Gaia Sagrada Retreat Center
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A wonderful place to meet Mother Ayahuasca
Ayahuasca and Shamanism seem to have attracted a lot of interest recently. If, back in the 1960s, William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg introduced a weird Amazonian hallucinogen, Yagé (another name for Ayahuasca), the fame of the jungle medicine has since been blown out of proportion, with filmmaker Gaspar Noé, among others, explicitly referring to it in his movies. Nevertheless, there is a dark side to that fame. Iquitos is now reputed to be a Walmart of Ayahuasca and a lot of charlatans now pose as shamans. Beware! Men and women have been assaulted and people lost their lives due to disreputable characters trying to make easy money. However, you can come with your mind at ress at Gaia Sagrada. Despite most governments warning against taking part in ayahuasca ceremonies due to the impossibility to know if a particular retreat is safe or not, the fact is that they are wrong. Just like for anything else, insightful reviews cans help make a safe choice. Gaia Sagrada is situated in the mountains near Cuenca, Equador. Not only is the spot beautiful, it’s also surprisingly affordable compared to other places in Peru or elsewhere, the staff is wonderful, the shamans, Antai, Titi, Black Jaguar, Don Mauricio, Christine, are amazing. The personnel also goes the extra mile to make you feel comfortable. The vegetarian food is great and the other guests are all wonderful. As Don Mauricio, said to me, they are two important things: buen lugar, buena gente (Good place, good people). Gaia Sagrada has both. Finally, I also wanted to say I came for healing and found much more. Through ecstatic visions and a trip through parallel dimensions, Mother Ayahuasca and Grandfather San Pedro showed me who I really am, priceless knowledge.