You Are Invited to a Party and Reunion
for Plant People on the Island of Maui
over the Weekend of January 24 to 27, 2002,
at a Lovely Private Camp on the Hana Coast.

Please join us for a fun weekend gathering and celebration with fellow plant people, featuring kava-drinking, betel-chewing, fresh and healthful island food, fine Maui music, and bonfire revelry! We are especially highlighting the little-known pleasure-inducing betel experience, with its arecoline alkaloid stimulation and complex chewing additives, as well as the cultural depth surrounding traditional lactone-laden kava (awa in Hawaiian), a ceremonial clarity-giver appropriate for gatherings of respect and good fellowship. Fresh island-grown awa and betel (including various additive plants) will be available for everyone to share and enjoy as part of this unique event. We will have the honor of having native Hawaiian specialists lead us in preparation and appropriate use of awa. In addition, keynote presentations by special guests will provide an ethnobotanical focus for our enjoyment of each day together.

Your hosts, Bret Blosser and Rob Montgomery, have organized BPC-sponsored field programs in South America since 1990 and three annual conferences on Salvia divinorum at Breitenbush Hot Springs in Oregon. We warmly invite you to this reunion!

Our guests and presentations include: Bret Blosser on divination with Salvia divinorum and other entheogens in colonial Mexico. Bret is an anthropologist who works with Mazatec and Huichol Indians. Kat Harrison on healing with Salvia divinorum and tobacco among Mazatecs in Oaxaca and with ayahuasca in the Peruvian Amazon. Kat is an ethnobotanist with extensive experience in tropical America and director of Botanical Dimensions on the island of Hawaii. Mark Merlin on the ethnobotany of kava and betel in South Pacific cultures. Mark is professor of botany at the University of Hawaii and co-author of Kavathe Pacific Drug. Rob Montgomery will share propagation tips and recipes for kava, betel, Salvia divinorum and ayahuasca gleaned from fieldwork (and homework) in Nepal, Laos, Maui, and South America. Rob is founder of the Botanical Preservation Corps. David Orr will guide us on a walking exploration of a Maui ethnobotanical garden to meet many important Pacific plants. David is director of Waimea Arboretum and Botanical Gardens on the island of Oahu.

This gathering will be an unforgettable experience, shared in solid friendship. Maui is a spectacular island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, as remote from continental land as is possible anywhere on Earth. The event is held along the rugged Hana rainforest coast, deep in tropical nature and far from development. Our special location is certainly not a tourist hotel, although the grounds are large, lush and dramatically overlook the waves of the vast turquoise sea. Our rustic island lodging means that you will need to bring a sheet and light blanket for your dorm-style bed. Tent camping space is available for those interested. There are abundant tropical treasures on Maui, including botanical gardens, spectacular mountain hikes, warm ocean swimming and much to explore before and/or after our weekend gathering. Check travel resources online or in the library.

Registration fee is $250 per person. The event begins on Thursday afternoon and continues through Sunday morning, January 24 to 27. To register by mail send check or money order, payable to BPC Maui, to: BPC Maui, YMCA Camp Keanae, 13375 Hana Highway, Keanae, Maui HI 96708. To pay by credit card, call Andy Gette, director of Camp Keanae, at 808-248-8355 (she will return your call). Please remember to consider time zone difference when calling: 9am on the US west coast is 6am in Hawaii! You will receive a registration packet with location details, directions, car rental advice, etc. For questions about Maui, call Andy. For questions about the event, call Bret in Utah at 435-259-6507 (except Dec 20-27). To be added to our email list for future announcements, contact us at: bpcmaui@yahoo.com. For those interested in vending opportunities, please inquire.

Please forward this email invitation to your ethnobotanical friends. Thanks!