Published: June 10, 2012
Words: 76,929 (approximate)
Language: English
ISBN: 9781476051147

Short description

In 1972, a hippie in California flushes a syringe of LSD down a toilet in anticipation of a police raid. Thirty-five years later, the drug paraphernalia has found its final resting place in Bolivia. There, two young Americans form an unlikely friendship against the backdrop of a country facing dictatorship, and the syringe will shape their destinies more than either could anticipate or desire.

Extended description

Hailed by Huffington Post contributor Joel Hirst as a “powerful story” and a “must-read,” Plant Teacher has also won recognitions at the International Book Awards, the Green Book Festival and the Paris Book Festival.

Plant Teacher begins in 1972 when a hippie in Oakland, California flushes a syringe of LSD down a toilet. Thirty-five years later, the wayward drug paraphernalia has found its final resting place in Los Yungas, Bolivia, the umbilical cord between the towering Andes and sprawling Amazonia.

Enter into this picture two young Americans, Cheryl Lewis, trying to forge her future in La Paz and Martin Banzer, trying to come to terms with his past in the same city. The two form an unlikely friendship against the backdrop of a country teetering at the brink of dictatorship and revolution.

Bolivia sparks the taste for adventure in both young people and Martin finds himself experimenting with indigenous hallucinogenic plants while Cheryl flits from one personal relationsh.. (Read more) Hailed by Huffington Post contributor Joel Hirst as a “powerful story” and a “must-read,” Plant Teacher has also won recognitions at the International Book Awards, the Green Book Festival and the Paris Book Festival.

Plant Teacher begins in 1972 when a hippie in Oakland, California flushes a syringe of LSD down a toilet. Thirty-five years later, the wayward drug paraphernalia has found its final resting place in Los Yungas, Bolivia, the umbilical cord between the towering Andes and sprawling Amazonia.

Enter into this picture two young Americans, Cheryl Lewis, trying to forge her future in La Paz and Martin Banzer, trying to come to terms with his past in the same city. The two form an unlikely friendship against the backdrop of a country teetering at the brink of dictatorship and revolution.

Bolivia sparks the taste for adventure in both young people and Martin finds himself experimenting with indigenous hallucinogenic plants while Cheryl flits from one personal relationship to another. Meanwhile, the syringe buried in the silt in a marsh in Los Yungas will shape their destinies more than either could anticipate or desire.

Plant Teacher takes its readers on a fast-paced tour from the hippie excesses of Oakland, to the great streams of the Pacific Ocean and to the countryside, cities, natural wonders and ancient ruins of Bolivia. It reveals¬ the mundane and the magical, and, along the way, readers glimpse the lives of everyday Bolivians struggling to establish equanimity or merely eke out a living during drastic political crisis.
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Adult-content rating: This book contains content considered unsuitable for young readers 17 and under, and which may be offensive to some readers of all ages. For more information, see the Support FAQ.

Tags

politics, south america, bolivia, lsd, hallucinations, political fiction, hippie, native american culture, la paz, ayahuasca, incas, hallucinogens, syringe, amerindians, caapi, martin banzer, cheryl lewis, contemporary politics, south american politics, banzer, hallucinogenic plants, south american history, bolivian history, inca mythology, inca religion, tiwanaku

Available ebook reading formats

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Videos

Plant Teacher Video Trailer
Take a ride with main character, Martin Banzer, as his youthful experimentation comes back to haunt him.

Reviews

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Review by: Lynn Crawley on June 11, 2012 :
I heard about this book because it was a finalist at the International Book Awards. I can only say it is very deserving of that honor. Martin Banzer, an expatriate in La Paz, has a problem -- a problem so macabre that he cannot tell his family or his best friend about it. While he struggles to reshape his destiny, much happens around him: Bolivia is on the brink of revolution. The girl he is fond of falls in love with another man. Martin teaches English and writes bad poetry while other Americans in Bolivia follow more honorable paths -- development work, rescuing street children. As Martin's problem crescendos, so too do the politics and the striving for normalcy in Bolivia. Without giving away the ending, it is enough to say that the plot reaches a resolution that is somehow both emotionally satisfying but also leaves you wanting more.
(review of free book)

Review by: CJ Simon on June 11, 2012 :
This is a beautifully written, enchanting book. It explores the lives of Americans living in La Paz over the course of several months, but there is so much more to the plot than that. Plant Teacher brings together Inca and native American mythology with modern Bolivian politics while propelling its main characters and it's readers on an exciting, not to mention dark, adventure. I read this book on the recommendation of a friend, and it is something I will continue to think about for a long time to come.
(review of free book)

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