Ayahuasca Retreat Reviews — Helping You Stay Safe with 5,000+ Independent Reviews
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!
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bstefrok
June 5, 2017 at 8:04 amThis was a lifechanging retreat for me. First time with aya, and don’t regret it one bit. I did tons of research before coming and this was my place, hands down. I have nothing bad to say at all. I did 4 ceremonies in 6 nights and each one lead me to a different place. The support, the initiation, the meetings the mornings after retreats, and all aspects of the guidance provided by Ricardo, the other shamans and the international volunteers was amazing. I wholeheartedly recommend this place and I will be definitely going back. If you’re skeptical or nervous (as I was), don’t worry. It will change your life.
AlexH
June 5, 2017 at 4:58 amAmazing healing, helping, knowlegible shaman and his helpers!
After spending 13 days there I feel energized, healthy, with much willpower!
A good man become better one!
Alexandar Hristov / Bulgaria
sunshinemolecule
May 23, 2017 at 2:20 pmThe most important things to me when looking for a place to sit in ceremony with Ayahuasca were; the integrity of the Shaman, the integrity of the medicine, and the integrity the mission of the center.
Nihue Rao exceeds far and above the the integrity I was looking and hoping to find. The medicine is so important to everyone who runs and works at this center. They believe in it and understand it deeply which makes the medicine even stronger in my eyes.
The medicine, Ayahuasca and the master plants, are good and honest. It is all made right there in plain sight. You can sit and watch if you want to. It is made every day of ceremony.
If I had any concerns while I was there, someone was always available for me to talk to. There is constant support if you need it or you can stay completely quiet and lay in a hammock all day long. Whatever the process, it is accepted and honored conscientiously and compassionately.
I feel very fortunate to have found this place and even more so to have been able to spend two weeks there. I never truly believed that I would be able heal the things I needed to heal, but I have. With the guidance of an honest Shaman, Maestro Ricardo, and the impeccable, impressive care of his team, Phillip, Benoit, Camila, and Patrick, I navigated through things I could only imagine before coming here.
It is all about the plant medicine to attain the truth of things at Nihue Rao. I would definitely go back and recommend anyone to go there.
kovotomo
May 15, 2017 at 5:14 pmAn excellent first time experience with Ayahausca. I would recommend Nihue Rao wholehartedly to anyone. Unlike reviews left on other retreats on this website, I was not cooerced or forced to leave a positive review.
I’m a doctor from Australia with no experience of Ayahausca, who spent a great deal of time researching different centres online – important aspects for me were safety, a comfortable atmosphere, and getting a traditional Ayahausca experience.
All these factors were met:
-Nihue Rao is fully transparent with the preparation of their Ayahausca – only Ayahausca & Chacruna are mixed in the brew; it is possible to watch it being prepared
-No dangerous procedures are required such as a nicotine cleanse or consumption of Toe that have been associated with fatalities at other Ayahausca centres
-All the staff are excellent – particularly the 4 support members (Benoit, Camilla, Phillip & Patrick); who are available 24/7 & offer so much support during ceremonies to ensure safety & comfort
-The facilities are great – immersed in the Amazon, on a massive property, surrounded by nature with gorgeous ambient sounds, access to wifi that is usually very reliable, living in a hut that has electricity, food is what you would expect when no red meat/ salt/ sugar is permitted
-While I almost considered attending the highest rated Ayahausca centre on this website for its reviews & promotion of physical wellbeing – there is no way that during the downtime between Ayahausca ceremonies I would have had the energy or motivation to participate in high intensity exercise/ ‘adrenaline’ activities; a good book is all you want & Nihue Rao has an excellent library
-Very traditional experience – Riccardo & the other shamans generate an otherworldly atmosphere in the Maluka during Ayahausca ceremonies; it is profound & unforgettable; really I can’t describe how overwhelming it is – to be sat in front of a shaman while deep into a DMT trip, while they sing beautiful music at you amongst a symphony of vomiting
-Although I have a strong scientific mind & high degree of skepticism with alternative medicine – Nihue Rao really can be the catalyst many people need to make positive change in their lives & reframe past traumas – I was able to draw life changing conclusions from my experiences, the debrief meetings after ceremonies are honest & very productive
My recommendation to anyone considering Ayahausca is to formulate a clear intention before attending a retreat. Come with the knowledge that you will need to put in hard work. Nihue Rao offers the perfect setting to experience Ayahausca for first time users & those with prior experience (based on conversations I had with other attendees). You won’t regret coming here
taraapple
May 2, 2017 at 5:53 amI stayed for 6 nights and 4 ceremonies in February 2017 and I am hoping to go back there again for a longer stay one day! I have so much good to say about Nihue Rao. Firstly the shaman Ricardo is very good (very important as there are many frauds now as ayahuasca is getting increasingly popular, especially in Iquitos) and the rest of the staff amazing, during the ceremonies I felt very safe and secure and had a lot of help and support through difficult periods. Being my first experience with ayahuasca I was very glad to come to such a good place! Also traveling alone as a young women I was happy to find a safe place to go to to. The facilities are good and everything is kept very clean and the food is good. Last but not least the ikaros were absolutely beautiful and powerful, get ready for some deep healing in the ceremonies!