Belize- Medicinal Ride Video
Ride horses into Belize's rainforest to discover rainforest remedies, including the Maya method of suturing cuts or wounds with cutter ants.
I never thought that I would find a big horse ranch in Belize, but Banana Bank Lodge is just that. With over 100 horses, the ranch attracts day riders and those looking to stay for a while and ride in the jungle beside the Belize River. John Carr, who is from Montana, started the ranch in the 1970’s. You would definitely need an adventurous spirit to settle in Belize in the 1970’s. The interior of Belize is not very developed now, so I can’t imagine what it would be like in the 70’s. This makes exploring here an adventure.
We were able to ride out with Albert, a local who works at the ranch and knows the rainforest plants very well. Since he was a child, Albert has been using plants from the forest to cure his ailments. He learned how to do this from his mother, who learned it from hers. As we rode, Albert pointed out plants to cure everything from headaches to diabetes.
We came upon a giant ant pile filled with cutter ants. Albert stomped on the pile to get the large soldier ant to come out. Once the big ant did, Albert picked him up and put him on his hand, where the ant promptly bit him. Ouch, I thought. Albert then plucked off the back end of the ant and it stayed on his skin, pinching it together, sort of like a stitch. People in the rainforest would take many of these ants and use them like this to close up a cut. The ant will stay closed on the skin for from 5 minutes to an hour. You have to let it fall off naturally though, as if you don’t and you pick it off before it naturally falls off then it will hurt and puncture your skin. It makes me feel better to know that someone like Albert is here with us in Belize, just in case any of us have a headache or something.
Darley Newman is the host of the Emmy Award-winning Public Television series Equitrekking®, which takes viewers on horseback riding vacations around the world. Equitrekking is broadcast on PBS stations and on international networks in over 65 countries.
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