Retreats

Paojilhuasca offers a safe and caring environment for you to connect with ancestral medicines. We suggest a retreat of a of minimum two weeks (a full retreat would take at least one month), but we can receive you for one week only if necessary.

Experience our transformative program:

• Before you arrive: take our psychological tests. The scores you obtain will give us a good idea of your psycho-emotional profile, which will enable us to give you the right dose of ayahuasca. During the ceremonies and in conversation with our curanderos, we will determine which plants to diet. At the end of your stay, we ask you to take a few other tests, and again six months after you leave the centre, so that we can monitor your progress after the encounter with the medicina. This will also help us with our studies on the medicines.
• On the day of your arrival, you will have a steam bath with medicinal plants to cleanse your energies.
• The next morning, we recommend a round of Kambo, the venom extracted from an Amazonian frog. Kambo purifies and heals the body through a deep cleansing.
• This is followed by a flower bath to protect and strengthen your body after the cleansing.
• Ayahuasca ceremonies happen twice a week. As we will have taken care to purify you well before the first intake, your first journey with the Plant will take place in the best possible conditions.
• The evening of the day after each ayahuasca ceremony, we hold a talking circle accompanied by Mambé, a powdered coca leaf whose main virtue is to open the heart and free words. In this way, the circle enables us to talk about, understand, and share what we experienced in ceremony with the other participants, while strengthening our social ties.
• We offer Master or Teacher Plant diets. For our clients who wish to work in depth on themselves, the diet is highly recommended, as it provides an opportunity for a real and powerful reconnection with oneself, while opening the way to the true richness of Amazonian medicine.
• There’s also the ecstatic dance with San Pedro (Huachuma), the masculine-energy cactus from the Andes, which will allow you, towards the end of your stay, to completely let go in the heart of a dance-trance, to free yourself from what has emerged with the medicine.
• We also offer Yopo ceremonies, a powder made from the seeds of a Brazilian tree. Rich in DMT, you’ll experience an intense visionary journey lasting less than an hour.
• We also have Bufo (additional), extracted from a toad in Mexico’s Sonora desert, whose active ingredient is 5-MEO-DMT. This is probably the closest we’ve come to an NDE without actually dying. It’s a unique and truly life-changing experience.
• Finally, we also have Rapé (Amazonian snuff) and Sananga (a liquid extracted from a Brazilian shrub that is applied to the eyes to encourage receptivity to the third eye), which you can use as you wish.
• As for the activities we offer, you’ll be treated to a boat trip and a tour of the jungle in the company of a certified guide who will show you the medicinal and master plants in their natural environment. We also have a canoe that you can take out at your leisure. The village also has a football pitch where the village children often play.
• Three times a week, in the mornings, we offer Wim Hof breathing sessions, QI GONG, Osho Kundalini meditation, and cardio activities.
• We take great care in the preparation of our meals, which are cooked with fresh, local food (all our fruit comes from the immediate vicinity). We always add superfoods such as Maca, Chia seeds and different types of flour to ensure that every meal is full of vitamins and plant proteins.

Book a retreat

We are located on the edge of the village Paraíso (Paradise), along the Itaya river.

In our center you will live a simple but meaningful life with the curandero Don Gardel and his family. We have a common kitchen, a maloca, individual bedrooms, several tambos (cabins), showers, and dry toilets.

All bedrooms either have a view of the river or the jungle. They are equipped with clean sheets and mosquito nets. We typically eat two meals a day together in our kitchen. We adapt your meals to your diets and provide filtered drinking water.

The village, where you can buy basic necessities if needed, is in walking distance.

Thanks to our exceptional location in the jungle, during your stay you will have the opportunity to experience Shirin-yoku.

Shirin-yoku (forest bathing) has the power to counter illnesses, including cancer, strokes, gastric ulcers, depression, anxiety, and stress. It boosts the immune system, lowers blood pressure, and provides regenerative sleep.

Don Gardel is a curandero (native herbalist healer) who has inherited his knowledge from his grandfather, has been practising plant medicine for many years, and has also trained as a regular nurse. He will take you for tours in the jungle to pick the plants for your diets and to teach you to identify other medicinal plants.

Paojilhuasca is surrounded by the jungle. You will get to see the most extraordinary diversity in flora and fauna!

Floral baths are a cleansing practice which take place before some Ayahuasca ceremonies. Flowers are picked fresh in the jungle during the day, placed in water, and used in the evening.

Book a retreat

We recommend that you bring the following items in your luggage:

1 back pack (suitcases are not adapted for walking in the jungle)
1 small waterproof backpack (which can hold 10l or 20l)
1 waterproof belt bag (for your valuables)
1 pair of knee-high rain boots against snakes (can be bought in Iquitos)
1 pair of super light quick-dry synthetic pants
1 super light quick-dry synthetic t-shirt
1 super light quick-dry synthetic long sleeve shirt
Everyday clothes in very light cotton or linen
Clear coloured clothes for Ayahuasca ceremonies
1 pair of shorts
At least 6 pairs of underwear
At least 3 pairs of socks
1 bathing suit / water shoes
1 pair of walking shoes/sandals
1 cap for the sun
1 warm jumper / fleece
1 rain poncho
1 large microfiber towel / bathrobe / flip flops
Bug spray (the least toxic yet efficient you can find)
1 ammonia stick (to relieve insect bites) / antihistamine cream (if you have reactions to insect bites)
Band-Aids for everyday cuts, scrapes, rubbing of the shoes ..
Alcohol to disinfect cuts and scrapes or individual biodegradable disinfectant wipes
Toothpaste, deodorant, soap, sun cream, shampoo … (organic and biodegradable)
Ear plugs
Dynamo Powered Flashlight / Headlamp
A portable battery charger for your phone / camera (we have regular black outs)
1 small light fleece blanket (for Ayahuasca ceremonies on cool nights)
Inflatable pillow
1 light hammock with mosquito net (not mandatory)
1 drinking water filter (like a LifeStraw if you wish to go trekking in the deep jungle, water on the premises is already filtered)