Fifteen minutes from the Plaza de Armas, behind a wall, on ground the Shipibo maestros who work here chose themselves. Four ceremonies across seven nights, twelve guests, and a doctor who reads your file before anyone takes your money.
Lima direct from five US hubs, then eighty minutes to Cusco. We meet you at Velasco Astete and you are through the gate in fifteen.
Nobody drinks on their first or second night in the city. Blood pressure and oxygen saturation are measured on arrival and again before ceremony one.
Twelve minutes to a clinic and twenty to a hospital we hold a standing arrangement with. In the jungle that number is measured in hours.
A walled property above San Blas with its own garden and no through traffic. You will hear bells at dawn and very little else.
Twelve guests. Four maestros from the Paoyhan and Nueva Betania communities in Ucayali, who travel to Cusco for the weeks they hold. One physician who stays every night, and one integration lead who stays with you for a year.
We run twenty two weeks a year rather than fifty. The maestros are named, credited and paid, photographed only with permission, and we do not reproduce Shipibo textile patterns as decoration anywhere on this site.
Guests, with two maestros in every ceremony
Weeks a year, so the team and the house recover
Years our senior maestro has been in practice
Months of integration, included in the price
Never on the same day, never sold as a package. Clearance for one is never clearance for another.
Tap a panel to open it. Kambo and Bufo carry no extra charge and neither is ever suggested to a guest who did not ask.
The application runs to thirty four questions. Six of them do most of the work, and every one exists for a reason we can name. Ayahuasca contains MAO inhibitors, which is why this reads like a pre-operative form rather than a booking page.
A licensed physician reads every file. Roughly one application in five does not proceed, nothing is charged before a place is confirmed, and declined applicants receive the reason in writing plus a referral list.
See the full applicationWe are looking for MAOIs, SSRIs, SNRIs, lithium, tramadol, triptans and stimulants. Some need a taper planned with your own prescriber; a few are a full stop.
Ayahuasca raises heart rate and blood pressure for several hours, and 11,150 feet has already done some of that. Cardiac history matters more in Cusco than at sea level.
First degree family history changes the risk calculation even with no diagnosis of your own. We would rather ask than find out during a ceremony.
If the answer is a specific medical outcome we say plainly that we cannot promise it. Guests who arrive expecting a cure tend to leave disappointed.
Integration is far easier with one honest person who knows where you went. If the answer is nobody, we talk about that on the call.
No alcohol, no fermented food, minimal salt and sugar. Not a preference. Tyramine rich food is the specific reason the list exists.
The retreat is the shortest part. Most guests say the preparation was the hardest and the year afterwards was where anything actually changed.
Thirty four questions covering medication, cardiac and psychiatric history, and what you are hoping for. A physician reads it within 48 hours.
Forty five minutes with the integration lead who stays with you for a year. Only after that is a place offered and a deposit taken.
Planned with your own doctor and never rushed to fit a retreat date. If the timeline does not work, we move you to a later week.
No alcohol, no fermented food, minimal salt and sugar. We send a grocery list written for US supermarkets and a day by day plan.
Medical intake, blood pressure and oxygen saturation, coca tea, short walks, early nights. No ceremony until the city has stopped working against you.
The first is mostly spent learning how to be in the room. The second is usually the one people describe afterwards.
No screens and no sightseeing. Kambo sits here for guests cleared for it. The optional group session runs ninety minutes and nobody is asked to speak.
Closing at first light with bells over San Blas. Bufo the next morning for guests both leads cleared. Airport transfer that afternoon.
Do not book a Monday meeting. Hold the dieta one more week. Sleep badly for a few nights and expect it.
Scheduled on your time zone with the lead who read your file. Included, and they call you rather than waiting to be chased.
The eight month call is the one guests mention most. Nothing feels urgent by then, which is exactly why it works.
Difficult months happen. Support does not end because the year did, and we will refer you on where that is the right call.
Here, a licensed physician and your integration lead. Nobody else, and never the maestros.
Two acclimatisation days before the first ceremony, with blood pressure and oxygen saturation measured twice. Supplemental oxygen on site.
Twelve minutes to a clinic, twenty to a Cusco hospital we hold a standing arrangement with. The protocol is rehearsed monthly.
About one application in five. Declined applicants are never charged and always get the reason in writing plus a referral list.
We make no medical claims. Ayahuasca is not a treatment for any condition. Participants report lasting change, and we cite the peer reviewed research with its limitations rather than around them. Nothing on this page is medical advice.
Not included: flights, budget $700 to $1,300 from most US hubs. Travel insurance, which we require. Any nights in Cusco either side of the week.
No deposit until a physician confirms a place. Then 30% to hold and the balance 30 days out. Payment plans over three or six months. Full refund to 45 days out, and medical withdrawals refunded in full at any point.
Why we hold two acclimatisation days, and what happens to blood pressure at 11,150 feet.
Why the tapering question has no single answer, and what a responsible screening process does with it.
Guests consistently underestimate the first four weeks home. Here is what to plan for before you fly.
It is the most practical base in Peru for a US traveller: direct connections through Lima, real hospitals within twenty minutes, and a long ceremonial tradition. The one thing it demands is respect for altitude, which is why we hold two acclimatisation days before anyone drinks.
Ayahuasca raises heart rate and blood pressure, and 11,150 feet has already done some of that work. Our physician measures blood pressure and oxygen saturation on arrival and again before the first ceremony, supplemental oxygen is on site, and nobody drinks on their first or second night in the city.
MAOI medication of any kind, diagnosed schizophrenia or bipolar I, uncontrolled hypertension, epilepsy, severe liver disease, a cardiac event within twelve months, and pregnancy. SSRIs, SNRIs, lithium, tramadol, triptans and stimulants are reviewed one at a time by the physician.
Fly to Lima, direct from Miami, Houston, Atlanta, New York or Los Angeles, then connect to Cusco on a flight of about eighty minutes. We collect you at Velasco Astete and the drive to the center is fifteen minutes.
Yes. It is legal here and was recognised as part of the national cultural heritage in 2008. It is illegal to carry into the United States, which is why the work happens here and stays here.
$5,800 covers seven nights, four ceremonies, a single occupancy room, two acclimatisation days, the dieta kitchen, airport transfers, an optional Kambo session, and twelve months of integration calls. Flights and travel insurance are not included.
At any point, without argument. You keep the room, the food and every integration call. Nobody is talked into a ceremony here.
Nothing is charged to apply. A physician reads your file, your integration lead calls you, and we either offer a place on a named week in Cusco or explain plainly why we cannot. There is no follow up you did not ask for.