When I landed in Yelapa in 1973, I felt like I had arrived where I belonged. Over the ensuing weeks and months, I got sick with almost everything there was to get sick with, and this was a stroke of good luck! Because it then enabled me to learn from local women (and some men) about the traditional approaches to medicine and healing that the bounty of the sea and jungle offered, especially where there was no doctor.
Little did I know that I was starting my life path and career about ethnobotany (herbal medicine and culture) and the traditional healing wisdom of indigenous peoples. After running a little school for the expat children, my work evolved into a health center which I ran in Yelapa and which served people through Cabo Corrientes.
Over time I was honored to treat at my health clinic many of the families in the municipio, and most of the families of the local comunidades indigenas.
This website reflects over 45 years of my experiences conducting research, recording oral stories, learning and writing about local traditions and medicines. Above all, it is about friendships with people in the Comunidad indígena de Chacala and the sharing that has enriched my life and hopefully contributed to theirs.