Alternative Medicine

Sunday afternoon about 5 I came down with what was most likely food poisoning.  2 hours later, I was still vomiting (with nothing in my stomach) and in such shape that I was seriously considering calling my doctor.  Mary decided to call the Espinosas instead; both Maritza and Ricardo are big believers in medicinal plants and have a great many in their beautiful garden.

Maritza recommended an infusion of guanabana leaves in water; she said it would have effect rapidly.  Guanabana is a delicious fruit here, the soursop, and we had planted 2 trees three years ago.  Mary gathered leaves, made the infusion, I drank maybe a couple of tablespoons of this concoction that tasted like boiled leaves--and just about instantly, the vomiting (and the accompanying diarrhea) stopped.  I was able to rest for the first time, and managed a half-way decent night's sleep.

  Yesterday afternoon, they came over with another medicinal remedy, the resinous bark of a tree whose name I didn't catch but which we'll get tonight.  Ricardo brought us a small branch that we can plant in order to  have our own tree.  Another infusion, which tasted worse than the first!  Imagine something that smells--and tastes--a little like turpentine.  Maritza, laughing, said that of course it tasted bad--it was medicine, and therefore it was supposed to!  I well remember this theory from my mother who was convinced that the worse it tasted, the better it was for you.

I reserve judgement on the correlation between taste and benefit, but I am a believer in the guanabana leaf infusion.

Ricardo has this  old, old book called Indigenous Medicines which I'm going to search for.  It has a lot of remedies from medicinal plants.  Last night, Martitza and Ricardo recited a whole list of such remedies, from ingredients that are easily available here, never mind from the plants themselves.  I was in no shape to remember them, but it's something I intend to pursue.

It's like having your own physicians just a few minutes away.