Medicinal Plant Walks

Traditional medicine and natural healing was once widely practiced throughout the Mayan communities of Belize. Using a combination of medicinal plants and prayer, shamans and healers treated both the physical and spiritual ailments of their communities. In the 20th century, western influences began to discourage the use of traditional medicine and fewer and fewer healers were trained.

Today the knowledge is all but lost, however, scientific communities from the western world have shown a new interest in the medicinal properties of tropical plants. For example, the National Cancer Institute started the Belize Ethnobotany Project, which has sent of 2,000 species back to the NCI to be studied for cancer fighting properties. Students from the New York Botanical Gardens are currently doing ethnobotanical research right in Toledo.The Belizean government has also recognized the importance of these plants, and in 1993 set aside 6,000 acres for the Terra Nova Medicinal Plant Reserve to transplant potentially valuable plants from areas of jungle in danger of development.

Medicinal Plants near Cotton Tree Lodge
Medicinal plants still flourish in the old growth rainforests around Cotton Tree Lodge, and some are growing in the gardens between the cabanas and Main Lodge. As you circle the boardwalk, you may see hand-painted signs pointing to the gumbo limbo tree (the bark is good for skin irritations) or cowsfoot (the leaf makes a tea good for indigestion), among others.Santiago Chub, a knowledgeable healer from Santa Anna village, regularly offers medicinal plant walks to our guests. Some tours stay on the property and trek into the dense jungle surrounding Cotton Tree. Other trips head to Santiago’s home, where he has cut a medicinal plant trail into the hills behind his house and transplanted certain species to show you.Walks can last from 30 minutes up to an hour, depending on the interest of guests.

The medicinal plant walk at Santiago’s home may be reached by horseback, horse-drawn buggy, or bicycle, or guests may arrange to kayak back to Cotton Tree from Santa Anna village.

Itzama Medicinal Plant Garden
Not far from Nim Li Punit ruins, the Itzama Medicinal Plant Garden in Indian Creek village is dedicated to studying and preserving traditional Mayan medicine. Species of medicinal plants from all over Toledo are transplanted and cultivated here. The garden is overseen by the Belize Indigenous Training Institute, which is attempting to establish an apprenticeship program for older healers to train a new generation in traditional medicine. Tours of the garden will introduce you to the BITI’s conservation work and the dozens of species of medicinal plants which are growing here.

Additional Reading
Whether you are a doctor, botanist, or simply find medicinal plants interest, you may want to pick up a copy of Sastun or Rainforest Remedies, both by Rosita Arvigo.Ms. Arvigo came to Belize from Chicago in the 1980s and apprenticed to Elijio Panti, one of the most well-known medicine men in Central America. Sastun is the story of her apprenticeship with him, and Rainforest Remedies details many healing plants and their uses.