wondering about all the medicinal plants and bottles at the mercado

Upstairs at the San Francisco Mercado in Cuenca in its own narrow, long aisle is a section of healing plants, and bottles whose contents look a bit mysterious – only because they’re unfamiliar. For someone who loves delving into alternative healing, it’s frustrating. Ahh, but I do know an aloe vera plant when I see one, and there it was, in abundance, in all its glory

I’ll find out what those mysterious looking bottles and healing plants are all about . . . there’s a website, an enormously helpful one, called www.gringotree.com and I saw that someone named Alex gave an Andean Medicinal Plant Workshop in ENGLISH. Next time, guess who’s going.

Today I bought three enormous bunches of different medicinal plants for $2.00, for an injured ankle, from someone sounding confident in her knowledge . . . if only I understood what she said.

I know they’re supposed to be boiled in water. The questions are for how long? And how much to take and how often? And what are the names of those three bunches of plants?

How I wish the tutor I emailed for Spanish lessons would respond. It’s been said life is laid-back here in Ecuador, and that foreigners have to learn patience. There’s no doubt that there are more than a few opportunities in the course of a day to learn. It’s all good.

Sweet dreams all you who are off to bed. Dream big dreams!

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“All the greatest beings who have ever strolled through the Earth’s gardens have been people of transcendent faith. Every one of them had a tranquil attitude and a calm belief in the helpful powers of invisible forces. These forces are always available to everyone.”
– from The Sunfood Diet Success System by David Wolfe