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Belize LinksIx Chel Farms and the Don Eligio Panti Medicinal Trail
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Printer friendly pageIn 1981, Dr. Rosita Arvigo, an American doctor of
naprapathy, moved with her husband and family to Belize,
where they were determined to start a farm in the jungles of
Western Belize and establish a natural healing clinic. "Dr.
Rosita" (as she is fondly known in Belize) had studied
herbal medicine in Mexico, and she began to hear stories of
an old Mayan traditional healer who was reknown for his
ability to cure hopelessly ill patients. Two years after her
arrival, Dr. Rosita finally met 86 year old Don Elijio Panti,
who eventually became her teacher. For ten years, Dr.
Rosita studied and learned from Don Eligio the art of
traditional Mayan natural healing. She also studied and
learned the Mayan spiritual traditions that are an integral
part of Don Eligio's tradition.
The 35 acre farm on which the family grew their food, as
well as the healing herbs Arvigo learned about from Don
Eligio, is named Ix Chel Farms, in honor of the Mayan
Goddess of Healing. She was determined to preserve the
knowledge of Don Eligio so that it will not die out when
the last traditional shamans are gone. Sadly, Don Elijio died
in February of 1996. His death was mourned throughout the
world.
In 1987, Arvigo wrote to Michael Balick, the Director of
the the Institue of Economic Botany of the New York
Botanical Garden about Ix Chel Farms and the work she
was doing with Don Eligio Panti. Balick, who had just
received a contract from the National Cancer Institute to
collect tropical plants for study and testing for possible
cures for AIDS and cancer, went to Belize to see for
himself. From that visit sprang the Belize Ethnobotany
Project, which to date has sent over 2,000 plants to the
NCI.Ix Chel Farms and the Don Eligio Panti Medicinal Trail
http://www.belize.com/ixchel.html (1 of 3) [5/17/2004 11:49:00 AM]