Globetrotter meetings have temporarily ceased until further notice due to a bereavement in Christina’s family. If you can help Christina resurrect the Texas meetings, as she would really appreciate some help, please contact Christina on texas@globetrotters.co.uk

Lie, Cheat, Steal. Hitchhike, Drive, take a bus, fly, walk or run…do whatever you can to get to the BootsnAll 2^nd annual Travel Party.

When: December 18th, 7 pm to ? Where: East Bank Saloon, Portland Oregon ( map)

Special Guests: The Notorious N.U.T. (Nick O'Neill) from Bali will be in town as a special guest. If you are thinking about travelling to Asia, have travelled to Asia, you simply must come to the BootsnAll PDX party to meet Nick, have a beer with him and swap stories and tips. He will release tips to hidden beaches and share how to live on under $5/day in Bali, and do it like a King!

Prizes: We'll be giving away a bunch of stuff, like travel books, BootsnAll patches, and who knows what else..

Top 13 reasons to come:

1) Christmas shopping? C'mon…save your cash for travel and send 'em postcards instead!

2) Travel Legend Nick O'Neill will make his first appearance in North America in over two years. Be there to have a drink with this independent travelling legend.

3) A keg of beer (Northwest Microbrew).

4) Organic Oregon Pinot Noir will be served.

5) Travel Photography: At least 500 travel slides will be rotating on a big screen during the party. But don't worry, no one will be droning on and on about them.

6) Blogging: We'll be blogging our brains out at the party with wifi, etc all over the place…bring your laptop and digital camera. Let's go nuts like we did last year.

7) If you are coming in from out of town, and you are a BootsnAll member, you can probably stay at the BootsnAll “hostel” (First come first served).

8) Network with travellers. Last year, close to 80 people showed up and travel info/tips were flying around the room. Don't miss this chance to figure out the hows, why's, and get that invaluable first-hand information.

9) You'll be the star of the show. We'll be video taping all night…if you come, you'll be in a movie. This is how Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts and other Hollywood Stars got their big breaks.

10) Dennis Rodman will NOT be at this party.

11) Feel like an outcast? My name is Sean E. Keener and I will personally welcome you with a handshake or hug, a beer, and introduce you to at least three other people at the party to get the ball rolling. The rest is up to you.

12) Portland is a great city in December. Sun, beaches…ooops, I mean a little bit of rain, a warm pub, and bright cheery people.

13) Kilts: BootsnAll founders Chris Heidrich and Sean Keener will be wearing kilts, like a true Scotsman would.

Ok, so maybe that last one isn't a reason to come, but don't let it scare you off either.

More Special Guests: Yes, Livenomadic, the most prolific poster on the BnA message boards will here. Meet the posting legend and find out “how he does it”. He is coming all the way from Miami, Florida!

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To see your story in cyber print, e-mail the Beetle with your travel experiences, hints and tips or questions up to 750 words, together with a couple of sentences about yourself and a contact e-mail address to Beetle@globetrotters.co.uk

Our friend Antonio Macedo phoned and invited us to a special night out in Cruzeiro do Sul in The State of Acre (the back of beyond in Brazil). He wanted to introduce us to 'Daime', a very Amazonian drink that would awaken our minds, or did he mean blow our minds?

We were taken to a small clearing at the edge of Cruzeiro to a big wooden building. Inside was a large wooden table with benches either side on which twenty or so people could sit round. The decorations reminded me of a small Catholic Church, with its figurines of saints and lit candles. The congregation consisted of a few rubber tappers and a complete cross section of the people of the town, in both position and money. The town people and Brazilians generally call this drug “Santo Daime” and mix it into a sort of semi-religious, Catholic ceremony.

The Yawanawa tribe, on the other hand, think religion is nothing to do with Daime, but that it a necessity for the tribe to take it once a month too clarify the mind and get their heads together for the coming weeks. Daime is not banned in Brazil for it is a drug of a very different nature with a very special effect.

A plant that grows in the ground is mixed with a creeper that falls from a tree, thus the symbolism of the drug is that it is the sky mixed with the earth. We filed into this large hut and sat around the central table. The candles were lit around us and we were introduced as visitors who were about to go into the forest to visit the Yawanawa tribe. First Antonio spoke to the people about having great care in demonstrating against the Governor, as there was no point in upsetting him too much or many more would end up in prison, or worse, rather than solve any problems it would just add to them (another story for another time).

The ceremony proper then commenced with a general prayer for God to help them in these perilous times and then we rose and formed a queue as if going to communion. The Daime was poured out of bottles and each of us had a glass given to us and then made our way back to our seats. The drug started to take effect. We had been warned what to expect but we thought it all slightly ridiculous..

There was silence after we sat down and started to wait for Daime to take effect, the sight and smell of the flickering candles, the only light there was to see around this strange church like place. A few people were sick. This seemed an unusual start to what I had been assured was a great experience! I had been slightly unwell during the day and thought I was going to have bad case of the trots and this seemed to be the last thing I needed!

Daime has two effects and one reason it is not on the banned list is that it is remarkably good for any sort of stomach disorder. That was the good news, but the bad news was that while it cured my problem quickly, it also at the same time stopped me from enjoying the Daime in the way that I was expecting; and the real reason that Adam Baines and I were taking Daime this night.

Still, I had more opportunity to observe the others and see their reactions to the drug. Amazingly, it seemed that after being sick outside on the grass, people tended to have another dose of Daime and on being sat down again, this time it took hold. Thoughts seem to whirl around in time and space with all your life with its, good, bad, family, friends, work and pleasures in a maelstrom in which confusion you seem to be about to be engulfed. Over the next hour the confusion lessens and gradually you start to find that everything is falling into place and you become aware of what exactly you should do, to get your life in order.

At any moment during this time, you can open your eyes and feel completely free of the Daime but as soon as you close them you’re back sorting out the files in your head. Finally the drug clears the system after a total of about an hour and a half. The so called congregation sitting quietly outside, enjoying complete clarity of mind and thought, contemplating under a magnificent starry sky, in the tropical warmth, with the singing of the ‘cigarras’ intermingling with the croaking of the frogs. Everyone, whether Indians or locals, thought it extremely important to take Daime so as to get one’s life in order at least once every six weeks. All believed that it made men and women take control of their lives and less likely to have breakdowns or behave in an anti social manner. The next day I was able, with my stomach now fully recovered, to observe without too much of a sickening feeling, the roaches crawling on the ceiling above the frying pan that was cooking my breakfast!