(Caveat, I wrote this very late..)
I got giardia.
Big deal, I was on the way to the doctor, to get some meds. Happens all the time and has happened to 4 other people I know.
I also have been having really bad back pain from the serious wipeouts I have had here.
Back pain that was bad enough that I couldn’t sleep. I had always thought that people complaining about back-pain were looking for attention or medication. But it sucks. Te lo judo.
So I start talking to this woman, la receptionista at the place where I am staying, who turns out to be a healer.
She brought me some herbs to make tea, made from god knows what, and I drank it. I started feeling a bit better and then thought, well, I’ll chat with this bird for a while and see what is up.
She then informed me that there was a Church, not far from where we were, and still in Puerto, that would cure me. Guaranteed. I know this is starting to sound like pseudo-science, but then as my philosophy goes, I believe anything until I prove it rubbish (Like Mormonism) And I had my doubts about this from the get-go, sounded like a con.
So I went to this center there are no less than 30 people waiting outside of a cabin, all of them in line for treatment. Some of them in pretty obviously bad shape. The head honcho showed up, and he turned out to be the man who achieves the state of séance and “channels” the spirit world. Seemed like a nice enough guy; exuding and aura of exuberance and kindness. He went in the cabin, locked the door, lit some incense and then there was about 10 minutes of chanting, then a very weird voice came from the cabin. This, I guess, signaled that he had achieved trance state. And was being ridden, similar to being “ridden” by a spirit voodoo in Haiti, by a spirit.
The assistants give us some oil to rub on ourselves to cleanse the evil spirits, and then we waited our turn.
I was 10 on the list, was brought in, and told to kneel to a shrine and pray. An elderly woman came up to show me how to hold my hands properly, cupped to receive. Now, I suck at praying, I always have trouble removing my consciousness from the fact that I am praying. I can still see myself praying, which interrupts my concentration and then begins this spiral which ends up with “Ok, God, just help me do the right thing, whatever that is….”
So I “pray” in my fashion for 5 minutes.
Then I stand up after what I assume is a reasonable amount of time and they have me repeat a saying, “En el nobre del padre celestino algo de Niña de Luz” to a guy who has been taken over by a spirit. They called her La Niña de Luz, but he still looked like a middle-aged man. Although, he spoke in a crazy voice.
He asked me my name, I told him Guillermo, which is my name in Mexico.
He then proceeded to touch my body all over, rubbing up and down my sites, and he told me, in Spanish, that I had an stomach infection, and something wrong with my back and that I needed to take the following herbs, which his assistant wrote down. Then Niña de Luz, who is known as a bit of joker, grabbed my stomach, tickled it, and said “You are ticklish, you need to have your girlfriend to take care of that.” Cackle, cackle. Her name was Paulina Lomelí–, the spirit, she died 10 years ago.
He/She then pulled something invisible out of the air, handed it to me, and told me it was a gift from god.
I was instructed to put it on my heart. Which I did.
I then left the cabin.
Outside the cabin I was given the herbs, a mango, and some blessed water.
I went home, took the herbs, ate the mango, and drank the water.
And here is the rub.
I feel 100% better.
I’m not sure what the herbs were, or what kind of pharmaceutical properties they had, but my stomach is peachy keen. My back doesn’t hurt and I have a general sense of goodwill toward men. Which alone is worth the price of admission. Which was based on donation. A free spiritual clinic. ¡Que raro, no! Friday is prayer day, and I’m going back for more shenanigans. They say it is hot, as in the temperature of the church, but at least it should be interesting. Sometimes they get a doctor to come from the spirit world and he actually operates on people. That I would like to see.
So I’ve drank my tea and feel 100% better. Still ticklish though.