Mayan Medicine

We slept in late and took our time getting ready for the day. We had planned to get ourselves oriented today before starting any major adventures. We tracked down breakfast at Flayva's. I had the standard breakfast burrito, but Kim had the eggs in a fry jack. Yeah, what is that? Think sopapilla stuffed with eggs, salsa, etc. Yum.

After breakfast we loaded up with water and met Denny, the cab driver. He took us out to Chaa Creek Jungle Lodge, where he waited for us, while we explored the grounds for several hours. We started at the Natural History Centre, where we learned all about the area's geology, flora, fauna, and cultural history. From there we got a tour of the blue morpho butterfly breeding center. Amazingly blue creatures, the females are more of a blue-purple. We were the only ones around, so we got a private tour, and individual, close-up views of the many stages of the butterflies, from egg, to growing caterpillar, into a pupa, and out as a hungry butterfly. Very cool.

Following the butterflies, Denny drove us down to the Maya Medicine Trail. We read about the Mayan methods of natural healing, then took a walking tour through the rain forest. A large number of plants, trees, and shrubs were marked with extensive explanations of their purpose, curative powers, or ordinary use. My two favorites were the rubber tree and the other that I can't remember right now. I had my trusty, tiny Swiss Army knife (don't tell the TSA) and made a very small cut into the rubber tree. You see, we just bought an all-natural latex bed, the material originating from a tree just like this one. Because I was familiar with the whole process, I wanted to check it out for myself. Well, imagine my surprise when a tiny little cut made the sap drip quickly. All the old cuts in the tree were huge, comparatively, so I didn't think my little cut would be a big deal. Thinking fast, I put my finger to the cut to catch some of the sap on my finger. It is supposed to harden into rubber. Well, I guess I never read how long it would take to harden, nor did I read how sticky it was as a sap. I tried to wipe my finger off on the tree, but then I had sap and pieces of bark on my finger. When it did finally get a little spring in it, I showed Kim, who was then compelled to get her own, which only resulted in the same sequence of realizing it was sticky, trying to get it off on the tree, and leaving a handful of sap and bark.

Farther down the trail was the other tree, whose name eludes me, but the sap is called chicle. Familiar? Think Chiclets. The sap, chicle, was originally used in the production of gum. Well, what the heck! I made a small cut, put my finger to the sap and stuck in my mouth. I should have learned from the first sap incident. There must be a hardening or drying process. It was the consistency of cream, without the good taste. It wasn't bad, but I'll stick with the sugar-added Chiclets.Read more