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Albert Estrada

Professor Batty

English 101

5/1/17

The Closest Person to a Saint: Perla

What more than a better way to start a book about a saint like healer than describing

Jesus as the intro of who I believe to be the most benevolence person in the book "Still Water

Saints" by Alex Espinoza. The person I am talking about is no other than Perla Maria

Portillo. She is as sweet as they get. Always helping people in need whether its advice or

actual remedies. Sometimes she would go even beyond her duties as a healer to help. Dont

believe me? Let me tell you why. Although some would argue she is just a normal person,

Perla is the most saint like because she helped many people with their personal problems as a

healer, helped people beyond her healing abilities and lastly hoped for the best even though

the odd were not in her favor.

I would like to start off by giving some insight of Perla and who she is. Perla is a

Mexican woman with the inability to have children. She is married and was a house wife for

the early parts of her life. She would soon meet this man named Dario from the shop

Botanica Oshun. Dario saw something special in Perla. He said she had "El don" meaning the

gift. He would soon convince her to let him train her and work at his shop. Perla considered it

and was bought over because she felt lonely at home, so she thought she could accommodate
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her loneliness by working in the botanica. One unexpected day Dario gave her critical news

and told her he was leaving elsewhere to start another botanica. Perla was left as the owner of

the Botanica. She would soon gain clients and proceed to help them even though her dad and

husband had passed away.

Now that we know about Pela, we will talk about her healing remedies that she has used

to help many people with countless problems. One of the customers that came in was named

Nancy. Nancy did not go for her health though. Her mom had asked her to go to see if there

was anything Perla could give them to help with Nancy's father because he was suffering of

diabetes and was going to get his foot amputated. Nancy's father was what my mom calls a

"Machista" he would not let people help him and would refuse to go to the doctor. Thus, they

asked Perla to give them something discreet. What she said was surprising because one

wouldnt expect to get told that cactus would help. One would expect some pills or a tea, but

Perla said cactus would help. Alex Espinoza stated " Nopales. When she's removed the

thorns and washed the patty, have her blend it until it turns to pulp. Mix that with some water

and stir it with a spoon."(Espinoza 126) When there was no one else that Nancy's family

could turn to, so they went to Perla. Besides her telling Nancy to use nopales, she also told

her to give him massages on his foot because it would keep the blood flowing in his foot. It

was a little late to save his foot because he had already grown a huge cyst, but now they

could prevent another tragedy. That is just one example of Perla's healing abilities. This

shows her saint like qualities because she understands the situation and gives them a solution

as a botanical healer. Speaking of botanicas, I found an article named Botanical Medicine in

the Gale Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine that gives more meaning to Perla's healing

methods. It talks about the benefits of herbal medicine and why in some cases it can be better
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off for the patient. The article states " Botanical medicines, when administered properly and

in designated therapeutic dosages, can be effective, trigger fewer side effects for many

patients than pharmaceutical drugs, and are generally less costly than prescription

pharmaceutical drugs." This could have been the better option for Nancy's family because

they are already going to have to pay for the surgery, so saving money by choosing herbal

medicine would be a smarter choice. Better yet, he could have had bad side effects on pills

and it wouldnt have helped him knowing he was going to be handicap. Overall Perla was

helping Nancy's family through her healing abilities.

Not only did she help people with her healing abilities, she would also help people who

would seek her help regardless if it was counseling or teaching. In one occasion, on a rainy

day, this boy showed up to the shop in seek of her help. The boy's name is Rodrigo. What he

wanted was for her to teach him English. He said that she was very smart and that she could

teach him. At first she said she couldnt. Not because she didnt want to, but because she

didnt feel confident. She said she wasnt a teacher, but Rodrigo was persistent. He said he

saw her reading books all the time. Finally Rodrigo asks Perla "Please, okay? You talk to me

in English so I can learn. Teach it to me. You?"(Espinoza 64) She agreed to teach him to talk

English. She gave him a heads up and said that she didnt go to college, but Rodrigo was fine

with that. He said he wanted to learn it keep his mind busy because he would always be

thinking bad things. Taking on the task as a teacher isn't easy though. In the article Teaching

English is Not an Easy Job by Quality Time-ESL the author states "Our task as teachers is

indeed difficult, because we not only need to teach our students a foreign language, but we

also have to make them speak that language correctly." This shows that Perla was willing to

take on the difficult task of being a teacher. What really speaks to me is that she decided to
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teach a boy she did not know English. Therefore making Perla the most saint like person

because she goes beyond her abilities to help people.

When helping people you have to set an example and that's exactly what she was doing

when Rodrigo went missing. How do you plan on helping someone if you need to help

yourself first, Thats why Perla was always positive because her clients could see her as a

role model. Or have some one that can believe in them. Times did get rough though and it did

affect Perla. She worries just like the rest of us. At one point Rodrigo went missing in action.

Perla kept worrying about him. What made things worse is that Perla saw on the news on

how people were getting held hostage and murdered. This made Perla worry a lot more, but

even though things weren't looking so good she kept a positive mind set. Perla said "He'll be

fine. If he really needs me, he'll show up. It can't be that bad if he hasn't showed up since he

left the note."(Espinoza 133) This shows that Perla is trying to stay positive. She knows she

has other people that need her help. This shows how strong Perla is and how she is a positive

person.

Unfortunately she was not able to help him as much as she wanted to. Rodrigo had

become a victim of male prostitution while crossing the border. He was violated by a male

pedophile. Crossing the border can be very dangerous. I came across an article called The

Human Tragedy of Illegal Immigration: Greater Efforts Needed to Combat smuggling and

Violence by The Heritage foundation and it talks about events that have happened to people

who try to cross the border. For example, the article states "In August 2010, 72 would-be

illegal immigrants from Mexico were lined up and executed, their bodies discovered on a

remote ranch a mere 90 miles from the U.S. border." This is a tragedy that is out of

reach of one's hand and Rodrigo fell victim to one of these tragedies. Even though
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people will say she isn't the most saint like person because she couldnt help Rodrigo, she

was able to help many more people. It will be unfair to generalize her over one case which

she did her best in.

Overall, I do believe Perla is the most saint like person for her kindness and effort to help

people. She even went beyond her job to help. It was just in her nature. It was her "Don."

Even if she couldnt help, she would try her best of her abilities to help. Thus making her the

most saint like person.

Works Cited

Walser, Ray. "The Human Tragedy of Illegal Immigration: Greater Efforts Needed to

Combat Smuggling and Violence." The Heritage Foundation. The Heritage Foundation, 22

June 2011. Web. 10 May 2017.

Hanrahan, Clare, and Tish Davidson. "Botanical Medicine." The Gale Encyclopedia of

Alternative Medicine, edited by Laurie J. Fundukian, 4th ed., vol. 1, Gale, 2014, pp. 340-347.

Gale Virtual Reference Library,

library.lavc.edu:2077/ps/i.do?p=GVRL&sw=w&u=lavc_main&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CCX3

189900133&asid=3f919611dc75840f17ad30ba2a12ca7b. Accessed 10 May 2017.

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Raynaud, Marianne. "Teaching English Is Not An Easy Job (1)." [QualityTime-ESL]. Quality

Time-ESL, 07 Aug. 2010. Web. 10 May 2017.