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!
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Bom-ber boy
May 27, 2018 at 6:39 pmThis was my second visit to Nihue Rao, my first coming in September 2014.
I went for 30 days, so 16 ayahuasca ceremonies.
I don’t know where to start………..
From start to finish the whole experience has been incredible. In Ricardo’s words I was “loaded” when I arrived 4 weeks ago.
I wasn’t in a good place mentally. My mental health issues stretching back as far as I can remember in my 37 years, even back to childhood.
The shamans themselves Ricardo, Alfonso, Miguel and Felacio bringing these beautiful icaros to ceremony 4 times a week making these issues eventually melt away. It’s been a long hard road.
The staff Benoit, Meru, Gabriel and Sergio making me feel at home as soon as arrived. All giving advice and their time and knowledge on the process, plus also talks from Ben on master plants which I found invaluable.
The kitchen staff, security, cleaners, laundry staff……..all doing the best to their ability and always being lovely and polite.
And of course all the other pasajeros, who I hope, along with the staff I will see again someday.
I cannot thank every single person enough, you’ve all been more than incredible on this journey. I wish I could hug you all.
If you want a place that’s professional, safe, secure, knowledgeable, friendly, happy and full of integrity then Nihue Rao is the place for you. I honestly can not say enough good things.
Ricardo said some lovely things to me in our last meeting, and I will be eternally grateful for those words and the time he took to say them. He also shook my hand and hugged me just before I left.
The way I feel now can’t be put into words. Words don’t exist to describe this feeling. Incredible/happy/magnificent/confident/joyous…….all fall way off the mark.
Thank you Ricardo, Alfonso, Miguel, Felacio, Benoit, Meru, Gabriel and Sergio, I’ll miss you all and all the animals too.
And thank you mother ayahuasca and my master plant oje. You’ve saved my life.
I’ll see you all again one day, hopefully sooner rather than later.
Smashingly
May 10, 2018 at 4:23 pmNihue Rao is a wonderful retreat! I had 10 days there in May 2018 and really enjoyed it. The shaman was powerful and the healing I received was life-changing. Ayahuasca is a tough lady not to be messed with but she really made some significant improvements to my psyche. While the lodging and food are simple at best I really made some good friends in the group I was with. Set your intentions and blast off to the stars!
Lucky Bamboo
May 10, 2018 at 3:33 pmNihue Rao was my first Spiritual Center in Peru. I went back in December and could not have asked for a better experience. The staff is very friendly, accomodating, and every one went the extra mile to help with anything that you needed. Going to a Spiritual Center is definitely not a time for wild adventures. Going deep within yourself with a lot of solitude and stillness will help the healing process.
I loved how the Dieta helped physically clean my system on top of the medicine to help spiritually and mentally heal me. I left Peru feeling whole and complete, pure blissful and grateful for the opportunity of life. Ricardo is definitely a very experienced healer and can help you with a variety of symptoms from physical to mental to spiritual.
I am whole again and forever thankful to Nihue Rao and their team!!!
Angry Lion
April 30, 2018 at 7:40 pmI recently came back from a 10 day retreat there and had a wonderful experience. To my knowledge, everyone had a positive experience. There were people from all walks of life, and I felt at home and safe at NHCE. I believe the Maestro Ricardo is very experienced in his craft, but its best if you go, please adhere to the diet and instructions given. Sure there aren’t many activities to do other than rest, relax, reflect on yourself (go inwardly), so if your intention is go have a slew of exciting and wild amazonian activities and tours, this might not be for you. The tour I signed up was for a journey to go inwardly, and this is exactly what I got.
The support staff will go beyond and above what is required to help make things formidable at the center. The day of my departure, I lost my phone on the bumpy ride back to town, and a local found it. Two of the staff members, Serjio and David, helped me retrieve my phone back from the local founder. For this I will always be grateful. Shouting out to the beautiful staff, the Maestro and other Shamans, and the fine friends I made during this time. Salutations to the Spirit of the Amazon and the beautiful plants at NRCE. Gracias for todo!
ceturn
April 23, 2018 at 10:48 amA few years ago I was singing ayahuasca’s praises. It seemed like a miracle that something so powerful and life-changing could exist. I did my first ayahuasca ceremonies at Nihue Rao, got some powerful icaros and went back home feeling completely transformed, energized and like life was a clean slate. Then I came back to Nihue Rao a second time because I knew I needed more work on myself. This time it was very different, and one ceremony in particular went bad. Ricardo said they had trouble dealing with some of the heavier energies that night. He said I would feel better the next day. However, I felt sad the entire rest of the week there and couldn’t shake it off. One of the staff suggested I contact a coach who charged over $200 per session. I went home feeling disconnected from life and feeling extremely suicidal for the next three months due to whatever had infected my energy field. There was no support, nobody I could get help from for this.
Sure, ayahuasca is some powerful stuff. I get why people are so enchanted by it. The visions are powerful and the icaros can lead to some powerful healing. However, ayahuasca is a double edged sword. And it’s the spiritual equivalent of playing with knives. It’s also one of the most spiritually dirty healing modalities that exists. You are in a space with up to 20 or more people, all of whom are completely opened up energetically, so any negative juju is free to come in or out.
It’s not just me who’s been affected. I know others who have also had bad and even traumatizing results, or at the very least whose healing was just temporary.
There are much more effective and safer spiritual modalities out there if you are looking for healing or spiritual growth. Fortunately I found powerful healing that helped me more in 6 months than 18 ayahuasca ceremonies did in one year. It didn’t cost nearly as much and didn’t involved terrifying, confusing and senseless visions and purges. So, this isn’t just a review for Nihue Rao but for ayahuasca in general. Just know that if you do ayahuasca there are some real risks.