The Green Medicine Newsletter
Publication
of The Student Rainforest Fund Spring 2005
P.O. Box 238
Wildwood, PA. 15091
(412) 486-4588
web: www.nutrifarmacy.com
The Green Medicine Newsletter
Publication
of The Student Rainforest Fund Spring 2005
P.O. Box 238
Wildwood, PA. 15091
(412) 486-4588
web: www.nutrifarmacy.com
Ecology
and Culture of the Amazon Rainforest and Machu Picchu
June 6 - 15, 2005
Sponsored by: The Student Rainforest Fund and The ACEER Foundation
This will be a fabulous trip, packed with botanical medicine and ethnobotany, lectures, sessions with famed shaman, Don Antonio, ecological experiences, wildlife galore, and Machu Picchu!!!!
ITINERARY
Day l USA/LIMA
June 6, 2005 Monday Houston to Lima.
Overnight in Lima at Casa Andina Miraflores
Day 2 LIMA/PUERTO MALDONADO/ RESERVA AMAZONICA
June 7, 2005 Tuesday After breakfast Peruvian Odyssey will take us to the airport where we will board a plane to Puerto Maldonado via Cusco. Once in Puerto Maldonado we will travel by bus to visit the local market and tour the town.
Afternoon and evening sessions, led by Inkaterra guides, will include daylight and night hikes into the Inkaterra Ecological Reserve located next to the lodge. Opportunities to see small animals such as anteaters, agouties, capybaras, and monkeys are excellent.
Day 3 ACEER-TAMBOPATA AT INKATERRA(ATI)
June 8, 2005 Wednesday Breakfast, followed by a 45 minute boat ride to the Amazon Center for Environmental Education and Research (ATI). ATI is located on a 340-hectare private reserve that joins the Tambopata Reserve and Lake Sandoval.
We will hike the Useful Plants Trail while the other visits the Medicinal Plants Trail. Later in the afternoon before we leave, shaman Don Antonio Montero will perform a cleansing ritual for the group.
Day 4 LAKE SANDOVAL / RURAL FARM
June 9, 2005 Thursday Lake Sandoval is an oxbow lake known for its concentration of birds and butterflies, and home of the endangered giant river otter. Wildlife viewing will include a wide variety of birds, turtles, caimans and monkeys. The lake is surrounded on three sides by marsh palms. You will see that many macaws make their nests in the trunks of these trees, and the fruits are used to flavor ice cream. Lake Sandoval is an excellent example of aquatic succession in the tropics.
The highpoint, literally, of the afternoon will be a visit to the new Inkaterra Canopy Walkway – a series of suspended walkways 100 feet above the forest floor and providing an unparalleled opportunity to study the vertical structure of the forest and life in the canopy. Following dinner there will be an evening session focusing on Shamanic healing with Don Antonio Montero.
Day 5 PUERTO MALDONAD / CUSCO / SACRED VALLEY
June 10, 2005 Friday After breakfast, a boat takes us back to Puerto Maldonado where we will board a bus to the airport for our flight to Cusco. We arrive in Cusco around noon, where Peruvian Odyssey awaits us at the airport to take us by bus to the Sacred Valley. Along the way we will stop to visit the Center for Traditional Textiles of Cusco, a non-profit organization aiding the survival of Incan textile traditions.
Day 6 SACRED VALLEY TO MACHU PICCHU
June 11, 2005 Saturday After breakfast at Casona Yucay we will leave the hotel around 9:00 AM to arrive at the Ollanta railroad station where we board the train for Machu Picchu, the Lost City of the Incas. The topography, geology, and hydrology of Machu Picchu create nine life zones, and contain a wide diversity of flora and fauna species. Our guide will discuss the history, construction, and fate of the citadel.
Day 7 MACHU PICCHU
June 12, 2005 Sunday We begin our day at dawn to view the enormous variety of bird species living around the hotel. We will return to Machu Picchu where we will have the opportunity to hike to the Gate of the Sun, or for the more hardy a hike to Huayna Picchu.
Day 8 SPECTACLED BEAR/ORCHID TRAIL/CUSCO
June 13, 2005 Monday After breakfast we hike along the Orchid Trail where we will have the opportunity to observe more than 372 different orchid species. We will also see the unique Spectacled Bear conservation project designed to protect this endangered species.
Day 9 CUSCO/LIMA
June 14, 2005 Tuesday
Breakfast, a cultural and archeological surveyof Cusco, and the ruins at Sacsayhuaman, Kenko, Puca Pucara and Tambomachay.
Day 10 RETURN TO U.S.
June 15, 2005 Wednesday We arrive from our overnight flight in Houston, and after clearing customs, meet our domestic flights.
PRESIDENT'S REPORT
SRF Ten Years Young and Still Visionary
I am truly delighted to inform you of our Tenth Annual Student Rainforest Fund expedition. We will be taking over twenty American college students to the Peruvian Amazon Rainforest for an educational experience of a lifetime. This will certainly be our most ambitious effort in our ten year history.
Your support and involvement to our unique group means a great deal to everyone involved with SRF especially the students. For the first time, we are working closely with the Amazon Center for Environmental Education and Research (ACEER). The ACEER Foundation is a non-profit organization representing a dynamic, innovative and practical strategy to counteract the misuse and exploitation of rainforest habitats. It aims to unite ecologically concerned individuals and private companies with local inhabitants in a pragmatic and beneficial conservation strategy. This is a vision closely akin to the SRF mission statement and objectives. We are so pleased to be working together with this fine organization.
SRF has truly shown that tomorrows realities are born in todays dreams. This trip to Amazonia is a result of a number of Advisory Board members, faculty members, and students dreams that have came together to establish an educational blend of ecology, ethnobotany, and ethnopharmacy, with an emphasis in medicine and healthcare.
I have traveled to different parts of the Amazon rainforest on five occasions, but never to the new ACEER site in southern Peru. Please look closely at the itinerary that is enclosed in this newsletter and I am sure you will agree that it is an exciting one. Not only will the students experience the wonder and beauty of the deep rainforest, the interaction with one of the greatest known shamans of the Amazon (Don Antonio), and excellent faculty, and a unique natural pharmacy/medicine experience, but Machu Picchu also!! The SRF team has visited the great Mayan city of Tikal located in Guatemala several times. Now, as we visit Machu Picchu, surely this will be the crown jewel of ancient cities that can only be rivaled by the Egyptian pyramids in grandeur and magnificence.
Each of you has helped to make our vision a reality. Once again, SRF will cover more than 25 percent of this trip for the students. The SRF Advisory Board hopes that the students participation in this journey will encourage other to follow where they have so bravely begun. Thank you for your support and special interest.
In health and spirit,
Dr. Daniel Wagner, RPh, MBA, PharmD, President
THANK YOU! THANK YOU! SRF CONTRIBUTORS IN 2004
NEWS AND NOTES
Dr. Rosita Arvigo Publishes a New Book
Celestrial Arts Publishing has recently released a beautiful new book entitled Spiritual Bathing- Healing Rituals and Traditions from Around the World, written by Dr. Rosita Arvigo and Nadine Epstein. Dr. Arvigo has been the primary instructor for SRF students who have traveled to Belize, Central America from 1995-2003. This magnificent and visual book has a special section of Maya Spiritual Bathing practices. The book is available from Nutri-farmacy, call toll free 1-877-289-7478. $24.95
SRF President Dan Wagner Off to Nigeria
SRF President Dr. Dan Wagner will be in Nigeria along with SRF Advisor Harlan Lahti from April 6-17, 2005. Dan and Harlan will coordinate diabetes screening clinics at hospitals in Bauchi, Gombe and Lafia. They will also visit traditional healers in two areas. Dr. Wagner will be presenting a major lecture at in Ogun State on Plant Medicines that Changed the World- And Some that Might.
BioMed Internationals Tenth Anniversary
SRF Board Advisor Harlan Lahti is marking the tenth anniversary of BioMed Internationals commitment to serving the needs of health professionals in Canada. Harlan is the Founder and Chairman of BioMed, a leader in providing quality supplements with rigorous product testing, unique formulations and high level of customer service. Our thanks also, for Harlans continued support of SRF and its mission. Visit BioMeds website at www.biomedicine.com
The SRF team in Suriname?
Who knows? A future expedition of the SRF team may take us to Suriname, South America. Three years ago, SRF President Dan Wagner traveled to Suriname with Dr. Mark Plotkin, Director of ACT (The Amazon Conservation Team). ACT has done extensive field work with the Trio Indians in Kwamalasamutu on the new Shamans and Novices Program. ACT Suriname also has begun working with the Wayana communities in the southwestern corner of the country to begin creating an ethnographic map of their lands. Mark is also an SRF Advisor.
The 2005 SRF Team The Student Rainforest Fund Board of Trustees
Dan Wagner, RPh, MBA, PharmD, President
Norbert Pilewski, PhD, RPh, Vice President
Rosita Arvigo, DN
Douglas H. Kay, PhD
Mark Plotkin, PhD
Steve Morris, ND
Beatrice Waight
Wendell Combest, PhD
John A. Halley, Esq.
James R. Hune, CPA
Mr. Polo Romero
Harlan Lahti, BSc Pharm
James A. Duke, PhD
ON BECOMING A PART OF OUR TEAM
The future of SRF remains bright. Each year more students sign up to attend this once-in-a-lifetime international expedition and workshop. In the future,it is our goal that the program will expand to Costa Rica, Suriname and Peru. We sincerely hope that as an individual, company, business, or foundation, you will consider becoming a contributor, sponsor, or prime co-sponsor. There is true need and real value in your continued support of this project.
OUR MISSION
Our mission is to provide higher education for college and university students with the opportunity to explore the natural history of medicine and evoke the healing edge of knowledge regarding natural products and phytomedicinals in the world's greatest pharmacy--the rainforest. We are pursuing a holistic approach to the healing of the body, mind, and spirit by learning from unique practitioners. Our organization gains an invaluable international perspective from the indigenous peoples of different cultures that we encounter.
A SUMMER IN THE TROPICS
By Sarah Taylor, Pitt PharmD Student
For one week this summer, I had the opportunity to go to Costa Rica to learn about an area of pharmacy that interests me- natural medicine. I traveled with a group of about 30 students from around the country plus several faculty members from pharmacy and naturopathic schools. Leading our group was a local pharmacist, Dr. Dan Wagner, owner of Nutri-farmacy in the North Hills.
Every year, Dr. Wagner takes a group of college students in the health professions to the rainforests as a part of the Student Rainforest Fund. Students learn about the medicinal uses of plants while working closely with ethnobotanists and native healers. Students also learn about the ecologic diversity of the country, and they witness a more holistic approach to healthcare.
During the week we learned about the curative properties of tropical plants, and we saw first-hand how the native people have been able to preserve their ancient methods of healing. We visited a biological station, a national rainforest, two indigenous reserves, and the Caribbean coast.
Even though the weather was hot and sticky and we had to adjust living with GIANT bugs, the trip was worth it. Not only did I come home with a new knowledge about a different area of pharmacy, I gained a new appreciation for a different culture. It was an experience I will surely draw from now and in my future career.
[Reprinted from the Pitt Capsule (Vol 3, Issue 2, Oct. 2004), University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy]
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For questions and concerns-contact Dr. Daniel Wagner at (412) 486-4588
SRF is a nonprofit research and education organization with tax exempt status under section 501(C)3 of the IRS code. Tax ID: 23-2939579