Home remedies
According to my mother, her maternal great-grandmother (my great-great grandmother) was a traiteuse (healer/curandera) in Southern Louisiana. She was known to wear an apron filled with medicinal herbs.
While I was in grad school in Austin, the doctoral research of one of our neighbors explored medicinal plants used in China compared to medicinal plants used in Mexico.
Field trip
So traditional medicine, also known as folk healing that’s passed down through the generations, has been on my radar for a while. When a friend who grew up in Mexico gave me an herbal remedy to help cure a lingering case of plantar fasciitis, I decided to take a field trip to Papa Jim’s Botánica on the South Side. It’s been around since 1979, the year I moved to San Antonio, but I’d never paid a visit.
Armed with Ana María’s recipe, I had a shopping list:
Papa Jim’s sold every herb on Ana María’s list except for the ivy. Luckily, I have some growing at our home, so I snipped off a few branches and harvested the leaves.
It hasn’t been 15 days, so I can’t give you a full review. However, the warm liquid feels good on my foot/heel, and the fragrance is pleasant.
Something for everyone
Papa Jim’s sells more than herbs. You’ll also find holy cards and statues of saints, as healing prayers and herbal remedies are often combined. Candles, voodoo/gris gris balls, amulets, baths, floor washes, soap/jabón, Lotería items, oils, rocks, sage, palo ocote, evil eye protection and more fill the well-organized store.
Just having a look around is fun. This is definitely a Puro San Antonio experience. You may also book a card reading and spiritual cleansing while you’re there.
The staff is friendly and bilingual. Papa Jim passed on in 2010, but his legacy lives on. Visit Papa Jim’s at 5630 South Flores. They are open Mondays through Fridays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturdays from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m.
Denise Barkis Richter, Ph.D., author of “San Antonio’s Passport to Fun,” has been blogging about San Antonio since June of 2010. So that you never miss a post, follow her at facebook.com/SanAntonioTourist. Her love affair with the Alamo City began at Hemisfair in 1968. She moved to San Antonio in 1979 as an 18-year-old college student, and San Antonio has been her home ever since. Denise completed certification to become a professional tour guide in 2019. Please contact her at sanantoniotourist at gmail dot com if you’d like for her to curate a fabulous San Antonio experience for you!
