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alex .

Mar 6, 2003, 7:45 AM

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home remedies

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I remember my wife sending me out for "baporoot". I searched a couple of places and couldn't find such a thing. "Se vende en cualquier lugar (everyplace sells it)" she says and off I go looking for the elusive baporoot again. Turns out that she was wanting Vicks Vaporub. She uses it for all kinds of stuff : mosquito bites, abrasions, burns,and even uses it as it was originally intended. Its amazing that even in the jungles of Guerrero state one will find Vaporub and Coca Cola.
Any others? Sobador stories? What REALLY works and what is pure superstition?
Alex

(This post was edited by alex . on Mar 6, 2003, 7:48 AM)

esperanza

Mar 6, 2003, 8:02 AM

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Re: [alex .] home remedies

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When I first lived in Tijuana, back in the dark ages, any time there was a repair to be done to the house the landlady would tell me, "Ahorita te mando el mentolato". And pretty soon the handyman would show up to fix the whatever-it-was. Finally she told me that she called him 'el mentolato' because 'pues, sirve pa'todo'.

http://www.mexicocooks.typepad.com

Don

Mar 6, 2003, 8:11 AM

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Re: [alex .] home remedies

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One home remedy my wife's family uses is made with avacados. They chop and then grind the avacado pits and mix with pure cane alcohol. They then use this mixture to put on severe bruises and other aches. They swear by it's usage. As far as natural medicines, our family swear by the usuage of Milk Thistle to assist in repairing liver damage.

Carol Schmidt

Mar 6, 2003, 10:20 AM

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Re: [alex .] home remedies

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Sounds like the father in "My big fat Greek wedding" who squirts Windex on everything. It even cures a zit on the wedding day. I buy a few tubes of 2% antiseptic/stop-itch cream whenever I go to the states and that's my wonder drug.

Carol Schmidt

jennifer rose

Mar 6, 2003, 10:41 AM

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Re: [alex .] home remedies

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What a great thread, Alex! At http://www.rice.edu/...urses/mod7/mod7.html is an interesting article about folk medicine among Hispanics in the American Southwest.

Georgia

Mar 6, 2003, 11:43 AM

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Re: [alex .] home remedies

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Tea made from tila for headaches and nervousness.

DavidMcL

Mar 6, 2003, 1:46 PM

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Re: [alex .] home remedies

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Quick-&-Dirty bug repellant is to rub a freshly cut limon on the exposed skin.
Also works as a de-itcher when you were too late with the first remedy.
David McL
WebJefe

Uncle Jack

Mar 6, 2003, 2:49 PM

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home remedies....Apple Cider Vinegar

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There are those who claim that apple cider will cure most anything from high cholesterol to hemorrhoids.

"http://www.inq7.net/lif/2001/aug/11/lif_4-1.htm"

If it doesn't work, you can always make coleslaw.

UJ

jturpen

Mar 9, 2003, 7:52 AM

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Re: [alex .] home remedies

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Hola Alex ...

My grandmother on my dad's side was half Cherokee Indian and used many 'remedies' for various ailments. I recall spending time looking for certain 'herbs' that she would grind into some polstice an appliy to scratches, burns, bites and the ever popular warts.
I pretty much discounted her 'medicine' until just before she died when she called me to her side to pass down her notes. She had volumnes of diagrams with lengthy and tedious 'steps' to make her remedies. She died in 1963 and I still have her notes. I thought very little of her work until the late sixties, when a fella from UCLA, one
Carlos Castaneda, created worldwide shockwaves with a series of books beginning with The Teachings of Don Juan, a Yaqui way of Knowledge. The book (which had a somewhat questionable authenticity) was about the many 'medicines' used by the Indians in and around the Ixtlan area of Nayarit. The book earned Carlos a PHd from UCLA and the following books (I think there are 8 others) grew on themes from the first book. Suffice to say that these books went way beyond my grandmas works ... BUT ... it does indicate that there are many cultures that have serious remedies that they get right from their own backyard.

You might look at http://www.clemson.edu/agforestryresearch/growing_medicine.htm or http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/anthro/mmac/
for other references about this fascinating area.

Joe