Reviews & Testimonials
What our pasajeros are saying
Traditional Shipibo healing center, owned and operated by indigenous shamans.
Very clean medicine with only chacruna & Ayahuasca vine – you can watch it being brewed, and help make it if you like!
It’s a rustic place, and the shamans aren’t there to coddle you, or live up to western expectations of what indigenous culture should look or feel like. The people that live and work at Nihue Rao are honest and friendly, and also just going about their lives and their work.
Maestros Ricardo, Luis, & Miguel have powerful icaros, and work to help you understand their spiritual/medicinal worldview during integrations. There are facilities to make art, to exercise, and to eat/hang out, but really the center is there for you to sit with yourself and the medicine and get into the quiet contemplation that often we don’t make time for.
I feel very grateful that I went to a center that upholds traditions, where I felt very safe, and where the shamans are powerful & experienced.
Martha O.
Forever grateful to Ricardo and his staff. Safe, clean, knowledgeable and traditional. Don’t hesitate in trusting this center.
Angela C.
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 a bit 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 experiences 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.
Alex
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 ❤️
Jackson
This is my 2nd visit to N.R. I have been to many centers over the past 10 years. I have never received the depth of healing as I have with Ricardo and his family. The management and staff have grown so much. They held such a beautiful space so much so I left feeling very grounded and ready to engage with the world again. Every time I go there I am so happy I did…Thank you to everyone at NR.
Stephen F.
I have been working with the medicine since 2012 and this was my first time at Nihue Rao. I never imagined I could receive such real and solid help as I have here. The complexities and weight of what I was hoping to deal with were addressed clearly with the utmost respect, responsibility, and integrity.
Rachel
I just got home from a 2 week- 8 ceremony journey at Nihue Rao. It was absolutely incredible. I feel like I was able to experience the medicine in a traditional Shipibo fashion. I am grateful we were able to diet a master plant while we were there. That combined with the Ayahuasca really enhanced the whole experience. I haven’t heard of other centers doing the master plant diet which really makes this center unique. Ricardo really knows what he is doing. The staff there were very accommodating and helped us every step of the way with open hearts and endless love. The Shamans there are very powerful healers. I was able to go deep inside myself and experience true healing. I’m grateful that we were able to extend our stay and Ricardo even offered a private ceremony for our group. I was also very grateful for the integration meetings each day after ceremony where staff and Ricardo were able to tailor our next ceremony to the healing we needed. I don’t know that I will ever go to another center. This place is the real deal, I’m looking forward to returning to further the work. Thank you thank you Nihue Rao!
Talyn
I can wholeheartedly recommend this center! The entire organization was excellently planned, from the preparation and airport pickup to the introduction to the processes and procedures.
The facilitators are so empathetic and loving, always available for support and advice!
The dieta went very well; I was able to clarify my intentions and the questions that arose during the relatively short stay.
The ceremonies were so beautiful, and the Icaros from the maestros are simply a wonder! I had never experienced such strong, intense healing processes with Aya before!
The experience was unique and truly special!
Elena M.
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.
David S.
I went to Nihue Rao for the first time to explore a deeper connection with myself. Through a strict diet, pure plant medicine, custom sung ícaros, and lasting friendships, I walked away with a deeper connection to everything.
Peter
This is as good as it gets—impecable integrity, quality shamanic work and straight to the healing. This place continues to change my life every day that I spend here. I’ve brought my mother here, if that tells you anything.
Alex B.
Nihue Rao equals Soul family and the number one place in the world for true healing. I am thankful to my ancestors for the connection to study plant medicine, learn and heal.
The Maestro’s Ricardo, Miguel and facilitators provided a safe space to learn, heal and connect with God, the universe and discover the beauty of life in this realm and beyond.
From the first email of inquiry to arriving to the center and beyond words can not describe the abundance of love, healing that is poured into each pasajero(a).
Two weeks of dieta with helped me connect 38 years of “life”. One of the greatest gifts I have every received in life, besides breath it’s self.
A huge shout out to the beautiful chefs that cooked meals with love and sent me home with a special breakfast after closing my dieta.
Thank you to the wonderful facilitators, the men that made the medicine and the security guards that always made us feel safe , thank you for your wonderful energy exchange on the journey.
I will return to Nihue Rao to facilitate and continue to study plant medicine.
Sending you all peace love and light on your journey
Hippy Educator
I loved the experience, the entire team is incredibly generous, the food and the conditions of stay are great! Thank you for everything!
Miguel P.
I feel so lucky that I found Nihue Rao. The shamans here are incredibly strong & so good at clearing/cleaning your energy field. This center is very authentic, traditional, and safe. There was magic in the air there! The ceremonies were intense and challenging, but I believe it was just the price that had to be paid to heal in the way I experienced. I felt 10 years lighter afterwards, and I felt like i was glowing from the inside out once it was time for me to leave. I will absolutely be coming back. So much love for this center & their staff.
Courtney H.
Ayahuasca is legal in Peru. The Peruvian government declared Cultural Heritage of the Nation, “the traditional knowledge and use of the ayahuasca practiced by the indigenous native communities of the Amazon…”
941 Calle Los Angeles Asent. Modelo San Juan Bautista Maynas Iquitos – Peru :: WhatsApp / Phone: +51 918 293 372 :: E-mail: nihuerao@gmail.com
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