HEALING WITH A MAYA CURANDERA

January 9, 2016

In the jungle just to the east of Puerto Morelos in the Yucatán, Mexican state of Quintana Roo about 40 km south of Cancun, I had  quite an amazing experience with the daughter of a Maya curandero.

About 2 weeks ago, my foot became engulfed in the handle of a shopping bag, and I fell hard at our daughter and son-in-law's home. First I hit my face on the elevated corner of a hard wooden box, then slammed down onto the hardwood floor on my left hip, shoulder, arm, wrist and face again. Two days later, I couldn't lift my arm above my shoulder, had scabs on my face, bruises under my eye. I had to have help even pulling up my pants.

Since my 20's, I haven't had as many people look at me. They'd look, then wonder, and remember to look away. It was rather humorous.

I was reading Christmas cards and two of our friends had recently fallen, broken their hips and were in re-hab/hospital. For me, nothing was broken. In a few days, I thankfully boarded the plane in Seattle for Cancun as scheduled and we arrived to Puerto Morelos.

It was there I notice a deep blue bruise on my hip about the size of an ol' 45 rpm record. Although my face was healing, a 3 inch bruise to the left of my nose and downward was developing more. Worse, my left arm began to ache and my hand was swelling up. Um...Time for a decision. Modern medicine or Mayan.

What was modern medicine going to do? Put me in a sling? Well, Jim made one for me and it helped.

But the swelling increased.

I phoned Sandra who has a Maya non-profit massage therapy center west of Puerto Morelos in a jungle area that she had purchased.

She has 9 Maya women who needed employment and are skilled in therapy. My one and ½ hour appointment turned into 2 hours as the woman chosen for me had a lot to do. She applied warm compresses to my face, and worked mainly above my waist. I was never on my stomach, only my back mainly, and my sides. She worked an half hour alone on my left arm, wrist and hand. She explained that when I fell, my ligaments had strung out like a rubber band and back into wrong positions and that was causing the swelling. She used an aloe vera/avocado mixture that Sandra makes herself. Wonderful!! Not sticky, not smelly, but smooth and comforting.

The next day I looked into the mirror and the blue on my face had suddenly dropped down to about my Adam's Apple area...so strange. (She had also really worked on my face, too.) My arm hurt less but the swelling in my hand continued. We arrived back to the therapy center for the Sunday Market and dance celebration that occurs once a week there in the winter. My curandera therapist looked at my hand, and led me toward some Maguey Morado plants. She picked about 12 leaves from them and explained they were to help bring down the  swelling..one liter of water, 2 leaves, boil 10 minutes, cool and drink through the day. So I kept the leaves, arrived to our house with a kitchen near Mahahual, prepared the brew and drank according to instructions.

 

 For three days more I could type only with my right hand, and protected my left from much activity.

On the 4^th day, major improvement. Swelling was finally going down. Bruises are rapidly fading; I can lift my left arm much higher. My face is still “stiff,” but so much better.

This all has caused me to wonder.

The Maya lady told her story during those 2 hours of massage. She speaks Mayan at home, but learned Spanish at school. She has many older brothers and sisters and is the youngest. Her grandfather was a curandero, and it wasn't until she was 7 years old that he picked a successor.....HER!  She cried and cried, and begged her grandfather to choose another one of her siblings. But he said that he had been told in a dream that she was the “chosen.” So for many years she “studied” with him. She was allowed since age 9 to actually do some help and healing herself. Her family had a “milpa” farm and they raised mainly squashes, pumpkins, and only a bit of corn. Her grandfather also worked in the milpa as she did herself. He was never to take money for his healing, but could accept watermelon, a chicken, etc.

This young Maya lady left her town of Ixpen-Ha, (sp.) went to Puerto Morelos and found employment cleaning rooms in a hotel. She liked the change and the work. Then Sandra, owner of the Ixchel Jungle Spa, found her and asked her to begin healing at her non-profit venture. The Maya lady refused saying she could never accept money for any healing she could do. Some time later, her Mayan's grandfather appeared to her in a dream, sat down and talked with her various times and finally gave his blessing for her to work with Sandra.

She now has 2 handsome sons, 5 and 8 yrs. old. She not only provides healing such as for me, but on Sundays during the winter months dances with her friends to raise awareness for the Jungle Spa and for added income. 

I feel I shouldn't use this Maya woman's name because of the hushed way she shared her story with me. She has a quiet, modest and beautiful spirit. She has taken several courses to have “accredited” papers. One was in Playa del Carmen taught by an acupuncture expert from China. She had no difficulty with the course as the acupuncture points that the Chinese man was teaching were the same ones that she had learned years before from her grandfather. That was so surprising to me. She also used them on me with her therapy.

If you study the Maya people, their pyramids, writings, astronomical accomplishments, and length of civilizations, it is less difficult to accept that they must have achieved major accomplishments in medicine, herbs, etc. also. Here is a photo of an Maya herb shop that I took near Merida in northern Yucatán. 

A bit of humor.  Jim's Maya masseuse put her finger in Jim's belly button and declared that he has "gas."