Nihue Rao Centro Espiritual

Llanchama, Peru

We are an ayahuasca retreat healing center, operating as a lodge in the Amazon rainforest. We are located 90 minutes outside of Iquitos, Peru near the small village of Llanchama along the Nanay River.

We provide traditional Shipibo medicine services wich includes: healing and learning diets, master plant medicine, and traditional Shipibo ayahuasca ceremonies.

Once you are here, you will meet with our shaman master healer Ricardo Amaringo, and with the asistance of a profesional translator, you can explain him your intention for the healing procces.

Your treatment will then be tailored to your personal needs, often including further treatment with a master plant. Furthermore, in traditional style, you will then adhere to a strict healing diet developed to promote the healing work of the curanderos and our medicinal plants.

Once on the diet, you will be invited to participate in ayahuasca ceremonies four times a week, for further ceremonial healing under the guidance of Ricardo and his assistants shamans. In ceremony, you will be further treated by the curanderos through the traditional healing song, called icaros.

The day after every ayahuasca ceremony, with the exception of Fridays, there is a group discussion led by Ricardo to review experiences in the ceremony and the progress of all of our participants, apprentices and visitors.

In some cases, further treatment techniques are also indicated, including healing plant preparations for bathing and vapor treatment, or cataplasm.

Traditional treatment requires time, so visitors are encouraged to visit us for one week or more. Group programs are often designed for 10 days or 2 weeks and more advanced treatment can take one/two months or longer.

For particular individuals, we also offer traditional diets for learning under the guidance of Ricardo. This level of training is best discussed in person with Ricardo himself.

We charge an all-inclusive daily fee for our services, which covers transport from the Iquitos airport, private room, modern bathrooms and showers, diet meals, laundry service, electricity, wifi internet, traditional medicine and experienced international facilitator staff support.

If you are interested in visiting, please email us to establish contact and verify availability at our center. From that point, we can plan your visit!

Reviews (137)

4.7 out of 5
Overall 4.7
  • cartercdc
    cartercdc
    September 16, 2014 at 12:00 am

    I should have written this review some time ago for Nihue Rao, but my silly American life got in the way. Anyhow, I just returned from my second trip to Nihue Rao, this time I brought my girlfriend with me. This is by far the safest, most cost effective, clean, and caring center in Iquitos. It?s clear some of the others have a profit motive (Blue Morpho) and just don?t care about the people that pass through. Nihue Rao is way different. First and foremost, you have an actual American Dr., Dr. Joe there to help. He helps comfort your fears from a medical perspective and also spiritually. It is clear that if you are reading this review you are searching for the proper center to experience ayahuasca. It is a very powerful medicine that requires due diligence because there are many centers in Iquitos springing up all the time. I highly recommend Nihue Rao because they actually care! Life affirming and altering, this experience will change your life and each day you let pass by pre-ayahuasca is something you?ll regret later. Sack up, book the trip! Thank you for everything Nihue Rao!
    Tom Stephens aka Charlie
    Los Angeles, CA

  • Kopite248
    Kopite248
    September 14, 2014 at 12:00 am

    I am still in transit home from my time at Nihue Rao but feel I need to give my love for this amazing retreat.

    I arrived on a Sunday with my older sister and was greated straight away with a lot of warmth from the people running retreat and the people who were there for healing. The retreat is very well organised, from retreat tours, talks, food preparation and one on one assisitance from leaders such as Joe [last name removed by request], who made me feel very protected.

    The Shamens have a great power and this is felt during ceremonys and one on one Iceros. This combined with how the retreat is run has given me an experience that I will never forget. I have learnt many lessons, made life long friends and feel I now have a lot of clarity to confront blockages in my life.

    Myself and my sister Maria will love to return and feel again what we felt those 6 days. To anyone who wants to feel a deep connection and learn life lesson, Nihue Rao is the place to experience it.

    To everyone at Nihue Rao thank you with all my heart.

    Chris & Maria

  • KatieLaw
    KatieLaw
    August 2, 2014 at 12:00 am

    My husband and I just recently came back from a trip to Peru through Pulse Adventure Tours and had the opportunity to stay at Nihue Rao for 6 days for healing. The centre is the perfect place to experience a sincere and deep healing. The area is so quiet, calm, and relaxing. After an intense ayahuasca session one of my favourite things to do was lay around in one of their many hammocks and just rest.

    Joe, Cvita, and Ricardo truly do care about each person that comes to the center and treat them more like family than anything else. They are so personable, kind, and attentive. While there we were able to spend time and get help from Joe’s cousin, Francisco as well – another truly amazing person.

    There really is nothing to worry about when staying there – meals are prepared for you, there is laundry service available, showers, and wi-fi for a few hours a day. We were so at ease and comfortable there that we didn’t want to leave.

    The healing was remarkable. I wasn’t sure what to anticipate for my first ayahuasca experience and now I can hardly put it into words. If you’re looking for some answers and intense healing, Nihue Rao is the place to go. I couldn’t imagine going anywhere else and I will return sometime next year for sure.

    You will not be disappointed! If you feel the medicine calling you, call Nihue Rao.

  • pkkt
    pkkt
    April 20, 2014 at 12:00 am

    We were at Espiritu Natural November 2013. It was wonderful. Fantastic lodgings, fantastic food. Katrin and Dala were amazing hosts. They answered all our questions, took great care of us, explained every thing. Taita Ediberto was our Shaman. I speak very little Spanish so Dala translated what I didn’t understand. The ceremonies are small in number, so intimate. I will be going back again.

  • Jerry
    Jerry
    March 31, 2014 at 12:00 am

    I stayed at Nihue Rao for a 7 day retreat….The people there were very attentive, helpful, and serious when it comes to healing. The medicine is strong and does not take much to feel its effects. I went in with severe depression and anxiety and left healed! The administrators who run the facility are not in it for the money (Civita, Joe and Ricardo the shaman) I have yet to see a single promotion for this center, and that’s because they are not your typical Ayahuasca tourist center…The center is kept very clean…Armed guards are on constant watch every night. I felt safe. The meals consisted of the Ayahuasca diet which is great for optimal healing. They have a laundry service that is all inclusive with your stay along with WIFI for 3 hours a day, morning, noon, and night. I have nothing but respect for this center..everyone is ready to listen and offer advice, I hope I can visit again in the near future. A special thanks to Civita and Ana.

  • Pulse Adventure Tours
    Pulse Adventure Tours
    February 18, 2014 at 12:00 am

    We (Pulse Tours) have organized a number of group adventures wherein we’ve worked with Nihue Rao to provide our guests with a legitimate, comfortable and authentic ayahuasca experience. 90%+ of the clients we’ve brought to Nihue Rao have experienced life changing cleansing, personal insights and visions. As one of our most recent clients said to me – “They’re certainly not pretending to be an ayahuasca center.”

    If you’d like to see some video testimonials from some of the people who have traveled there with us, you may encounter several videos on our YouTube channel (see: Pulse Adventure Tours).

    We highly recommend this center.

    Buen viaje!

    Daniel Cleland
    Founder, Pulse Adventure Tours

  • Tatyana Telegina
    Tatyana Telegina
    February 13, 2014 at 12:00 am

    As an organizer and leader of adventure group tours down to South America, I’ve worked with a few different spiritual centres that offer medicinal plants including Ayahuasca. Nihue Rao is our favourite one. We love it and trust it fully to take the best care of our passengers.
    The medicine is brewed on site, using only 2 primary ingredients – Chacruna and Ayahuasca vine. It is very potent.
    The site itself is spacious, very clean, with lots of friendly and helpful workers as well as security guards to assure peace and full safety. Food is Ayahuasca friendly and there is a good variety of things to choose from.
    During the ceremonies, there are usually at least 2 and sometimes even 3 shamans working on keeping the energies of the maloka clean and help with the healing process of guests. They are doing an incredible work, and I personally had a tremendous transformation, thanks to them, their icaros and the medicine. I felt taken care of. All of our passengers also had amazing experiences and some, have returned back to the centre for further work with the plant(s).

    – Tatyana (Leader from Pulse Adventure Tours)

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