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Friday 18 OctOber 2024 locAl
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Aruban legends:

Frenchman’s Pass

(Oranjestad)—If you ever The French colonizers tried think twice and jumped in.
plan on taking a group tour to smoke them out of the But to his horror, he noticed
of the island, you may pass caves, but the indigenous that the there was no driver
through the Frenchman’s settlers ended up inhaling in the front. Paralyzed with
Pass in Balashi. The French- too much smoke and most fear, he didn’t dare to get
man’s pass (known to locals died in those caves. From out, and the car started to
as “Franse Pas”) remains a then on, this passage was move.
mysterious—and spooky— known as Frenchman’s Pass,
road of which its legend is and there have been many When approaching a sharp
told from generation to gen- accounts of spirits roaming turn, the hitch hiker braced
eration. the area of Spanish Lagoon. for impact, but just when he
though the car might drive
The history of the French- There are many ghost stories straight off the road and quiet, because they realized
man’s pass—and how it got surrounding this area, but crash, he saw a hand appear he wasn’t some drunk mess- French man’s pass is one of
its name—dates back to the one of the most famous one out the window and turn the ing around; he was telling the the few sites on the island
colonization era, when the involves a lonely hitchhiker, wheel. For the next few turns, truth. that keeps the locals on their
French tried to colonize the trying to find a ride back the hand appeared again. toes. While most ghost stories
island, but were met with an home in the dark rainy night. After having had enough, Sometime later, two men may not have real grounds—
angry mob of indigenous set- the man decided to jump walked into the bar and one or some may even be a set
tlers, refusing to give up their Sometime after trying to out and he ran to Santa Cruz. of them noticed the hitchhik- up story for a joke, this pass
land. However, as the French hitchhike, the man saw a er. He called out to his buddy contributes a lot to our cul-
were heavily equipped with car approaching, appearing Arriving at a nearby bar, he and said: “Look, there’s the ture of folkloric story-telling.q
fire arms, the indigenous set- almost ghost-like in the rain. ordered a drink and began idiot who sat in our car when
tlers began to retreat, and However, since he needed to tell everyone about his we were pushing it!” Source: visitaruba.com
hid away in nearby caves. a ride real bad, he didn’t experience. Everyone grew

Episode CXLVI - 146 Aruba’s medicinal plants

Our goal at Etnia Nativa is tion methods, they could during the Middle Ages. In can also be mashed in to and quickly relieves the un-
to raise cultural awareness, prepair different potions the 19th and 20th centuries, a mortar mixed with oils of comfortable sore throat.
promoting education and which in many cases still folk knowledge of medici- certain seeds in order to be
to safeguard our heritage are being applied to treat nal plants where passed aplied on wounds or skin Another plant that is often
as the sacred mother seed various ailments. This could from generation to genera- deseses. In our case acient used for asthma is Datura
for renewal and reinven- be of a simple headache tion, attributing the prac- Aruban cultures have also metel, commonly known in
tion, guiding you to be- to more serious ailments. tice mainly women healers, applied a wide variety of our Papiamentu language
come the next and a new who appliying plans and medicinal plants to treat as "Yerba stinky*". Oddly
guardian of Aruba. Today we see that me- herbs to treat common dis- their ilneses. enough, but popular his-
dicinal plants and ancient eases and ailments. tory tells that the leaves of
Trough thousands of years knowlidge are an intricate Following I wil share some this plant are smoked to
cultures of the ancient part of pharmaceutical re- For an infusion, the active of the most comon plant cleanse the lungs.
world experimented with search, whether it is for the ingredients of the plant are that an native aruban will
the healing power of benefit of man kind or the dissolved in water by boil- use with out any hasita- If you love Aruba its origins
plants. Regaining ones vital contrary. ing it in to a drink. If it need tion when for example sor and its cultural heritage, be
powers and health whas to be applied to an exter- throat is thretening or as part of the exclusive visitors
essential for any groups sur- The use of plants for medi- nal affected area, the part and agent against the poi- of this cozy home-atelier
vival. Plants where consid- cine dates back to ancient of the plant that contains sonous nature of the sting- called “Etnia Nativa”. This
ered the main source from times and civilizations. Evi- the healing properties is ing hairs of Jatropha urens private residential houses
where to extract healing dence of the used of me- crushed and applied. A di- or Bringa mosa* ( * Papia- collections of native art, ar-
powers due to their chemi- dicinal herbs in Egypt dates rect way to ingest certain mento). chaeological artifacts and
cal compositions con- back to around 1550 BC, medicinal herbs is to eat historic furniture, while the
tained in leaves, flowers, as did the Greeks in the them, for example, in a sal- For a sore throat local peo- facilities themselves are the
stem or root, fruits and saps. 16th century BC. Healing ad, like a tea or mixed into ple will go in to the country result of the transformation
Through different prepara- plannts were also common a syrups or honey. Plants side to look for Roots of The of recycled materials. Meet
Seida* Jatropha gossypi- the acclaimed columnist at
Article by: Etnia Nativa ifolia. This is cleaned and home! Book your visit What-

Whatsapp us +297 592 2702 and book boiled in to gargela potion, sapp + 297 592 2702- or
your Aruban exprerience allowed to cool and gar- mail: etnianativa03@gmail.
Etnia Nativa is close to the high rise hotels gled with excellent results comq