Sastun: My Apprenticeship with a Maya Healer

CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Balsam Tree Balsamo Na Ba
Myroxylon balsamum
The tree has a highly resinous and aromatic bark, which is used to treat both physical and spiritual
diseases. A small square of the bark forms part of the Maya amulets or protección, carried to ward off
envy, the evil eye, evil spirits, and black magic. The boiled bark is a primary remedy for conditions
of the urinary tract and the liver.
The film Mosquito Coast was being shot in and around Belize. It’s a story
about an obsessed man who brought his family to Central America to live in
a jungle, where hardships eventually pitted them against each other and
revealed the father’s coldness and selfish obsession with perfection.
One of the film crew’s favorite resting spots was Chaa Creek, by now
the most famous of all the jungle resorts in Belize and known for its
primitive elegance. Chaa Creek had a lush, tropical landscape with thatch
roof bungalows and a stunning open-air bar overlooking the river.
Lucy and Mick introduced Greg and me to the film’s editor, Thomm
Noble, who we learned had won an Academy Award for his work on the
film Witness. We became friends. After a few days, Thomm and other crew
members invited Lucy and me to accompany them on a trip to Tikal, the
famous ancient Maya city ninety miles west of us in the Petén region of
Guatemala.
We crossed the Belize-Guatemala border at an outpost about four miles
west of Ix Chel Farm and headed west on the narrow dirt road through the
jungle. It was a hot, bumpy ride. We sat on wooden benches in the back of
the truck bed with dust swirling through the air and dirt flying into our
faces.
The city-state of Tikal flourished in the Classic Maya era and is known
for erect, graceful pyramids and its dominant position in the Maya
lowlands. Until the early part of the twentieth century, the ruins of the city
were covered by the jungle. When the city was rediscovered, it was
excavated and reconstructed by archaeologists from the University of