Sastun: My Apprenticeship with a Maya Healer

confusion and end my quest.
I didn’t know what a sastun had to do with my learning about Belize’s
healing plants, but I decided to let the subject go…for now. I didn’t want to
pester him.
It was well past four and I had to head back to the trail before dark. Just
as I began gathering up my things, several young Maya women entered,
each carrying a baby. Glued to the hut door, I watched as Panti held each
baby’s chubby wrist and whispered in Mayan. He repeated this over the
ankle, the other wrist, and the other ankle.
“Excuse me, Don Elijio, please,” I said, observing proper protocol by
requesting permission to return, “may I visit you again next week?”
“Of course, mamasita. I will be right here, neither more nor less than
you see me right now.”
As I walked out to the road, I could hear him and the young mothers
speak the rich, mysterious sounds of the Mayan tongue. Then I heard the
women squeal in delight, until the sound of my boots swishing in the grass
drowned them out.