You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
CHAPTER THREE<br />
Wormseed Epasote Chenopodium ambrosioides<br />
A highly aromatic common weed found throughout the Americas, used principally as a flavoring for<br />
beans, as a reliable means of ridding intestinal parasites from children and adults, and as a tea for<br />
flatulence. The entire plant boiled in water and drunk throughout the day is a good cure for<br />
hangovers. For the bean pot, add five leaves per quart of water when beans are nearly cooked. For<br />
intestinal parasites in children, give one teaspoon of the leaf juice each morning before breakfast for<br />
three consecutive days. On the fourth morning give a teaspoon of castor oil.<br />
I returned to Panti’s clinic a month later. This time Greg rowed me across<br />
the river and kissed me good-bye under a wild coconut palm.<br />
It had started raining days ago and the path was slick and muddy,<br />
defying all my feeble attempts to climb uphill. I slipped and fell twice,<br />
caking thick, red mud onto my clothes and backpack. But I was determined.<br />
Soon the going got easier, and I studied the leaves on the fully bloomed<br />
tropical trees and those in the thickets. Each plant seemed like a stranger<br />
beckoning to me. I had always considered plants my friends and was<br />
anxious to get acquainted <strong>with</strong> new friends in the Belizean rainforest.<br />
Whether Panti helped me or not, I was determined to unravel the riddles<br />
locked in the veins of a heart-shaped leaf or the fibers of a clinging vine. I<br />
eyed a pale pink flower. Are you medicine? I wondered. I wished it could<br />
answer.<br />
I was thrilled to see a familiar species—a thorny, flowering Wild Poppy<br />
in brilliant yellow, growing on the edge of a sandy cliff near the riverside. It<br />
was the first I’d seen in Belize. In Mexico it was called Chicalote, and my<br />
neighbors had used it to treat insomnia and nervousness. <strong>My</strong> research had<br />
revealed that its active ingredient was papervine, a proven, effective<br />
sedative.<br />
I stopped near a mammey apple tree and took a gulp of refreshing<br />
peppermint water from my flask. I looked down to see a legion of leafcutter<br />
ants, which made me smile, thinking of Panti as the zampope. I
Change language