Ayahuasca $1,800 - $4,800

Hummingbird Healing Center

Varillal, Peru

The Hummingbird Center is a plant-medicine healing center offering ayahuasca retreats including san pedro, with an emphasis on mastering our thoughts and emotions to create the life we desire. It provides a beautiful safe, and supportive environment for your personal journey with ayahuasca. Located near Iquitos, Peru, we offer ayahuasca retreats in Peru of different lengths to meet your personal needs. Our ayahuasca retreats are designed to free you from limiting beliefs, and catalyze healing and transformation. All of our retreats include at least one san pedro ceremony, the visionary cactus of the Andes that is very complementary with ayahuasca. Our longer stays include a master plant dieta with a plant selected by our shaman depending on what you are looking to heal, address or learn. Ayahuasca retreats at the Hummingbird is an opportunity for deep personal and spiritual growth following traditional healing methods with a curandero of exceptional skill and ability.

If you are truly ready to change your life, if you are finally sick and tired of being sick and tired of the morass of your thoughts and emotions, this is the place for you.

Our Programs

We offer retreats of 9 and 12 days, and also have more intensive programs of 2, 3 and 4 weeks that include dietas with master medicine plants. The longer programs are for those looking to go deeper with the medicine, or wanting to address more challenging issues that need more time with ayahuasca and san pedro for significant, lasting change to occur. We strive to match what people are hoping to address with the appropriate length of stay and do not try to push people into a stay longer than our experience indicates is required.

While not overtly spiritual, our work is centered on Mindfulness and guided by the simple precept “Without self awareness, there is no healing.” We emphasize the importance of increasing awareness and understanding of our inner world, of the interplay between our thoughts, our emotions and our body. There is a 25 minute guided meditation before each ayahuasca ceremony, to help set the tone for ceremony and help develop or deepen this practice of Mindfulness.

Emphasis on Changing our Beliefs

Unique to the Hummingbird Center are a couple of talks about our conscious and sub-conscious minds, our belief systems, how they shape our experience of life, and how we can change those beliefs so we naturally attract events into our lives in closer alignment with our wishes, desires, and aspirations. We strive to teach our clients practical and simple skills they can use in their daily lives to shift their perception of the world and themselves so they can respond to life’s events and their own emotions in a more productive and peaceful way. The plant medicines will only take us so far. Ultimately, WE are responsible for our lives, and it is important to have skills to navigate our inner world and respond to life in productive and loving ways. Mindfulness. Transformation begins and ends with being mindful, with being self aware.

It is the repetition of affirmations that leads to belief. And once that belief becomes a deep conviction, things begin to happen. – Muhammad Ali

Safe For Women

The Hummingbird Center is a family owned business run by Jim Davis and his Peruvian wife Gina. Our son and daughter in law also work at the center and contribute to its smooth operation in a variety of ways. Our family lives at the center, along with our 9 year old grand daughter, the light of our lives!!

We understand that women have different and valid concerns around safety than men, and ensuring women feel physically and emotionally safe at our center is our #1 priority. Gina´s presence and loving heart, and her easy care of women’s occasional special needs, contributes to this sense of safety and security. Many of our female clients have commented about how quickly they felt safe and at ease, knowing they would be well cared for.

Your Role in Working With Ayahuasca

It is important to understand that ayahuasca and san pedro are not cure alls. They are not going to solve all your problems for you. These powerful and loving spirits can only give us what we are open and willing to receive. An individual’s commitment to their own growth, healing and transformation makes a huge difference in the results they receive. You have to do your part, and that is fundamentally being truly committed to change, and being willing to step into unpleasant experiences if that is what is required for the desired change to occur. Trust and surrender are the keys to getting the most from your time with these medicine plants.

What is clear from over 10 years of guiding people through this work is that the medicine spirits know and understand what each individual needs to bring about the change they are looking for. They guide each person through an individualized process. Your journey of growth, transformation and change will not look like another person’s and there is no value in comparing your journey and experience to that of another. It is clear that under the facilitation of a true ayahuasquero, a true healer, the medicine spirits want to help us and know how to do so. Our job is to allow them to.

We wish we could make some guarantees about outcomes, but we cannot. What we can say, is that if one shows up committed to change, with an attitude of “what ever it takes, I am willing”, enormous change is possible within a very short period of time. Your attitude makes all the difference in what you receive!

Reviews (42)

4.9 out of 5
Overall 4.9
  • Ashley
    August 11, 2022 at 12:00 pm

    I recently attended a 12 day retreat at the Hummingbird Healing Centre this past July, and although it has only been 2 weeks since my return to the “real” world, and I know that the glow has not worn off, I can still honestly say that my life has been altered for the better. I can still feel the changes taking place within me as the new neural pathways that were forged in ceremony solidify and the old worn out and overused negative thought pathways continue to dissolve and are no longer worn with constant revisiting.
    Before my journey to Peru, I did a lot of research on a variety of centers, what they offered, and who the curandero/healer was. Having never gone through anything like this before, I wanted to find a place that was safe, comfortable, affordable and offered as many ceremonies as possible to facilitate the transformations I was seeking in my life. I had never heard of San Pedro (aka huachuma) before, and was eager to find out what this teacher plant could offer me in addition to ayahuasca. Hummingbird is the only center that I saw that works with both of these plant medicines.
    I chose Hummingbird because the impression I got from reading their website front to back was that they truly care about their clients and their personal healing journey. The ceremonies are planned out to ease you into the experience, so if you are new to this and anxious about what to expect, you are not overwhelmed by the first experience. After the first ceremony, you are the one that will have the final say in how much medicine you consume, so you are always in control. Jim also employs an extremely knowledgeable curandero (Don Fernando) who grew up with these medicines and traditions, and has decades of experience healing people, which was very important to me. Once I arrived at the center, I was not disappointed. The amenities are simple, but comfortable. Everyone has their own room in a tambo that boasts extremely comfortable beds. The rooms are all completely screened in so insects and other critters can not gain easy access to your space, but allows the natural sounds of the jungle to be the background music to your stay. At no time did I feel that I wanted for anything, which allowed me to focus my energy on my personal healing journey. Jim and Gina are excellent hosts and Jim is a wealth of knowledge and is eager to help with your emotional / spiritual journey.
    Both Ayahuasca and San Pedro were immensely helpful. Although it took a while for me to notice the benefits of San Pedro, as it is works in subtle ways, this teacher plant opened something up in me that I don’t think would have if it was only Ayahuasca that was used. Give both of these teacher plants a chance to work and know that no matter what you experience in ceremony, it is always worth it. I was able to come to many realizations about the extent and cause of my depression and anxiety and could see how much it had affected my life in ways I had not even realized.
    The main thing that I found incredibly helpful before I arrived, was to make sure that I followed a clean diet. I lost upwards of 30 pounds in the 5 months leading up to the trip and then I made sure that I was following the ayahuasca diet as close as I could in the weeks leading up to it. This alone made the experience much more enjoyable as I had very few issues with nausea etc. In fact, I am still following and plan to continue following this diet for the foreseeable future.
    I can wholeheartedly recommend The Hummingbird Healing Centre and I know that I will likely return for more healing and spiritual growth in the future. I am actually currently learning more Spanish in order to make my next trip even better.

  • psychedelic123
    May 26, 2022 at 5:07 am

    Like you probably are now, I did some pretty extensive research about plant medicine retreats in Peru and other locations in Latin America and Europe. The reviews and website of Hummingbird Healing Center resonated with me, the dates worked, so off I went. And I am so glad I did.

    Before I go any further, I should mention that I decided to wait a few months before writing this review to allow the glow of the experience to wear off and give you a more objective perspective. During the experience, my psyche I was bombarded (in a good way) by feelings of love and gratitude, so it’s not difficult to understand why so many retreat reviews written a week after coming home are glowing.

    The truth is that the medicine and my work with it was always what was important to me in selecting a retreat – I was not looking for a luxury getaway, but rather a place where I could focus on an emotional healing process enabled by a sufficient number of ceremonies. Both value for money and value for time (a good number of ceremonies for the number of days of the retreat) were key. I of course wanted to ensure I would work with potent, high quality plant medicines as well. Finally, I was interested in trying San Pedro, which wound up being crucial to the experience and a turning point for me. I would highly recommend you select a retreat that offers gentle Grandfather San Pedro in addition to Mother ayahuasca.

    The location of Hummingbird is lovely, in the jungle but not inaccessible. The grounds are beautiful, tambos simple but clean and everything you need, the food is plentiful and tasty, and the people are kind. Hummingbird offers a great context within which you can look inward and get whatever you may be seeking. There are undoubtedly places that offer more luxurious amenities, and will ask you to pay for them with much higher prices, but if you are looking for the type of experience I was and that I’ve tried to describe, you won’t be disappointed choosing Hummingbird.

    I am extremely grateful to Jim (who has an incredible level of wisdom gained through the ups and downs of life, and who perfectly balanced being accessible and supportive as well as giving you the space you need), Gina (who was just lovely throughout and kind enough to invite me to join Christmas dinner as my retreat was during the holidays), Don Fernando (who is obviously a good human and an unbelievable level of energy which allows him to guide you through the ceremonies with beautiful icaros that never stop) and all the Hummingbird staff who made me as comfortable as possible during an important couple weeks of my life. This is a special place, and I can only recommend it without hesitation.

  • T.Bednarski
    September 29, 2021 at 9:44 am

    I stayed in Hummingbird Ayahuasca Retreat Centre in September 2021 for a three weeks. I healed irritable bowel syndrome, my blocks, lack of self confidence and relived burden past. As my adventure ended a new phase of my spiritual journey began. And it continues every day, adding energy, creativity, direction and passion to every facet of my life. I am extremally grateful to Jim, Gina, Don Fernando and all Hummingbird staff. This is truly magic place.

  • Linnette
    July 25, 2020 at 4:48 am

    For my 3-weeks ayahuasca retreat I had been looking for an experienced centre where I would be safe and taken care of. It was my first experience of this kind and I was quite nervous about it. Jim and his team were a great support, offering advice and always having an open ear to listen. I soon felt that I was in very good hands, with highly experienced people and that there was nothing to be afraid of. After completing the retreat, I knew even more than before how important it is choose the right place. Thank you for this great experience and the gift that I took home!

    The place is beautiful and big. The huts are comfortable and provide privacy. And the food is good!

  • mikepav
    April 7, 2020 at 7:15 pm

    I have been to the Hummingbird twice, my first 12 day retreat was 3 years ago, during this first retreat I was healed of depression which I had been suffering with for almost 3 years, the depression never returned and it was almost as if it never existed… I returned to Hummingbird this year, this time for a 3 week personalized retreat as I still had many unresolved issues that were negatively impacting me my whole life… I am so grateful that I returned as this second retreat was nothing short of a miracle for me, it was a truly transformative experience and I was able to resolve so many fears, past traumas and the healing happened at a very deep level, I feel like I have a new lease on life and am so full of gratitude.
    I found the hummingbird center with its jungle setting to be the perfect environment for this work, the accommodation is clean and tidy, meals amazing and most importantly Jim and Manain (the shaman) are both very professional and have a genuine interest in healing and helping people through the process.

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