Retreats

Here’s what you get with an Ayahuasca Eco Tour

• Jungle setting: the sound of the jungle insects, amphibians, birds, bats and monkeys are integral to the medicine. You’re not going to have a complete experience without the natural ambient noise that occurs where the Ayahuasca vine grows. Our retreat is located 40 miles upriver from Iquitos and surrounded by jungle.
• Ayahuasca preparation: you will learn how Ayahuasca is prepared by doing it on the first day of your retreat. The Ayahuasca that you prepare is the Ayahuasca that you will drink. Your first ceremony will happen in the evening of your second day after 8:00pm.
• Experienced shamans: there is a lot more to being a shaman than chopping up Ayahuasca and chacruna vines and boiling the tea down to thickness. Our shamans were trained by indigenous Shipibo masters. Our Master Shaman is Roger Christian Jimenez Barrera. But, we usually have two shamans at each ceremony to pay close attention to you. They know how to choose the best plants, grown under certain conditions, blend them effectively and cook them correctly. They know how to gauge the strength of their medicine by taste. They can assess how much you need on the night you take the next step in your journey. They sing icaros (sacred songs), shake gourds and blow mapacho (sacred tobacco) during ceremony to heighten your experience. And our shamans can sense your spiritual state to guide you to a better place. Click here to listen to one of their icaros.
• Attentive Sitter: While under the influence, most people are unable to maintain equilibrium in order to walk unassisted. We will watch over you to make sure you are safe and comfortable during ceremony.
• Clean and spacious maloca: The screened-in space where Ayahuasca ceremonies take place is commonly called a “maloca” which translates to “ceremonial house”. Participants in ceremony will often purge and may act out. When someone requires a lot of space, our maloca is large enough to accommodate them. The number of ceremony participants will not exceed 20.
• Healthy, Simple Food: During your stay, all of your meals at the retreat are included. We serve healthy food that is easy to digest to maximize your comfort during ceremony when you will probably purge whatever is in your stomach. Our menu conforms to the recommended dietary restrictions that you should observe starting on the day you leave for your retreat. Click Preparation for more details.
• Eco Tours for Integration: After a ceremony, you often have a lot to process. What better way to do so than to take a relaxing boat ride or hike through the jungle where you can experience the perfection of one of the most bio-diverse places on the planet? And there is no better jungle guide in Iquitos than our very own Cesar Peña. The proof appears in our reviews.
• Flower baths: you will experience a bath from water that has soaked up the nectar of many jungle flowers. You won’t believe how good it makes you smell and how soft it makes your skin. You’ll take your first flower bath before your first ceremony and your second flower bath before your last ceremony during our 7-day retreat.
• Transportation from Iquitos airport (IQT) to the retreat location in the Amazon jungle is provided. The direct journey includes a 15-minute, 4-wheel taxi ride to the docks and a 90-minute boat ride. Your ride from the airport will match your flight arrival time. The boat leaves Iquitos for the retreat at 10am. If your flight arrives after 9am, you will need to arrive a day early and book a hotel room in Iquitos for that first night at your expense. We recommend the DoubleTree by Hilton Iquitos Hotel, a 5-star accommodation, for a very comfortable stay. They have a good breakfast buffet. We will provide a cab to take you from your hotel to the docks the next morning.
• Transportation from the retreat to Iquitos airport (IQT) is provided. On the last day of the retreat, you will arrive back in Iquitos by 4pm. We will provide a cab to take you to IQT.
  
  If you cannot get a flight out of IQT that leaves after 6pm on that day, then you will need to book a hotel for that night in Iquitos at your expense and fly out the next day. We will provide a cab to take you from dock to hotel and from your hotel to IQT the next day.