Truth be toad… high times in the high desert

The Comca’ca New Year was the beginning of this month… better know by the name given them by the Yaquís… “Seri” (“sand people) they reside on the Sonoran side of the Sea of Cortés.

Their “uselessness” to the Spanish conquistadors (being mostly fishers and desert hunters, they had no concept of agriculture, and possessed nothing of any particular use to the Colonial overlords) largely preserving their independence and cultural traditions much more so than other indigenous nations. The Comca’ca had contact with the Jesuits in the 16th and 17th centuries, which led to some of their holidays being marked by the religious calendar.. the start of the new year for them being the return of the rainy season, initially the Feast of John the Baptist (June 24) but celebrated a few days later … like the weekend (this is the 21st century, after all) .

And, this being the 21st Century… and Mexico… naturally their celebrations attract the attention of tourists looking for the “exotica” of indigenous culture. Maybe worth a trip… tourists from the US, Europe, South Africa descended on the Comca´ca community of Puenta Chueca to take part in the festivites… a few traditional dished (including loggerhead turtle — yes, an endangered species, but only a few, and merely a taste, is ladled out) and… well… take another kind of trip, courtesy of another desert resident, Incilius alvarius… aka the Colorado River Toad (aka Sonoran Desert Toad).

Described as “One of the largest [North American] toads… up to seven inches from snout to webbed foot, with a Jabba the Hutt-like countenance,” Incilius spend the dry season underground, emerging with the rains. to fatten up, breed, and… avoid predators.

Their best defense is chemical warfare. Their paratoid glands are filled with what are described as “toxic”… and are… but those toxins are chock full of DMT … Dimethyltryptamine… a “strong psychedelic drug, which means it can affect all the senses, altering a person’s thinking, sense of time and emotions. Psychedelics can cause a person to hallucinate, seeing or hearing things that do not exist or are distorted.”

How much the tourists come, then, out of an interest in sampling Comca’ca culture and tradition, and how much… as with some other pharms-tourists who visit Wikiriki, Yaqui and other indigenous communities to partake in what to those communities is a sacred act. one can’t say. For some, I’m sure it is out of a genuine serach for the sacred. Alas, for others, it’s about equivalent o walking into the Vatican, and asking the guy in the fancy robes for a taste of the little cracker and a sit of wine.

At any rat, while DMT has shown some promise in psychiatric treatment, it remains an illicit substance in most places (not Mexico), What the toads think it — though “milking them” leaves them stressed and devoid of protection against predators — which lately have been humans, adding to already threats to their survival like roadways, “commercial development” and herbicides throughout their range (from Central Arizona down through Sonora) — no one ever asks. Maybe they should before kissing them. You never know if you’ll get a prince… or a nightmare.

“Etnografía del pueblo seri (konkaak / comca’ac) de Sonora” (Instituto Nacional de los Pueblos Indígenas)

Karen Peterson, “This toad can get you high—really, really high. Poachers have taken notice” (National Geographic, 12 July 2023)

Sonoran Desert Toad (Incilius alvarius) (Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum)

DMT (Australian Alcohol and Drug Foundation, 18 June 2024)}

Cristina Gómez Lima, “Con danzas, juegos y comida el pueblo seri celebra el Año Nuevo” (Jornada, 30 June 2024)