It was only our second day at the
OTS La Selva Research Station when we were afforded the awesome opportunity of
participating in an ethnobotany tour in Chilamate, Sarapiqui with Jaime
Alvarado. This was our first introduction into the exciting vastness of the
local ethnobotanic culture and history. After seeing pictures of previous
students participating in this activity, I was super excited for the experience
to come!
One of the first sayings that Jaime
told us as we began our learning was, “ if you grow marijuana in a garden, all
people are believers that it has an effect- if you grow medicine in a garden,
people want a prescription.” This is a very simple, yet powerful quote for me.
For the last several years of my life my mother has steadfastly attempted to
cure all things using only organic sources. Due to this experience, I am
completely aware of the power that plants have to offer though I realize much
of my fellow man is not.
In Westernized societies people want
the most convenient type of “cure all” - a pill. What we have neglected to
remember is that all of the organic chemistry that goes into concentrating and
pumping up these pills is derived from plant sources with international
origins. Being that nothing is able to create itself and the source is always
the most powerful, would it not make sense for these plants of origin to be
everything we need to remedy illness?
Personally, the experience at
Chilamate was refreshing, encouraging and enlightening. It was amazing to see
many of the same ingredients I use at home for remedies also used by peoples
who differ from my location and cultural background. Learning about new sources
was really cool and I definitely plan on implementing some of them in my
household. Overall, it was nice to experience some new things and have fun
while doing it!
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