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
  • manu
    manu
    January 12, 2024 at 1:44 pm

    I spent 11 days at Nihue Rao as my first experience with ayahuasca, and I feel like I couldn’t have chosen a better place. I went with my partner and we both felt very comfortable there. The facilitators, the shamans, and everyone working there were really nice and friendly.

    At the beginning I didn’t know what to expect for the first meeting with Ricardo and it was a bit weird, he didn’t address me directly and I had to have the money ready (I didn’t know that). Overall I don’t feel that took away from my experience, but it’s good to know that at first that is something that they take care of. to set expectations right. After the first few days, and with the ceremonies I felt very close and very cared for, in a place of healing where I could be very vulnerable. Everyone was fantastic and very attentive, and I had the luck of sharing my experience with other passengers that were amazing people.

    Overall, I would recommend Nihue Rao for anyone that wants a authentic healing experience, the shamans really know what they are doing, and the facilitators are some of the kindest people I met. I will definitely go back at some point in the future! Being there helped me tremendously.

  • david.sibylle
    david.sibylle
    January 11, 2024 at 12:56 pm

    My experience at Nihue Rao was the most magical experience of my life to date. My partner and I came for an 11 day retreat. It was both of our first time with the medicine and we were taken away by the care, depth and wisdom in which the medicine is practice and received. We were asked directly and clearly on arrival what the reasons were for our interest and work with the medicine and these needs and intentions were clearly and carefully translated to the shamans. We were then prescribed a plant diet during the duration of our stay based on our concerns. The Casa de Medicina was a beautiful place to visit in the morning to receive this plant. We enjoyed equally as much as our work with Mother Ayahuasca as we did the relationships we were able to build with Oje, the plant of our diet. The ceremonies were so profound and each one I developed a deeper understanding and relationship with the medicine and myself. The facilitators, security, cleaners, chefs, locals, and children at the center all added to this magic and complete feeling of safety and good will. It was a joy to be at the center in our down time and there was alway a sweet acknowledgement to be had or kind words to pass along. I am so grateful for my time at Nihue Rao and am looking forward to returning when possible. I would highly recommend visiting this center if you are interested in deep indigenous Shipibo healing and want to learn the power of the medicine and Icaros from a community as dedicated as this one.

  • Allex
    Allex
    October 3, 2023 at 3:43 pm

    I have experience with half a dozen shamans/facilitators.
    I drank ayahuasca over 100 times in different countries and different retreat centers. So I have abit of experience to have an informed opinion.
    In 2019 I’ve discovered Nihue Rao and then never drank ayahuasca anywhere else.
    It is not a luxury center (I’ve been to a couple of those) but rather a rustic and full of local people that work there.
    Food is excellent while being diet friendly.
    There are 24/7 guards and from my experience it is a very safe place for both men and women.

    Ricardo the main shaman is probably among best shamans in the world with unspoiled integrity.
    I learned during the 3-4 integration discussions more about ayahuasca and how read the symbols in the visions than in my previous 6+ years of discussions and experinces combined.

    Recommended if you are really interested in the deep medicine work, how to heal yourself and how to learn the medicine.

    Not recommended if you’re looking for a luxury, glamorous retreat where the emphasis is on making the tourist see visions with little understanding or actual healing.

  • JacksonFromCanada
    JacksonFromCanada
    September 30, 2023 at 7:19 pm

    I recently spent 11 days at a starter retreat here at Nihue Rao and this retreat was a truly magical experience.

    This was my first time sitting with the medicine of Mother Ayahuasca, and Nihue Rao did a wonderful time facilitating me and my process.

    During all of my ceremonies I felt so held and supported. Whether I was having the best ceremony of my life or a very challenging one, the facilitators and shamans did a wonderful job being there for me during the middle of ceremony until the effects of the medicine started to wind down. They helped me trust, surrender, love, listen, and connect deeply with mother ayahuasca in her world with her medicine.

    During integration was a great time to help make sense of what you saw and get professional help from the shamans to help interpret your experience and let it make more sense for you in your integration.
    The facilitators also did a great job being there for you if you wanted to discuss your experience in further detail afterwards. I personally had great experience with this and was left feeling very grounded and centered, ready to go into my next ceremony.

    The facility does a great job of disconnecting you from the busyness of modern life and really invites you to slow down and take time for you and take time to integrate your experience. This also helps you stay grounded and centered going going into any ceremony you have.

    This facility isn’t no fancy western-er hotel or fancy retreat center, but it a place for you to go very deeply within and a place for very real and practical healing to take place.

    I’m filled with so much love and light and gratitude after my experience here and I’d love to visit again someday. Thank you everybody at Nihue Rao who made my experience here so special. You really made me feel so safe, loved, and supported. Thank you for helping me strengthen and go deep to help me shine my light even brighter in this world. You all are awesome ❤️

  • llove
    llove
    September 24, 2023 at 11:52 am

    The time spent at Nihue Rao is beyond amazing and reveals another dimension/reality. The professionalism and dedication of the shamans, the management of the center, and the facilitators are beyond any expectations. I can’t wait to return and stay for a longer period (I only stayed for 2 weeks now).

  • Joy108
    Joy108
    September 23, 2023 at 5:03 pm

    I just came back from another retreat to Nihue Rao Center, I plan to go there every year at least for 1 month, until my schedule will allow me to stay longer – 3- 6 months, for a deeper process. The Ikaros I received were powerful, the healing I feel after every retreat is unique and life changing. The 3 shamans are dedicated to the sacred work, I felt their love and compassion during all ceremonies. I am grateful to have found this place, and these Masters of Divine Light ✨️

  • Mark Chelsea
    Mark Chelsea
    November 18, 2022 at 9:07 am

    Great icaros/songs, but unfortunately a place full of greed, ego and jealousy. No investment in facilities, low quality of rooms, dirty. Scary vibe. Poor management.

  • bencassiday@gmail.com
    bencassiday@gmail.com
    August 16, 2022 at 11:59 am

    This is an incredible place to heal and learn about your place in the universe. The medicine and the Shamen are top notch. I stayed for 12 days and will be back for 30 days in the next year.

    This is a place that is designed to strip away modern comforts and teach you what it is to be a spirit undergoing a human experience. This is not an adult summer camp, this is a place for you to work on yourself, to get to know yourself. Take time to reflect, rest, and learn about yourself.

    The shamen are not western spiritualists, they are normal humans practicing traditional amazonian medicine, taught to them by those who came before them. Come to Nihue Rao for a Shipibo experience, not a western experience. Do not try and put these people into a box made in the image of what you believe spirituality looks like.

    Much of what we know to be normal in the west is learned colonist behavior, informed by christianity, secularism, and capitalism. As westerners we do not know what is best for the people living outside of Iquitos, come ready to accept the differences and to learn from them.

    If you are looking for a safe space to get away from the modern world, this is a wonderful place to spend time. Ricardo also does a wonderful job employing and supporting the local community, something I am happy to contribute towards.

  • Kate
    Kate
    June 4, 2022 at 9:16 pm

    The week I spent at Nihue Rao was most traumatic. One of the shamans sexually assaulted me. I complained about it to Ricardo, the head shaman, the following day. I was told it was my imagination and didn’t happen. Joe Tafur preferred to treat me as crazy, rather than deal with the assault. a year or two later, that shaman was fired for sexually violating other women. No-one bothered to even acknowledge or apologize for what had happened to me.
    This is s dangerous place to be in while in altered state. It is so extremely low to tolerate sexual abuse when putting participants in the most vulnerable state. The Western “shamans”at Nihue Rao are amateurs, and therefore could not see how entrenched in darkness the local shamans are.

  • Sophia
    Sophia
    May 18, 2022 at 8:25 am

    I would never go back there. I noticed right away that NR was not a high vibe place. People who diet there – all seemed really suspicious of others, scared, and paranoid. It was like a parasite infecting that center. After some time, my own discernment and the Holy Spirit showed me that there’s something really off about the main shaman Ricardo there – he is out of integrity. Ricardo Amaringo steals his pasajeros’ souls, and he is abusing this beautiful medicine. I don’t know if he does it consciously or unconsciously (because obviously the energy of the center is permeated with a really unconscious energy), but he is ought to look at what he’s doing. It is not right. Go to a different center, where the sacred divine feminine energy of the Mother medicine is honored. ___________ Update: this retreat center also employs some of the most psychopathic sexual predators. I know of helpers who found their “wives” there and either had their spiritual weddings there or eloped with them – only to “divorce” them later. As a woman I don’t want to drink ayahuasca at a place where facilitators are allowed to have relationships with women-dieters. After I cut all ties with this center, their helper Gage Crossett started harassing me with phone calls, messages, letters, and texts. This deranged predator convinced himself that he is “in love” with me and that I am his “soulmate.” He took it upon himself to look up my phone number, home address, tried to find out all the private details about my life, reached out to people I have a restraining order against (I’m not even sure how he found them…) and has repeatedly crossed the line and made me feel unsafe with his scary sexual harassment. Every time I block him, he changes his phone number – to keep tabs on someone who wants nothing to do with him. I wake up to 60-80 messages (and sometimes phone calls) a day from this desperate and sick stalker; this has been going on since August of 2021. It’s pretty sickening. To all the beautiful women out there, do yourself a favor and go to a retreat center with better vibes – where you will be respected, safe, and empowered. Avoid a retreat center where shamans and helpers are filthy predators.

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