Adios Izamal and Hotel Macanche!

My Room at Macanche

Xoria and Raj, visiting from India!

Jungle Paradise

After a great stay in Izamal, I said goodbye to the beautiful gardens and people of Hotel Macanche.  It's been a pleasure to spend the last week in here at Macanche.  On a trip to to study the flora and fauna of Mexico, I can't imagine a better place to wake up each morning than the gardens of this hotel. They are home to countless species of plants and animals, forming an oasis in the Pueblo Magico of Izamal.  Each night, I feel asleep to the singing of geckos and bullfrogs all around me (sometimes in my shower ;)... and each morning, woke up to the birds.

Taxis of Izamal, in front of the Convent

Henequin, an Agave, used to produce ropes, bags, jewelry, and liquor

Macanche's owner, Alfred, has been particularly helpful in connecting me with people and places related to my conservation and plants.  Izamal has a wealth of resources, many of which I will need to save for another trip.

On my last day in Izamal, I traveled with a group from the hotel to Dzilam de Bravo, a coastal town about an hour to the north.  We spend the day in Sayachuleb, a cooperative of Maya fishermen and naturalists who are dedicated to preserving the area through sustainable eco-tourism.  Sayachuleb is a maya word which means "Pajaro de Aguado" or water bird.  We took a boat from the Gulf to the River Angosto which is a series of mangroves of four varieties:  red, white, buttonbush, and thatch palms (chit).  There are also several important epiphytes, including three varieties of orchids.

Lovely Flamingos of the Yucatan

The reserve is home to more than 400 species of animals, including the endangered margay (tigrillo), parrots, and tayra.  On this trip, we came to see the flamingos, which migrate to the mouth of the river, where they spend many hours peacefully feeding on brine shrimp and blue-green algae.  The carotene in the flamingo diet gives them their brilliant pink color, which is stunning against the backdrop of the green low-land jungle.

Tayra - in the Weasel family

Margay

Spending the day in Sayachuleb was peaceful and refreshing.  The cool cenote waters made for a perfect swimming hole at the end of the day.

Next stop:  Valladolid...Time to explore the cenotes of the region, models of perfect ecosystems and visit a mystic who cures with plants and has an international heritage garden.

Centro Botanico Naturista La Melisa

Verbena verde in the drying house

Today, I had the pleasure of meeting Don Feliciano Patron Canul, an expert in natural medicine and owner of an herbal medicine garden, production area, and store.  The Embroidery and Herbal Medicine Workshop where Feliciano and his family live and work is located about five blocks form the city´s center, where I pick up a detailed map of how to arrive from Izamal's tourism office.   

Verbena in Feliciano's garden

The entrance to the family home is an embroidery shop, so when I begin to ask about plants, one of Feliciano's five daughters, who is working on a blouse, directs me to a side entrance of the home.  

Within minutes, I am sweating more than I already was on this humid day in the Yucatan.  Feliciano, notices and chuckles. "It gets really hot in here because of the roof.  I am used to it, and it's perfect, because all of these plants need to dry," he tells me.  For the rest of the morning, I continued sweating and Don Feliciano shared a mix of personal stories, plant knowledge and souvenirs from years of work as a botanist.  And, surprisingly, this doesn't appear as one of Tripadvisor's "Things to Do" in Izamal!

x-put-balam

A machine used to chop plant parts

Herbs finished drying and ready for packaging

Fruits of x-put-balam in the drying room

In the drying room, Feliciano explains each rack, describing the plant or mix of plants and how they can be used.  Verbena roja, he tells me, stimulates ovulation in a woman´s cycle.  The bark of the Encino tree, "Bek" in Maya, is boiled and gargled by people who are suffering from sore throats or vomiting blood.  Many of the plants names he uses are in Maya, like x-put-balam (Papera), a plant whose orange fruits and leaves are mashed, boiled and gargled to cure sore throats.  

Medicinal herbs are packaged and ready to sell

Feliciano's grandfather, a Men (Maya priest), shared his knowledge of healing plants with his son and grandson.  "He knew a lot about plants, and then other more mysterious things, which I never really liked," Feliciano tells me.  "Like animal sacrifices?" I asked.  "No, more like supernatural things."  Feliciano tells me a story of a Maya Rain Ceremony, in which his grandfather and other men would descend into a cave for three days, during time of drought.  Before entering, they would recite prayers and light a candle, which despite constant winds, burned steadily while the men were in the cave.  When the last man exited the cave, he pinched the flame out and put the candle in his pocket.  "I knew something wasn't normal, that a candle shouldn't burn like that for three days," Feliciano solemnly tells me.  Then he adds, "One thing I do like is a prayer he taught me."  Feliciano recites the prayer, which is in a rhyming mix of Spanish and Maya, and smiled at me, "Sounds nice, doesn't it?"

Feliciano's Backyard: A wealth of medicinal plants

While in his garden, Feliciano tells me that several people have invited him to work at a larger botanic garden in a nearby town. They would pick him up, he would give tours for a couple of hours (all dressed up, he notes), and then he would be driven home and paid 300 pesos (about $25/day).  While the money and opportunity were good, Feliciano felt that his operation at home would fall apart if he took on this job, so he turned down the offer. Feliciano recognizes the value of his knowledge and its connection to the Maya culture.  His story illustrates a tension between ancient plant secrets  preserved in a pre-Hispanic language and the desire of the modern world to access this knowledge.

  Feliciano is proud of his visitors from around the world.  He shows me photos of him with Former Mexican President Vicente Fox and famous latino pop singer Juan Gabriel.  On his wall, are framed newspaper articles with titles like, "An Example of Family" and "Deep Maya Roots, still growing."  However, after a morning at Feliciano's house, it becomes clear that who relies upon his plant knowledge most are his neighbors, who frequently arrive to buy dried leaves and bark, which they'll make into tonics, creams, and teas.  

  

With herbolist Feliciano and still sweating in the drying room!!

Adventures in Izamal -Day 1

On the flight from Chicago to Cancun, I passed over Isla Holbox, where I'll return in a few weeks.  It´s place so close to, but so different from Cancun.

 I wanted to snap a picture of the Island's distinctive bat wing shape, but these will have to do.

After a 5 hr bus ride from Cancun's bus terminal, I arrived to Izamal feeling tired and very hungry.  Was it no coincidence that I would place my dinner order at the restaurant, which I was told would be ready in exactly one hour, as I began reading Carlo Petrini´s Terra Madre, a book about the Slow Food movement?   Slow Food = Good Food, especially after a long day of travel.  I enjoyed a greek salad and chiles rellenos at Macanche´s restaurant, where I plan to take a cooking class or two later this week. 

Tomorrow, I'll begin my adventures in Izamal, the city of 3 cultures.  I'm looking to discover a bit about each culture, and how the story of plants connects each of them.
Hopefully, seven nights won't prove to be too long to spend in a town with exactly 4 attractions listed in the "Things to Do" section of Tripadvisor.   According to my research, there is far more to do in one of Mexico's famed Pueblo Magicos.