While the Jenaro Herrera artisans have been focused on weaving insect ornaments...

October 15, 2016

While the Jenaro Herrera artisans have been focused on weaving insect ornaments for CACE, they've found inspiration for an ornament and a bit of extra income from a frog. Dora caught a medium-size frog that was green on top with a beautiful camouflage mosaic of white, orange and brown patches on its underside and toes. Doilith was making a cardboard mold of the frog as a model for making an ornament while Dora scraped the slime off of its back onto three sticks which was planned to sell to a man in Iquitos who was going to use them in a healing ceremony. She related that this process apparently involved burning the skin of the patient with a cigarette and then putting a small amount of the frog slime into the wound. Checking online, I found that their amphibian friend is apparently called a Green Leaf frog - presumably Phyllomedusa bicolor. It is the source of a potent traditional shamanic medicine called ibogaine. I was glad to learn that Dora was preparing to release the frog back to the wild the next day. See pictures of the Jenaro Herrera artisans at: https://www.facebook.com/amazonecology.org/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1429902723705253




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