Maya healers have very personal relationships with plants. They treat them like members of the family and consider them allies in their healing work. They talk to them as if they were human friends since they believe that duenos respond, as would any living being, with their own intelligence. Don Elijio [Panti] used to say about plants: "Yo les adoro, son mis muy buenos amigos" (I adore them, they are my best friends).
— Rosita Arvigo, Nadine Epstein, Don Elijio Panti, Rainforest Home Remedies by Rosita Arvigo, Nadine Epstein