It’s beautiful over here. This place is a vegan’s paradise. Everything is organic, and even the pool at the resort doesn’t use chlorine. It uses ozone, which weirded me out at first (a dangerous air pollutant?) but apparently it oxidizes and removes chemicals and leaves oxygen behind. All of the milk and cheese comes from the cattle nearby, like the water buffalo that we saw hanging out by the medicinal plants garden.
Speaking of the garden, we went on a walk around it for about two and a half hours yesterday. It has a huge variety of plants, from plants with sticky astringent sap that we’ve seen the indigenous people using in Panama to the miracle berry, which makes everything you eat taste sweet. Unfortunately these plants weren’t fruiting (although in Costa Rica, everything tastes sweet as it is!), but we did try the plant used in traditional toothache remedies: chewing the leaves gives your tongue and gums a strong but pleasant numbing, buzzing sensation.
While we’re here, we’re working on a research project. My group is studying a plant, Quassia amara, that has antiulcerogenic properties, and is used for a variety of stomach ailments and even for an antimalarial treatment. Since some of its medicinal compounds have higher concentrations in the sun, we’re studying the growth of the plant in different exposures of sunlight.
Out in the field collecting some Quassia amara
We watched the Michael Moore movie Sicko last night, as we prepare to head back to the country of greedy insurance companies and expensive copays in three weeks. Sensationalist moviemaking and political agendas aside, it’s horrifying and outrageous how securely the insurance companies have their hands around our throats. There’s actually a woman here in Luna Nueva who comes to Costa Rica from the United States to have her hospital appointments!
We're visiting our last indigenous territory, the Maleku, tomorrow. Nostalgia!
Hasta luego,
Anya
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