Health & Healing
9
the city had been somewhat smooth. Moment by moment, I became more confident that
this small town girl could handle the big city.
I was in Mexico City in the first place to take a course on advanced ethnographic
field methods taught by Dr. María Cristina González. As I wondered about what Dr.
Gonzalez would be like, I began to doubt that a quantitatively trained graduate student
could succeed in an advanced course on ethnographic field methods. Even if I turned out
not to be very good at the method of ethnography, I was excited about the opportunity to
indulge my interest in nonbiomedical forms of healing. Specifically, I wanted to see if my
fieldwork experiences would resemble what I had read about Mexico.
I had read much about Mexican health practices and beliefs in the months prior to
my trip, and became particularly intrigued (or should I say obsessed?) with curandismo.
Why did I find curandismo so appealing? In my mind’s eye, I saw earthy women dressed
in long flowing garments with silver gray hair gathered in thick braids. In my
imagination, the mysterious curandera always had an herb or other natural product on
hand that was suitable to cure a person suffering from any type of illness. Somewhere
deep inside, I was convinced that the curandera and her enchanted herbs were out there-
just waiting for me to find her. Thus began my adventure to find the healing for which I
was so desperately searching.
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Herb Vendors & Farmacias
In the first couple of days that I spent walking around the Zocolo, I realized that
herbs are the most common and most affordable type of “medication” that can be found
in this area. Vendors will sell their herbs along the street, usually on blankets or small
Convention