With: Folami (born 1965)
Date: 6 September 2016
Where: Zandvoort beach, Netherlands
Folami moved from London to Amsterdam two years ago and recently moved out to the North Sea beach town of Zandvoort. Though still settling in to their very new home Folami kindly invited me to stay the night on my way northeast to Sweden. They'd also just started a new teaching job, so I felt extra mindful not to impose.
I was happy to be able to make Folami a gift of Meg-John's brand new book QUEER: A graphic history.
To make the most of the daylight we went straight out for a walk along the strand. Folami's another person who likes to talk about stuff that matters, so we waded straight into matters existential from breakups and mental health to ayahuasca as we strolled along the soft sand, along with many other residents also enjoying the end of summer.
I was particularly interested to pick Folami's brain about their recent first experience of ayahuasca, as two other friends of mine have also benefitted from it and sparked my interest in experiencing it myself when I reach Peru. Ayahuasca is a traditional spiritual medicine amongst indigenous peoples of South America. Like many others, Folami had had a profound experience, gaining some important new insights for their personal journey. Support workers at the ceremony told Folami the intense visions and purging they experienced were signs of a really good, powerful response to ayahuasca. Since for me involuntary purging (especially with witnesses) is something I fear, it's an aspect of the experience I'll accept with some difficulty.
I sat on the sand for a while thinking about this while Folami had a swim in the North Sea.
The following morning Folami left for work before I got up. In the kitchen I discovered a post-it note encouraging me to take some more of their homemade vegan chocolate version of Polish plum cake (placek z sliwkami). Later I enjoyed reminding Folami that my blog is called havingmycake.net! Thank you, Folami, for your hospitality, for the cake, and for the thought-provoking conversations we always have! Wishing you a peaceful 2017 in your new home!