Holland Diaries: Coffee Shops Do Not Serve Coffee in Holland!

All I was hoping for when I went to Holland was to spend some laugh time with my closest friends and perhaps try a space brownie:-)

Instead, on my first night in Rotterdam, L and I found ourselves at the front door of a coffeeshop, our arms full of groceries.

She tells me, J, please, I live here a few blocks from here, can you go and buy the stuff?
Me: Sure! Just let me know what it's called here?
L: Weed!

So after minutes of fearful hesitation watching people come and go, we enter the coffeeshop. I go to the counter and ask the stupid question.

Hello, do you sell some weed?
The man looked at me as if I was an idiot.
I repeat the question, and then L,exasperated, comes and says
Do you have white widow? ***White Widow, it turns out, is a type of Cannabis used as medical marijuana. It's grown in Holland, and is a particularly potent variety of weed.***

And then there it was, a look of understanding.
He gets a pack and tells us, 100 grams = 8 Euros. Whoa! Mahal din ha!
We hurriedly pay and out we go laughing at the stress and my stupidity!

L: Really Jo, You have to ask if they sell weed? It's a coffeeshop!
J: Haller, di nga nila alam ang weed no?!
L: Ay sorry, dapat pala cannabis sinabi mo!

It's crazy, weed/marijuana is legal in Holland, so why did it feel as if we we were doing something sneaky?

Do not throw stones ha! My opinion is this: heck, I am nearly in my mid-thirties and I have always been square. Here's the chance to do something crazy and legal, so why not try the oft-maligned weed and cross it out of my 100 things to try before I die?!

So yes I did try weed in Holland. We only used a fourth of the 100 gram pack we bought, though.

I think one try is enough, there was nothing spectacular about the experience, except some eerie heat travelling through my chest.

To be honest, I didn't see anything special with weed. The only thing that we noticed was that after using it, we were so hungry L and I finished a big caserola of sinigang na baboy and rice.


So what's the point, you ask? Well, be careful when in the Netherlands :-) Coffeeshops do not sell coffee! They sell cannabis! If you want coffee look for CAFES!

Ciao!