Dr. Rosita Arvigo-- famed ethnobotanist, spiritual healer, shaman, and author-- will share about the Macal river which was the life-blood of an ancient Mayan civilization and is still important to the people there today. 

The Macal River flows through the Cayo District in western Belize and eventually into the Belize River. Sites along the river include the ancient Mayan town of Cahal Pech and the Belize Botanic Gardens. The river is a meandering waterway flowing through rugged mountains and countless ancient archaeological sites.  It was one of the ancient Maya’s superhighways, linking urban, trade, and ceremonial centers and connecting the interior to the coastal trade routes. After linking up with the Mopan at Branch Mouth, it joins the Old Belize River to carry on down to the coast. For centuries it was a vital part of the Maya Empire and an important source of water, transport, communication, trade, food, hygiene, and recreation for the Maya.

Rosita Arvigo is a Doctor of Naprapathy, ethnobotanist, spiritual healer, author of six books on traditional healing of Central America, co-founder of The Belize Ethnobotany Project with Dr. Michael Balick of the New York Botanical Garden , and an international speaker. She is the founder of Ix Chel Tropical Research Centre in Belize, the Rainforest Medicine Trail, the Terra Nova Medicinal Plant Reserve, and the children’s Bush Medicine Summer Camp in Belize. She had a thirteen-year apprenticeship to one of the last Maya shamans, Don Elijio Panti, who was born in Peten, Guatemala. She is the recipient of The Earth Award, 2007. As the founder of THE ARVIGO TECHNIQUES OF MAYA ABDOMINAL THERAPY she teaches extensive courses on the subject as well as courses in Maya Spiritual Healing.

This is the second episode in a series of episodes centered around Rivers of Life. 

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