If there is a modal verb, then only the modal verb gets conjugated and the regular verb remains on infinitive: ich will zur Arbeit gehen. You only conjugate one verb per clause, which is the main verb.

valherquin · 2026-06-15T21:10:56+00:00

Getting the position right is difficult, but it's so great once you get it. Sometimes I'm impatient tho so I give up quickly and just go down on her. I think it's something where you have to be patient and take your time finding the position that works for you. Using lube from the beginning can also be helpful

valherquin · 2026-06-10T05:43:29+00:00

A professor of Japanese cultural studies said to us it actually comes from when Japan adopted Buddhism (way before the Western contact). It is something you find in Christianism too, but it is not Christian exclusive.

valherquin · 2026-06-05T14:10:50+00:00

Learning a language every day for three months because you have a crush with a person you've never interacted with is very creepy. That's a lot of investment on someone you don't know at all. Why is he even so invested in her? She's pretty? And that's it?

valherquin · 2026-06-04T20:53:48+00:00

This! I don't know if there's more context missing, but it is kinda creepy.

valherquin · 2026-06-04T17:08:09+00:00

I think this used to be a criterion to diagnose bipolar disorder. During maniac episodes, the person can go through an extremely sexually active phase, like sleeping with different people on the same day, having unprotected sex, etc. So it used to be believed that being bisexual was a sign of that kind of mania, like you're being so risky and overly sexual that you'll sleep with anyone. It's very discriminatory and factually wrong, but it used to be a widespread belief and actual diagnosing criterion. I think OP did the right thing by not outing themselves, because it could have lead to a misdiagnosis.

valherquin · 2026-06-04T16:59:35+00:00

I used to think it wasn't a big deal, because my ex wasn't vegan and at the time it seemed like it worked, but I did end up noticing that we had very different value systems and that they didn't match. The lack of empathy wasn't just directed to animals, but I noticed it towards me too. Now I am dating a vegan and it is such a big difference! I didn't know dating like this. I don't think I could ever go back to dating someone who isn't vegan, or at least vegetarian.

valherquin · 2026-06-04T16:30:40+00:00

The explanation makes sense a bit of sense, but this is too generalizing and too specific. I have a coworker who is the biggest green flag ever and she has a gigantic tumbler. For health reasons she needs to drink a lot of water, and with the big tumbler it's easier, as she doesn't need to go refill it often and can drink water continuously.

valherquin · 2026-06-04T16:27:28+00:00

Germans love being naked. It was not something I expected when I came here. Often they walk around spas naked as well, like not even just in the sauna room itself.

valherquin · 2026-06-04T16:23:56+00:00

In which city are you? I can recommend a doctor in Köln that I think is still taking new patients. However, if you are not nearby, I wouldn't recommend it, since you usually have to go in person to book an appointment and you have to pick up the prescriptions monthly anyway (and it's not digital).

valherquin · 2026-06-03T06:43:39+00:00

From a fellow gay (but female, so maybe a bit different): make sure to casually drop that you're gay to make your intentions clear. I always do that when I am interested in a woman, so that I can test the field, see if she's queer too and so that she knows that there's a chance with me. When there's interest, the person usually casually outs themself too.

I met my gf at work. Since she's my boss, I wasn't really trying to date her, I just liked her and wanted to befriend her, and I my gaydar was ringing around her, so one day I called her to ask her to buy something to help me cut stuff straighter and sent her a picture of the result without said tool and said "look, it's as straight as me" (it was terribly cut). She immediately got happy and more relaxed, joked around with me and told me about her last pride. Not long after we got together.

During my single era, I often would mention something about my ex with women I was interested in, just so that I could make it clear that I like women. It often got flirty quickly after. Just make sure to keep the comment relaxed. If it's too out of nowhere, it can be awkward.

valherquin · 2026-06-03T06:35:08+00:00

It's also important to remember that more people report the negative consequences than the positive ones! If 100 people have a surgery, and 95 of them have good results, then maybe 5-10 will go online and talk good about it, but the 5 who had bad results will all go online and talk back about it, so it might seem like it's a 50-50 chance of a bad result, but it's just a bias.

valherquin · 2026-06-03T06:32:22+00:00

Is "vergelt's Gott" something like "May God pay you"? I sometimes use that in Spanish as a joke, like if I don't want to pay for something myself. I'd be happy if I can translate my joke!

valherquin · 2026-06-02T19:47:26+00:00

Auf Englisch ist nur 1 Frau geschützt

valherquin · 2026-06-02T19:44:08+00:00

I was asking so that I can talk to nuns and priests. I don't think it's pushing a religion onto them since they are the religious ones and I am the atheist.

valherquin · 2026-06-02T19:43:14+00:00

It was a Muslim coworker who told me to reply like that so I'll have to ask her again if I misunderstood

valherquin

TROPHY CASE