Alberto Martinez Healer

Alberto Martinez did not advertise but anyone in need of medical attention or a cure for a hangover would be directed his way. He was not a doctor but rather a practitioner of the traditional arts of healing. Alberto used cures and techniques he learned from his abuela as well as Native American remedies that he had picked up over the course of a long life. He was a friendly, older man with grandchildren and dogs or cats always underfoot. Alberto spoke very little English but understood quite a bit. His favourite granddaughter, five year old Lourdes always translated for him with the gringos.

His house is a sprawling one story house with a large garden in back and three generations crowded noisily but happily together.

He gets along badly with Dr. Smith in Mad Mesa who regards Alberto as a dangerous quack. Alberto charges what people can afford but in general his prices are;

Tooth or bullet removed = 50 cents
Bullet hole or laceration patched or stitched = 50 cents
Burns treated = $2
Bone set and splinted = $1
Treatment of "fever" (cholera, dysentary, malaria. smallpox, typhus, typhoid fever, spotted fever, yellow fever) = $3
Treatment of consumption or grippe = $1
Buckshot removed = $2
Tetanus , rabies, gangrene or social diseases treated = $2

Glencia Portos