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HerbalEGram: Volume 5, Number 4, April 2008
ABC Announces Peruvian Amazon and Andes Ethnobotany Ecotour
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 Two nonprofit educational organizations, the American Botanical Council
(ABC) and the Amazon Center for Environmental Education and Research
(ACEER), have announced their 2008 annual Botanical Medicines from the
Amazon and the Andes workshop tour. This year’s trip will take place
September 26th through October 5th, 2008, in various locations in the
Peruvian Amazon rainforest and the Andes mountains, including the
famous, ancient Incan city of Machu Picchu. Continuing education credit
is available for certain healthcare providers.
Amazon activities
will focus on the edible and medicinal plants of the Peruvian Amazon,
including visits to markets where local herbs are sold, explorations of
the Inkaterra Field Reserve, the Useful Plants Trail, and the Garden of
Medicinal Plants. A highpoint of the Amazon portion of the trip
includes traversing the Inkaterra Canopy Walkway that soars 100 feet
above the forest floor, allowing people to view plants and animals that
dwell in the upper treetop canopy.
Andean activities include a
workshop by a traditional Incan shaman in the sacred Urubamba Valley,
the Pisac traditional crafts market, and the inspiring “lost”
mountaintop ruins of Machu Picchu. Each stop of this trip will focus on
the native ethnobotany of the area and ways the indigenous Inca people
traditionally used and still currently use local medicinal plants.
Tour
leaders include internationally-known author, photographer and
lecturer, Steven Foster; neuropsychopharmacologist, author and
educator, Jerry Cott, Ph.D.; and ecologist and educator, Joseph Bishop,
Ph.D. Presentations include History of Herbs in Medicine and Pharmacy,
Medicinal Plants of the Amazon, Plants of Economic and Health Value,
Amazonian Food Farmacy Diet, Herb-Drug Interactions, and Herbs and
Aging.
“We are incredibly passionate about helping people live
healthier lives worldwide through the responsible and sustainable use
of herbs and medicinal plants,” emphasized Mark Blumenthal, founder and
executive director of the ABC.
“For twenty years, the American
Botanical Council has dedicated itself to providing accurate and
reliable information and education about the use of herbs and medicinal
plants," added Blumenthal. “Onsite educational programs such as our
Amazon and Andes Ethnobotany Ecotour provide compelling information
through applied education and a hands-on opportunity to immerse oneself
in the actual environment with leading herbal and environmental
experts. It is often a life-changing experience!”
ABC and ACEER
Foundation have been co-sponsoring and conducting continuing
education-accredited ethnobotany ecotours to the Peruvian Amazon and
Andes regions since 1994. They have also co-sponsored continuing
education tours to Belize, Costa Rica, Kenya and South Africa as part
of ABC's core mission to provide education using science-based and
traditional information to promote the responsible use of herbal
medicine.
“This will be a fabulous trip, particularly the
amazing Andean city of Machu Picchu,” said veteran ethnobotanical
expert and tourleader Steven Foster. “The greatest culture shock I’ve
ever experienced is going from the primary rainforest in the Peruvian
Amazon up to the ancient Inca capital, Cusco, on the way to Machu
Picchu. Believe me, it doesn’t get better than this!”
Space for the Peru tour is limited. Full itinerary and registration forms can be found online at the ABC website.
ABC published a short article
by former ABC pharmacy intern, Codi Scarbrough Triesch, sharing her
experiences on the trip to Peru a few years ago. The article can be
found here. Links to photos from last year’s ecotour can be seen on Steven Foster's website. |
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