Iquitos, Loreto · Four ceremonies · Twelve guests
Ayahuasca In Iquitos
Most pages about this describe how it will change your life. This one describes what happens between nine in the evening and first light, who is in the room, where the brew was cut, and what would make us tell you no.
Ceremonies across seven nights.
Hours per ceremony, dusk to dawn.
Guests per maestro, twelve in the room.
From cut vine to our own cooking fire.
Two plants, cooked here for two days, drunk in the dark
Ayahuasca is a brew of the Banisteriopsis caapi vine and chacruna leaf. The vine contains MAO inhibitors, the leaf contains DMT, and neither does much alone. Together they produce five to six hours of altered consciousness. That interaction is also the reason our medical screening reads like a pre-operative form rather than a booking page.
In Peru this is legal and has been recognised as national cultural heritage since 2008. It is not legal to carry into the United States, which is why the work happens here and stays here.
02 · A ceremony, hour by hour
What actually happens between nine and first light
Written for the person lying awake at two in the morning reading about this. Times are approximate and every night differs, but this is the shape of it.
Last light, and the room is prepared
You eat nothing after lunch. Mats, blankets and a bucket are set out for each guest with space between them. The maestros arrange their seats, the physician checks in with anyone they flagged at intake, and phones go into a box by the door. There is no signal out here anyway.
Doors, and the room settles
You choose a mat and stay on it for the night. Nobody speaks much. The maloca is screened and open sided, and by now it is noticeably cooler than the day was. The integration lead says a short, practical word about what to do if you need help: raise a hand, and someone comes to you.
The cup, one guest at a time
You go to the maestro, take the cup, and return to your mat. Dose is decided by the maestro from what they have seen of you, not by what you ask for. Nobody is offered a second cup they did not request, and declining is a complete sentence.
Onset, and the candles go out
Effects usually begin around forty minutes in and arrive as a physical wave rather than a switch. The room goes dark. The first icaro starts, and from here the maestros sing almost continuously for hours, over the sound of the forest.
The strongest part
Between the second and fourth hour is where most of the work happens. Time stops behaving. Guests purge, sit up, lie down, weep, or lie completely still. All of that is normal and none of it is a problem for anyone else in the room.
Individual icaros
The maestros move between mats and sing directly to individual guests, adjusting per person. You may have three maestros in front of you at one point and no idea how long they were there.
It begins to loosen
The intensity draws down. Water is brought, and fluid intake is watched more closely here than a highland center needs to. Some guests sleep on their mats from here; others sit up in the dark and think. A physician is still awake in the room and will be until dawn.
Closing, and then a real bed
The maestros close the ceremony with a final icaro as the birds start, which here is unmistakable and very loud. Light food is available. Most guests sleep until mid morning, and the day that follows is deliberately empty.
If you need help
Raise a hand. A facilitator is beside you within seconds, every night, and you will not be the first person to do it. Guests can leave the room accompanied at any point.
On purging
Most people purge at some point across four ceremonies and some never do. Every mat has a bucket, nobody in the room reacts, and it is treated as part of the work rather than a failure of it.
The morning after
Physically tired, mentally clear, occasionally raw. No screens, one meal, a plant bath cut from the garden that morning, and a conversation with your integration lead if you want one. Nothing is scheduled.
One ceremony rarely does much for anyone
This is the single biggest reason we do not sell weekend sittings. The maestros asked for four, with rest between them, and the pattern below is what they were describing. Rest nights are not padding — the night after a ceremony is when most guests actually make sense of it.
There is one Iquitos advantage worth naming: with no altitude to recover from, the first ceremony lands on night two rather than night three or four. The week is the same length and you get one more full rest day inside it.
Learning the room
Mostly spent working out how to be there at all. Almost nobody describes this one afterwards, and that is expected.
The one people talk about
The maestros have watched you for two nights and adjust per person, in their own language, on their own ground. This is usually the night guests recount later.
The quietest
Most weeks this is the calm one. The room knows itself and the maestros work with less noise.
Where it lands
Closing at first light. Guests frequently say the fourth is where the previous three finally made sense.
What you have read online, and what is actually true
Ayahuasca cures depression and PTSD.
No. We make no medical claims and it is not a treatment for any condition. Participants report lasting change, the peer reviewed research is early and limited, and we cite those limitations rather than talking around them.
One ceremony is like ten years of therapy.
No. A single ceremony is usually spent learning how to be in the room. It also replaces nothing: the guests who do best are the ones already in therapy before they arrive and still in it afterwards.
All ayahuasca is basically the same brew.
No. Most centers buy theirs in, sometimes from several hundred miles away, sometimes with admixtures nobody lists. Ask who cooked it, where, when, and what went in. Ours is two plants, cut within an hour, cooked here, logged by batch.
You will definitely vomit for hours.
Usually not. Most guests purge at some point across four nights, briefly, and some never do. Every mat has a bucket and nobody in the room reacts to it.
The dieta is just a diet preference.
No. It is a pharmacological precaution. MAO inhibition means tyramine rich foods, alcohol and certain medications carry real risk. Three weeks before, one week after, and we send a plan written for US supermarkets.
The jungle is more dangerous than the mountains.
Different, not worse — but be honest about it. No altitude sickness here, which is a genuine advantage. In exchange a hospital is ninety minutes away, thirty of them by river, which is exactly why we screen harder than a center near a city does.
Any healthy person can drink it.
No. Roughly one application in five does not proceed here. MAOIs, cardiac events within twelve months, diagnosed schizophrenia or bipolar I, epilepsy and pregnancy are all absolute stops.
The retreat is the important part.
It is about a fifth of it. Seven nights sit inside about four months of work. Most of what guests describe as the change happens at home, in the year afterwards, on integration calls.
05 · Preparation
The dieta, and why it is not negotiable
The vine inhibits monoamine oxidase, the enzyme that breaks down tyramine in food and regulates several neurotransmitters. That is a pharmacological fact, not a tradition, and it is why the list below is a safety requirement rather than a purity ritual. We send a day by day plan and a grocery list written for US supermarkets three weeks out.
| Three weeks before | During the week | One week after | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alcohol | None | None | None |
| Fermented foods | None. Aged cheese, soy sauce, kombucha, cured meat | None | Reintroduce slowly |
| Salt and sugar | Minimal | Kitchen handles it | Minimal for a week |
| Pork and red meat | Avoid in the final two weeks | Not served | Reintroduce slowly |
| Recreational substances | None, including cannabis | None | None |
| Caffeine | Taper down, do not quit abruptly | Herbal tea only | Your call |
| Scented products | Switch to unscented before you fly | None. We supply unscented repellent | Your call |
| Sexual activity | Abstain the final two weeks | Abstain | Abstain one week |
| Medication | Any taper planned with your own prescriber | As agreed with our physician | Restart per your prescriber |
The one thing that genuinely puts you at risk
Arriving having broken the dieta and not saying so. If you cannot hold it on the dates we give you, tell us and we will move you to a later week. Nobody is judged and nothing is charged for the change.
Who we say no to, published before you ask
A licensed physician reads every application before a place is offered or a payment taken. Screening takes about two weeks. Declined applicants are never charged and always receive the reason in writing plus a referral list. Ninety minutes from a hospital, cardiac and blood pressure history is read harder here than at our Andean houses, so a few guests are declined for Iquitos and offered a place in the Sacred Valley instead.
Absolute stops
- MAOI medication of any kind
- Diagnosed schizophrenia or bipolar I
- Uncontrolled hypertension
- A cardiac event within twelve months
- Epilepsy or severe liver disease
- Pregnancy or breastfeeding
Reviewed individually
- SSRIs and SNRIs, usually a supervised taper
- Lithium, tramadol, triptans, stimulants
- Beta blockers and blood pressure medication
- Family history of psychosis
- Recent surgery or ongoing treatment
- Supplements, which people forget to list
- Antimalarials, which not all are compatible
What we ask you to send
- Every medication with dose and duration
- Diagnoses, current and past
- Cardiac and neurological history
- Previous psychedelic experience, if any
- What you are hoping for
- Who at home knows you are going
In the room, every night
Two maestros for twelve guests, a physician on site all seven nights and awake until first light, oxygen and a defibrillator on hand, an evacuation protocol rehearsed monthly, a boat kept fuelled at the dock around the clock, and a named receiving hospital ninety minutes away — an hour by road and thirty minutes on the river.
Not medical advice
These lists are not exhaustive and nothing on this page is medical advice. Yellow fever vaccination is recommended for this region and some antimalarials interact with ayahuasca, so send us what your travel clinic suggests before you fill the prescription. Send your file and let the physician decide; if your history is borderline they will tell you that plainly rather than guess.
07 · Afterwards
Seven nights sit inside about four months
Three weeks of dieta before, seven nights here, then a year of integration calls with the same lead who read your file before you travelled. Four calls in the first three months, then quarterly, on your time zone, included in the price.
Guests consistently underestimate the first month home, and the journey out of here is longer than most: boat, road, a night in Iquitos, then Lima. Keep the two days after you land completely empty, hold the dieta one more week, and expect to sleep badly for a few nights. The eight month call is the one people mention most.
08 · Questions
About ayahuasca in Iquitos
How long does it last?
Is the ayahuasca cooked at the retreat?
Is ayahuasca legal in Peru?
Do I have to stop my antidepressants?
Does everyone vomit?
What if I panic during a ceremony?
Do I need to acclimatise before the first ceremony?
How hot is the ceremony room?
Can I do just one ceremony?
How much does it cost?
Can I bring a partner?
No charge to apply · reviewed within 48 hours
Now you know what the night is. Ask whether it is for you.
A physician reads your file, your integration lead calls you, and we either offer a place on a named week upriver or tell you plainly why we cannot. One application in five does not proceed, and nothing is charged either way.