Vilcabamba RETREAT

RITES OF RENEWAL

the village that is born when women gather

YOU ARE INVITED TO A PILGRIMAGE IN THE HEART OF THE AMERICAS, IN THE SACRED LANDS OF THE SAN PEDRO CACTUS

REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN

Every woman carries moments when life rearranges itself—when the old way of being no longer fits, and the new way has not yet revealed itself. These thresholds are not small. They are initiations. And they require space, ritual, and guidance to be met with dignity.

This retreat in Vilcabamba is a sanctuary for that passage.

held by the ancient medicines of the Andes and the Amazon, guided by a team who has walked these paths, we step together into the ceremony of change.

Vilcabamba offers the kind of space where real shifts happen—inside your body, your story, and the way you walk into the next cycle of your life.

We do this work at the end of the year for a reason—when the world tells us to rush toward resolutions, we choose to sit with what’s true, shed what’s outgrown, and root towards a new direction.

come celebrate the end of the year in deep reverence.

This is an invitation to a transformative journey in my beloved Ecuador. This retreat is for women in transition—whether you are stepping into midlife, navigating changes in your body, work, or identity, or simply feeling the quiet knowing that something new is asking to be born. Here, we gather at the river’s edge, at the mountain’s foot, by the fire, in the wind, to remember: transitions are sacred.

We are going to my beloved Vilcabamba to recover the memory of who we are. This valley—cradled by mountains, rivers, and silence—holds a frequency that slows the nervous system and invites deeper listening.

This retreat isn’t a vacation

It’s a return.

The end of a year is a mirror. For many women, it reflects change: a marriage shifting, a body transforming, children leaving, work unraveling. This retreat is a place to lay it all down—to be nourished by land, by lineage, and by circle—so you can step into what’s next, not with resolution, but with renewal.

Throughout our journey, we will delve deep into the heart of Ecuador's rich cultural tapestry, ancient wisdom, earth medicines, and breathtaking natural landscapes.

SEE WHAT PREVIOUS GUESTS HAD TO SHARE ABOUT THEIR EXPERIENCE:

CASA HACIENDA LA SOFIA

In the heart of the charming Quinara valley, in the Yangana parish, southeast of Loja, lies Finca La Sofia, a serene sanctuary spanning 13 hectares, mostly covered with sugar cane fields that supply the "molienda," an artisanal factory where the sweet nectar of the cane is turned into panela. Upon entering the property, one is greeted by the charming main house, surrounded by fruit trees, flowering gardens, and ornamental trees.

Next to the kitchen, there is a vibrant garden called chakra in local tongue, where medicinal plants, aromatic herbs, spices, and vegetables grow. This green corner is bordered by a small forest of native trees such as Cedar, Mango, Willows, Laurels, Palo Santo, providing a sanctuary for local wildlife. Here our diligent bees and hens also reside, offering golden honey and fresh eggs every morning.

The gardens, a tapestry of colours and aromas, extend in front and to the sides of the house. Here, you will find a refreshing salt water pool, rest areas for meditation and reading, a spa with a steam room and massage room, and the meditation hall. Downstairs, a small ceramics workshop invites you to explore creativity in a peaceful environment.

Along the path, fruit trees like oranges, limes, grapefruits, lemons, coffee, bananas, plantains, achira, and yucca.

These products, essential in traditional South American cuisine, complement our agricultural offerings and will delight our senses during every meal.

THE PLAN

We meet at Quito International Airport at noon on and as a group we take a 50 minute flight (round trip domestic flight included in the cost of the retreat) to the city of Loja. We get picked up there and after a picturesque 90 minute car ride, driving past the valley of Vilcabamba we enter the community aptly named Comunidades where finca La Sofia is nestled upon.

The journey then will unfold at this family owned farmhouse, Casa La Sofia, surrounded by breathtaking mountains, rivers, and waterfalls, providing an idyllic backdrop for personal growth and healing.

Arrival is estimated at 7pm, our first evening together will consist of a small introductory circle and a lovely dinner. The retreat officially begins on this evening.

RESERVE YOUR SPACE below - attendance Limited to ten guests

we like it cozy and very individualized

Geographical Data:

• Latitude: 4° 21' 53" South

• Longitude: 79° 14' 4'' West

• Altitude: 1,600 meters above sea level

• Climate: dry subtropical

ThE retreat INCLUDES:

• 7 Nights of shared accommodations at Finca La Sofia with comfortable bedding and linens and complementary laundry service.

• Roundtrip domestic flight form Quito to Vilcabamba.

• Private airport transfers for our group, snacks and water provided.

• English, French and Spanish speaking experienced facilitators, local ritualists, shamans and medicine men and women as our team of supporters and healers.

• Yoga practice throughout the retreat designed to integrate breath-work and movement as another form of medicine to support your early morning hours.

• Delicious local meals and dieta for ceremony days.

• medicine songs will be learned and practiced in group on certain days around the fire.

• Early morning hike to mandango sacred mountain, coca leaves work, guayusa blessings, despacho.

• pottery workshop.

• Temazcal (Sweat-Lodge) ceremony.

• CACAO CEREMONY and sound journey.

• horseback riding morning through the surrounding mountains

• San Pedro Medicine Ceremony -power walk-

• Ayahuasca ceremony.

• Waterfall bathing and blessing.

• Integration and sharing circles.

• Ancestral healing sessions in preparation for retreat.

• A morning of leisure in Vilcabamba town.

  
  

DOES NOT INCLUDE:

• AIRFARE TO QUITO, ECUADOR (ONCE YOU KNOW YOU ARE COMING, MAKE SURE YOU BOOK YOUR TICKET, EXPECT TO SPEND FROM $550 TO $990 ON A ROUND TRIP AIRFARE FROM THE US.

• GRATUITIES AND TIPS are not included.

• optional massage therapies and horseback riding fees are not included.(massage average cost: $70 per hour / horseback riding morning cost: $40 for 2 hours.

Our approach to ceremony in retreats works in ways that are psychologically grounded, ritually safe, and culturally inclusive with a blend of rejuvenation, self-discovery and Indigenous ritualistic practices of remembrance and reconnection.

THE SACRED MEDICINES

THE SAN PEDRO CACTUS

Original name: Wachuma or Aguacoya

Wachuma is a sacred plant medicine also known by names such as San Pedro or Awakoya. It comes from the Echinopsis Pachanoi cactus, native to the Andes mountains of Vilcabamba. Our main medicine on this retreat.

In the Andes — and particularly in Southern Ecuador, near Vilcabamba — wachuma is the name used by the Kichwa and Saraguro peoples, descendants of the broader Cañari-Inka lineages, to refer to the sacred cactus commonly called San Pedro. The Spanish name, San Pedro, was a colonial overlay referencing Saint Peter, the one said to hold the "keys to heaven" — perhaps a Catholic nod to the portal-opening nature of the cactus. But long before this renaming, the cactus was revered as a being of light, a cosmic bridge, and a companion to the condor’s eye.

It is believed to be perhaps one of the most consistently used plant medicines throughout history. Archeological evidence suggests that even as long ago as 1300 B.C., Andean cultures were working with the cactus for its transcendent spiritual and physical healing powers.

The mythology tells us that wachuma was gifted by the Apus — the mountain spirits — to help humans see with the heart. In this mythic framework, ayahuasca is the feminine, the moon-path, the serpent; while wachuma is the masculine, the sun-path, the condor — each offering their medicine on different currents of consciousness.

Traditional Use Around Vilcabamba

While wachuma has strong associations with the highland Andes of Peru, its presence in southern Ecuador, particularly Loja province and the Vilcabamba valley, is very old. This was a place of pilgrimage and healing, where Indigenous and mestizo healers alike worked with plant allies, including tobacco, angel’s trumpet, and wachuma.

Vilcabamba has become, in recent years, a new age haven. This has led to both renewed reverence and concern.

We are most careful to ally ourselves with Indigenous elders and mestizo curanderos auténticos from the Loja region and nearby rainforest continue to guide ceremonies with deep guardianship, respect and prayer.

Our ethos warns you of:

• Uninitiated facilitators offering the cactus without proper prayer, song, or context.

• Commodification of sacred plants into spiritual tourism products.

• Cultural disconnection and dilution of cosmovisión andina — the Andean worldview that holds wachuma as part of a much larger ethical and ecological system.

The call now, as always, is for reciprocity, discernment, and cultural humility — especially when walking the sacred landscapes of a plant’s homeland.

THE SACRED VINE - AYAHUASCA

In the territories that now comprise eastern Ecuador — spanning the Amazon basin and cloud forest edges — Indigenous nations such as the Shuar, Achuar, Kichwa of the Amazon (Napo Runa), Secoya, and Cofan have held ayahuasca as a portal plant, a grandmother, a teacher, a healer, and a spirit.

In Shuar cosmology, the first shaman received Natem (their word for ayahuasca) directly from the Nunkui, the spirits of nature. The vine was said to grow from the body of a divine being who was dismembered and buried — her blood becoming the vine, her eyes the flowers. The spirit of the vine, then, is ancestral and sentient, meant to guide human beings back into alignment with the forest and the sacred laws.

The Kichwa of the Napo region tell that Ayahuasca was gifted by the celestial beings — the stars — to help humans remember their true origins and to heal the amnesia brought on by colonization, disease, and disconnection. The vine is often paired with Chakruna (Psychotria viridis) or other admixtures that act as keys to unlock the realms.

This medicine is interwoven with oral histories, songlines, and dream transmission, often passed from grandmother to grandson, father to daughter, from yachak to apprentice. It is not a drug. It is a consciousness. And the tribes have always known it as such.

Traditional Use and Ritual Practice

For my people, Ayahuasca is not taken casually or for recreational purposes. It is central to rites of passage, divination, diagnosis, healing of trauma, soul retrieval, spiritual warfare, and guidance for hunting, childbirth, and life decisions.

IMPORTANT CONSIDERATIONS

• Dietas (sacred fasting/food purification) — avoiding salt, sugar, sex, and strong spices to purify the channels.

• Night ceremonies — always held at night when the veil is thin, often accompanied by icaros (medicine songs).

• Guidance of an elder shaman or yachak — one who has studied with the plants and lived through rigorous apprenticeship, including isolation in the forest with only the vine as teacher.

• Collective dreaming — healing not just for the individual, but for the tribe, the land, and the spirits.

Each tribe has its own protocols and spiritual technologies. For the Secoya, ayahuasca ceremonies are about communing with the ancestors. For the Cofan, the medicine is called yagé, and it is known as a method to see “with the stomach,” not the eyes.

The Vine Today — Sacred Yet Threatened

As ayahuasca travels beyond the forest — into the West, into ceremony spaces, into commodification — many Ecuadorian elders have voiced concern about extractive tourism, misuse of the medicine, and loss of context.

For the original stewards, this vine is not a product. It is a relative. A grandmother who must be approached with humility, preparation, and reciprocity. The sacha runa yachay — forest knowledge — is not for sale, but for protection.

We are part of an Ecuadorian movement led by Indigenous women and youth to reclaim ayahuasca’s dignity, to preserve their languages and ceremony protocols, and to educate outsiders with honesty and discernment.

Ayahuasca is not just a plant. She is a bridge between worlds — a whisper from the jungle, a serpent of truth, a healer of colonial wounds, and a mirror of our forgotten cosmic selves.

And like all sacred things, she is best approached not with demand, but with reverence, relationship, and listening.

BELOW IMAGES OF OUR SPRING RETREAT

APRIL - MAY 2025

WHO IS THIS RETREAT FOR?

This retreat is lovingly designed for those who:

1. Women navigating life transitions — 30’s to 60’s, experiencing shifts in identity, relationships, health, or work, and ready for a reset.

2. Those seeking deeper healing — women who feel called to ancestral plant ceremonies (Ayahuasca & San Pedro), in its original lands and without the trappings of the plant medicine tourism, who wish to be guided safely through preparation, ritual, and integration. Who are committed to approaching these medicines with reverence, intention, and respect for the traditions they come from and vow to uphold indigenous voices and rights.

3. Women longing for connection, seeking a sacred community — not just a retreat experience, but the creation of lasting bonds, sisterhood, and the support of a tribe walking similar thresholds. Who wish to share their healing journey with others in a nurturing, supportive environment.

4. Those ready to invest in themselves — women who know the effort of stepping away from daily life is great, but who are ready to prioritize their well-being, clarity, and renewal.

5. Are Ready to take assume transformation, taking responsibility of their own lives. Who feel ready to become a hollow bone, sovereign, and learn the art of reciprocity, creating new neural pathways, new ways of seeing the world, and make new commitments and agreements with themselves.

CAN’T WAIT TO SHARE THE MAGIC OF MY COUNTRY WITH YOU!

SEE YOU THIS WINTER IN ECUADOR!

Cancellation Policy

I pour my heart, time, and resources into preparing each retreat. i am a single mother, running my business alone, from teaching and curriculum creation, to events and retrat planning and facilitation, to 1:1 work and consultations, website creation and design, and social media presence: i do it all alone.

Because of this and the fact that retreats i lead are intimate gatherings, every registration matters deeply.

For this reason, I am unable to offer refunds except in the case of a true emergency, and only if notified at least four months prior to the retreat.

If you find yourself unable to attend, your place is not lost—you have two options:

• Transfer your spot to a friend, sister, or loved one who feels called.

• Save your credit for a future retreat or offering with me.

This policy is how I’m able to keep these gatherings sustainable while also supporting you with flexibility and care. Thank you for understanding and honoring the commitment that makes this sacred work possible.