Nicaraguan "Folk Remidies"
Submitted by fyl on Wed, 2012/02/08 - 05:53.
As part of a discussion in http://www.nicaliving.com/node/19832, I mentioned how two doctors treated an ear infection. Two people have since suggested folk remedies for it. I think these remedies deserve their own forum topic.
There are still people in Nicaragua who are a four hour walk from any sort of health care yet many of these people live a long life and are generally healthy. While not eating processed food and getting exercise are probably a big contributors, there are sometimes needs for a remedy.
Let's see what sorts of cures we can collect here.
24 medicinal plants from Leon
http://www.unanleon.edu.ni/universitas/pdf/1ro/Arto4VOl1.pdf
to relax
Lemon Grass tea.
anemia prevention
Cuculmeca bark or chipped wood boiled in milk
http://www.analogforestrynetwork.org/newsletter/esp/boletin2-4.html
Sorosi Leaf tea to clean your blood - say after drinking too much. http://www.inriodulce.com/links/Sorosi.html also the fruit is edible
Miskito Remedies site from the East Coast of Nicaragua
http://www.pto-cabezas.com/recetarionaturista.htm
note; There is a marked difference between Black and miskito remedies!
Hair Growth
Escoba Lisa Leafs rubbed in some water until the water is impregnated with its oil and put on head after bathing and leave in. http://medioambienteblog.blogspot.com/2008/05/cytisus-scoparius.html
Tea for psychedelic trips
A white flower that dangles from a tree - I will not give give further details as it is strong and can result in a bad trip.
Morning After
3 red onions cut in quarter, put in towel, and heated (with the towel) up to the maximum temperature that the person can take, and placed over the XXX and repeat several times.
Abortion home remedies
a. Strong (mud like) coffee, on an empty stomach and 3 -4 aspirins.
b. On an empty stomach after 12 hours of fasting drink a young (as in very young) coconut water.
Drooling baby remedy
use the seam of a skirt of a Virgin girl to wipe the baby's mouth. The baby will stop drooling.
Baby intestine cleanser
To clean the intestines of a new born baby (para gagar todo lo que tiene adentro) a cotton dipped in garlic and honey. makes the baby poop good right away to clean the intestines.
baby stomach "refreshement"
Amapola flower http://www.treknature.com/gallery/photo207440.htm made into a drink (tea) with some sugar if needed.
Sinus Infection
Piss in your hand and place the urine on the top front of your head (just above your forehead) and tapping the area a few times. leave it for while and then wash your head with warm water.
Eye infection
mothers milk but only the milk from a first time mom and the baby has to be a boy!
Caterpillar venom
when a caterpillar touches you -
half a lemon heated on fire and rubbed where the Caterpillar touched your skin.
Cuts
ground coffee on cuts prevents infection and helps healing.
Abscess
chilie Habaneros peper leafs placed on the abscess. Next day it will burst.
Kidney infection
Spiritu Santo flower - Tea made from its leaf. http://www.reusableart.com/v/flowers/black/bw-flowers-32.jpg.html
Anemia
Condor wine + Beats leave in the sun and drink after a few hours
Neem Tree Repellent
seed: ground to a pulp (creamy) rub on to your skin as bug repellent.
Sun Burn
Zepol (local Vicks vaporub) sounds painful, but it really works. works for minor 2nd degree burns too from being a clumsy cook.
Candida/yeast problems
Eat coconut.
Nicaraguan East Coast
Wash with lemon
Warts
on hands or feet : Diablo Rojo (NaOH) applied to the wart.
Apple Cider Vinegar (Unpasturized) for Warts Too?
Heard from blogs by "Ted in Bangkok" (www.earthclinic.com) that apple cider vinegar, unpasturized, is good for warts and many, many things: hypertension, gout, candidas, even fleas on a dog.
Seems very difficult to get unpasteurized (with "mother") apple cider vinegar here in Venezuela, stores carry lots of the white vinegar, but even pasteurized apple cider vinegar is hard to find and is expensive.
I've been putting white vinegar and garlic in my dog's meals, along with little amethysts rocks in her water, but she is still scratching, so maybe she has an allergy to something. (Yes, I stopped the garlic and vinegar for a while, but she kept on scratching, so that is not the cause.) As to the amethysts in the water, the little pieces were very cheap and I figured, "what the heck", Does anyone who knows about crystals have any idea of why amethysts, in particular, would kill fleas? (If, indeed, they do.)
there are no apples
in Nicaragua.. at least not enough to make vinegar.
Plenty of Apples in the Andes.
Apples are in the open air market and on the local fruit carts everyday here in the Andes, both red and green. I assume that due to the mountain climate, apples grow here and I suspect would grow in similar mountain climes of Nicaragua. Obviously, that "He who would be king" Walker guy was not a johnny appleseed.
Um, no really high mountains here
Venezuela's highest peak is almost 10,000 feet higher than Nicaragua's highest peak. You're comparing the Southern Appalachians with the Rockies or the Sierras. I drove over a pass in the Rockies that was higher than any mountain on the East Coast of the US. High country here is around 4,000 feet with some mountains to 5,000 and a few to 6,000 and one to almost 7,000.
Most apple varieties need generally at least 45 days of mean 45 degree weather. People in Costa Rica can grow them. Nicaragua's the lowest elevation country in CA. In Jinotega, we almost never get temps under 50 degrees at night and the day time temps are 60s to 80s in the coolest times of the year, and this is at 3,000 feet. It's possible they could grow in the mountains near the Honduran border now that the country is declared safe from mines, but transport is a bit tricky still.
Google says there are some no chill apples now that the Israelis have bred, have no idea how they taste. http://ucanr.org/sites/UrbanHort/files/80158.pdf. Both CA and Israel are further north than Nicaragua, so that might be simply lower chill.
More general information on apples and pears from Australia here: http://www.newcrops.uq.edu.au/acotanc/papers/campbel1.htm
Most people use mangos as a substitute. They do fine at least to this elevation.
Countries with higher elevations north and south of here do grow apples, and people bring in NA apples to sell, so they're popular enough (the NA apples tend to be rather nasty the couple of times I've tried them).
Rebecca Brown
U of Calif Finds You Don't Need "High Mountains" for Apples.
The University of California conducted a study in the foothills of the Sierras at an elevation of 575 feet, successfully producing apples and similar fruits, albeit a bit smaller than those grown higher up. (http://cesutter.ucdavis.edu/newsletters/Sierra_Foothill_Research_and_Ext...)/
Venezuela's highest mountain is 4.981 meters (some 15,000 + feet), La Columna, in Mérida State, but likely nothing grows up there. Mérida city, where I live, is 1500 meters (approximately 5000 feet) high. Apples do grow close to the city.
Nicaragua's highest mountains are (from http://www.geonames.org/NI/highest-mountains-in-nicaragua.html):
1 Mogotón, 2,107 m 13.763 / -86.399 2 Volcán San Cristóbal, Chinandega 1,745 m 12.703 / -87.006 3 Volcán Concepción, Rivas 1,610 m 11.538 / -85.622 4 Cerro La Montaña, Matagalpa 1,349 m 12.794 / -86.003 5 Volcán Cerro Negro, León 728 m 12.508 / -86.702 6 Volcán Masaya, Masaya 635 m 11.985 / -86.161 7 Cerro El Menco, Rivas 147 m 11.695 / -85.871
So, except for Cero El Menco, in Rivas,seems likely apples could be grown in Nica.
Volcan Masaya?
So, except for Cero El Menco, in Rivas,seems likely apples could be grown in Nica.
Something tells me there won't be any apple growing at la Boca del Infierno .
they do have apples
small ones, not very tasty, organic looking (i.e. not the shiny picture perfect ones you see in the Us and Canada), you can find them in various markets, but not in sufficient quantities as to warrant making vinegar.
Let's put it this way
I've seen frost and snow in San Francisco and Berkeley. Yuba County is north of Napa Valley, which does get frosts enough for people to set smudge pots in the vineyards.
If you want to try apples here, I suggest that you look at the references that I posted and find an earlier thread where Phil posted how people grew apples in Africa for the winter export market. Basically, it involved stripping leaves off the trees to get bud set, and using varieties with short chill requirements.
I'm at a thousand meters and it doesn't get as low as 45 degrees ever (record low was 47 F), so if an apple tree needs even five minutes of 45 degree weather, it's not going to make apples.
Rebecca Brown
Hombre Grande tree
the bark is used to make a tea as a cure all... Even cancer they claim.
Unfortunately
much of this knowledge is dying and no one is documenting it. In the last 5 years, 2 very knowledgeable Grand moms passed away, and their kids did not learn many of the remedies. They can however induce abortions with some "bush" that their grand moms showed them. So i guess they kept the knowledge that pays the most.
I will get them to tell me more on my next trip to Bluefields. In the market there are some people that still sell a number of wild herbs, tree barks, etc. as cures. There are also a few Miskito doctors who see patients regularly, and there are Sovadores (do not know the spelling - but mean "Bone Setters"). The most famous bone setter i know is/was in Diriomo (Don Agnacio or something like this - cannot remember his name) He is very old now (he does not know his age) and cannot walk well himslef, but does some special favors. His son is at least 75-80.
El Yerbero (hierbero) Moderno.
Sr Sherif hat's off. You can add to your name 'El yerbero'. Check Celia Cruz's El Yerbero Moderno. Se oye el rumor de un pregonar que dice asi el yerberito llego, llego. Traigo hierba santa, pa' la garganta, traigo freisimon pa' la hinchazon, traigo abre camino pa' tu destino, traigo la ruda pa'l que estornuda, tambien traigo albahaca pa' la gente flaca, el apasote para los brotes, el betive para el que no ve y con esta yerba se casa usted. Yerberooo. Here's one of my least favorite: a purgante made of canafistola y apasote. Disgusting taste but effective.
Weight Loss
Sea Weed Soup (do not know the name of it - but it has air bubbles in it to help it float from the bottom).
fruta
anoni for weight loss, taste nastyyyyy thou.
There is a Noni (Hog fruit)
remedi for every sickness, but I do not believe in it mostly because it tastes bad. I know a medicine man that specializes in Noni remedies in bluefields.
Cough
Eucalyptus leaf tea + honey.
Garlic Said to Cure All, But Stick a Clove in Your Ear?
I love garlic or "ajo" as its called here in Venezuela, and have heard it is good for many ailments, such as hypertension. The Cuban doctor in our local Barrio Adentro medical clinic advised chewing a clove of garlic all day long to reduce blood pressure. But I was surprised when a Venezuelan doctor friend told me that a fellow doctor of his always advised putting a clove of garlic in your ear if you have an ear ache. Since I've never had an ear ache, I've never tried it.
But, aside from its possible medical benefits, garlic soup makes a wonderful meal! And maybe an ear wash too!