3-Day Ancestral Ayahuasca Retreat with the Palchukán Family
3-Day Ancestral Ayahuasca Retreat with the Palchukán Family
Medellin, Antioquia, Colombia
Up to 10 in group
Apr 25 - 27, 2026
Retreat Highlights
- Small, Intimate Ceremonies
- Integration Support
- Ethical Relationship With the Medicine
About this Retreat
William is a native of the sacred Valle de Sibundoy and a living guardian of the Pastos and Quillacinga indigenous traditions. His knowledge was not learned from books but from the fire, the land, and the elders who came before him — a wisdom passed down through generations of medicine men and women. He has spent his life preserving and sharing the ancestral teachings of the Andean-Amazonian peoples, approaching plant medicine not as a practice but as a way of existing.
Mallku Palchukán was raised inside ceremony. Of Pastos and Killacinga heritage, he grew up learning from the fire of the tulpa, from ancestral ritual, and from the deep knowledge of sacred plants that his family has carried for generations. For Mallku, medicine is not something you do — it is something you are. He brings that embodied understanding into every circle he holds, offering participants a transmission that is ancient, grounded, and alive.
Sandra is a Quillacinga woman and guardian of ancestral feminine wisdom. She carries within her the memory of her healing grandmothers — women who read light, worked with living earth, sacred water, and smoke, and held space for deep transformation. Sandra facilitates women's circles as sacred containers of word and healing, honoring the creative power that lives in the feminine heart. She is also a cultural manager and producer who bridges ancestral spirituality with contemporary reach, believing that tradition grows stronger when it opens itself to the world.
Founder of Liberating Humanity
Humanitarian, philanthropist, and advocate for deep personal and collective healing. After decades as a successful entrepreneur and investor, he shifted his life’s focus toward service, helping rescue and protect vulnerable children around the world. He has played a direct role in dozens of undercover rescue missions across multiple countries. Today, Paul dedicates his work to healing, conscious leadership, and creating spaces where transformation, truth, and love can unfold.
Advocate, Caregiver, Voice for the Voiceless
Leads survivor care through the Child Liberation Foundation. Public speaker raising awareness, advocating for change, and ensuring survivors receive healing and dignity.
Healer & Retreat Visionary. Studied somatic healing, psychedelic-assisted therapy, and trauma integration. Runs healing retreats to help participants dissolve trauma, awaken gifts, and embody authentic freedom. Together, we carry forward a legacy of liberation — healing not just individuals, but generations and communities.
Details of this retreat
A sacred, trauma-informed healing retreat designed to help you reconnect with yourself, release emotional weight, and restore balance in body, mind, and spirit.
Ayahuasca, often referred to as “La Madre Ayahuasca” the Mother, is honored in many Amazonian traditions as a teacher and guide. The medicine's consciousness is often described as both strong and deeply compassionate, gently revealing the areas of life where we may be holding back, avoiding truth, or repeating patterns that no longer serve us.
Through this process of inner reflection, many people gain clarity, emotional release, and a renewed sense of direction.
Scientific research has also begun exploring the therapeutic potential of Ayahuasca. Studies have suggested benefits in areas such as depression, trauma processing, addiction recovery, and emotional well-being when experienced in safe and supportive settings.
At Santuario, this sacred medicine is approached with deep respect.
Ayahuasca helps emotional and psychological healing by:
Helping us release unhealthy patterns and imprinted trauma. Many of our unconscious behaviors are rooted in unresolved pain, trauma, or conditioning. In a ceremony, participants can often gain clarity around addictive tendencies, destructive habits, or repeating relational patterns. Rather than suppressing symptoms, the medicine may show you its origin. This creates an invitation for resolution through forgiveness, accountability, and the opportunity to consciously choose differently moving forward.
It can bring awareness to the deeper origins of fear and chronic anxiety. By safely confronting what has been avoided, one can feel greater sense of peace, emotional release, and nervous system recalibration. This is the process of self-awareness.
In a world of constant stimulation and responsibility, many arrive feeling depleted. Ceremony can create a profound reset helping individuals reconnect with their bodies, reassess priorities, and release the weight of accumulated stress. Participants often describe leaving with renewed clarity and restored vitality.
Help you process unresolved grief, whether from the loss of a loved one, a relationship, or a former version of self. Many experience a deepening of acceptance, compassion, and peace around what has been lost.
This medicine teaches you to surrender, and many times not as passivity, but as trust. Many participants leave with greater clarity, intuition, and confidence in navigating change.
Why Choose Santuario
Small, Intimate Ceremonies
We intentionally keep our ceremonies small (maximum of 10 participants) so every guest can receive the support they need. A smaller container allows facilitators to provide personalized guidance, emotional care, and attentive space-holding throughout the journey.
Integration Support
Many people travel to the Amazon to experience Ayahuasca but return home without guidance on how to integrate what they experienced.
At Santuario, integration is one of the most important aspects of the journey. We help you reflect on your experience, understand its meaning, and translate the insights into meaning and a plan that you can carry into your daily life. Our community continues to offer support even after the retreat ends.
Ethical Relationship With the Medicine
For some people, traveling deep into the Amazon to sit with the medicine can feel intimidating or inaccessible.
For this reason, we have built a respectful relationship with the Palchukan Tautas medicine family, who travel to Santuario to share the medicine within a protected ceremonial space only one hour from Medellín.
The medicine is lovingly prepared by Maima, a respected elder who personally brews the yagé. The Palchukan Tautas family carefully evaluates each participant, ensuring that preparation, dietary guidelines, and health screening are completed before ceremony. Their intention is always to serve the medicine responsibly and with deep respect for its lineage.
A Message From the Palchukan Tautas Family
We are the Palchukan Tautas family, living roots of the ancestral peoples Pasto and Quillacinga. We carry the memory of our ancestors walking in this time.
Our word is born from the mountains, from the páramo and the Andean-Amazon jungle, where the wind still speaks the names of the elders and the waters guard the secrets of creation.
We were born in the sacred Valley of Sibundoy, a spiritual place where the wisdom of the Taitas and the gentle guidance of the Mamas sustain the balance of life. From childhood we were not taught through books, but through the living traditions of our people — around the fire, through the drum that echoes the heartbeat of the Earth, and through the flute that speaks with the spirit of the forest.
We learned to ask permission before planting,to give thanks before drinking,and to listen before speaking.
We are sons and daughters of medicine men and women, raised among ceremonies, sacred plants, and the harmonizing sounds of the Andes and the Amazon.
For us, medicine is not simply a practice.It is a way of living.
The sacred plant Yagé is a teacher and a guide. It helps bring order to the thoughts, cleanses the heart, and strengthens the path of a person’s life. It teaches us to think beautifully, feel beautifully, and live beautifully.
We do not see it as a substance, but as a wise elder spirit who awakens consciousness.
Sound is also part of our medicine. The drum calls the spirit, the flute carries prayer, the rattle clears heavy energies, and sacred songs plant light in the soul. Through these vibrations we remember ancient wisdom that lives within every human heart.
Today we continue our work from our territory near Mocoa, where we protect the waters, plant trees, restore the forest, and care for Mother Earth.
In our family also lives the wisdom of the feminine. Sandra Tautas, woman of the Quillacinga people, carries the ancestral knowledge of the grandmothers and the women healers who came before her. She holds circles for women and preserves the teachings of feminine healing and sacred remembrance.
Together we walk with the medicine of sound, ceremony, and the sacred circle.
We do not impose paths.We simply accompany those who are walking their own.
Where the medicine opens the way, we walk with humility and respect, sharing the message of our ancestors:
To remember that we are nature.That we are community.That we are spirit living within the Earth.
We are water that cleanses.We are earth that sustains.We are fire that transforms.We are wind that carries the word.
We are not owners of wisdom.We are only its temporary guardians.
We walk in service to life, to the awakening of consciousness, and to the harmony of all beings.
— Palchukan Tautas Family
What Happens During the Ceremony
Each retreat at Santuario is designed to support preparation, ceremony, and integration, allowing the medicine to work not only during the night but also through reflection and embodiment the following day.
Our ceremonies are held in a sacred Maloka ceremonial space and guided by the Palchukan Tautas family, who carry the traditions of the Pasto and Quillacinga peoples of the Andes-Amazon region.
Opening of the Ceremony
The evening begins around 9:00 PM with a circle of word (círculo de palabra).
In this moment the Taitas introduce themselves and open the space for participants to share their intentions and express what they are carrying into the ceremony.
Ceremonial Opening
The ceremony is then opened through traditional practices that help prepare the body, mind, and spirit:
Sacred smoke cleansing using copal and palo santo from Putumayo
A ritual bath with bitter medicinal plants to cleanse the energetic field
Prayers and blessings offered by the Taitas
Participants return to the Maloka to begin the sacred work with the medicine.
Receiving the Medicine
The Taitas open the ceremonial prayer and begin chanting ícaros and sacred songs, focusing on each participant’s intention and the collective healing of the circle.
The first cup of Yagé (Ayahuasca) is then offered.
Participants remain seated in silence, allowing the medicine to begin its work and guiding their attention inward.
Musical Healing and Energetic Work
After the medicine begins to work, the Taitas guide a period of musical therapy and energetic harmonization using:
ancestral chants and ícaros
drums and sacred instruments
rattles and seeds
healing prayers
These sounds help guide the experience, clear energetic blockages, and support emotional release.
After some time, participants may lie down and continue the journey as the Taitas perform energetic healing through music, prayer, and sound.
Second Offering of Medicine
Later in the night, those who feel called to deepen their process may receive a second cup of medicine.
The ceremony then returns to a quiet space of introspection as the Taitas continue working with songs and prayers, gradually guiding the energy from subtle to powerful and back into stillness.
Closing of the Ceremony
As the sun begins to rise, the ceremony is gently closed.
Participants may receive traditional energetic therapies such as:
Ortiga therapy (nettle cleansing)
Wayra therapy, a traditional energetic clearing
In some cases, if the Taita feels it is appropriate, a small closing offering of rapé from the Yawanawá tradition of Brazil may be offered to help complete the energetic process. This is not guaranteed and is only offered if the Taita feels it is needed.
The ceremony concludes with a morning integration circle, where participants can begin sharing and grounding their experience.
Integration and Embodiment
The healing journey continues the following day.
In the afternoon we hold another guided integration circle with light restorative movement where participants reflect on their experience and begin translating the insights into their lives.
These sessions may include:
integration circles
guided reflection and emotional processing
body movement and somatic practices
breathwork or meditation
time in nature
This process helps the experience move from insight into lasting transformation.
Who This Retreat Is For
This retreat is for individuals who feel a sincere call toward deep personal growth, emotional healing, and spiritual transformation.
It is especially supportive for those who are:
working through emotional patterns or past experiences
wanting to reconnect with themselves and their purpose
feeling called to explore ancestral medicines in a safe and respectful environment
ready to approach healing with humility, openness, and responsibility
seeking clarity in their life direction
looking to heal from emotional and mental distress
Who This Retreat May Not Be For
Because Ayahuasca is a powerful medicine, it is not appropriate for everyone.
This retreat may not be suitable for individuals who:
have certain cardiovascular conditions
are currently taking medications that interact with MAOIs
are experiencing certain psychiatric conditions that require medical supervision
are not willing to follow preparation guidelines or respect ceremonial protocols
All participants complete a health and psychological screening before attending to ensure the experience is safe and appropriate.
We ask that you pay half upfront and bring the other half in cash.
Ayahuasca, often referred to as “La Madre Ayahuasca” the Mother, is honored in many Amazonian traditions as a teacher and guide. The medicine's consciousness is often described as both strong and deeply compassionate, gently revealing the areas of life where we may be holding back, avoiding truth, or repeating patterns that no longer serve us.
Through this process of inner reflection, many people gain clarity, emotional release, and a renewed sense of direction.
Scientific research has also begun exploring the therapeutic potential of Ayahuasca. Studies have suggested benefits in areas such as depression, trauma processing, addiction recovery, and emotional well-being when experienced in safe and supportive settings.
At Santuario, this sacred medicine is approached with deep respect.
Ayahuasca helps emotional and psychological healing by:
Helping us release unhealthy patterns and imprinted trauma. Many of our unconscious behaviors are rooted in unresolved pain, trauma, or conditioning. In a ceremony, participants can often gain clarity around addictive tendencies, destructive habits, or repeating relational patterns. Rather than suppressing symptoms, the medicine may show you its origin. This creates an invitation for resolution through forgiveness, accountability, and the opportunity to consciously choose differently moving forward.
It can bring awareness to the deeper origins of fear and chronic anxiety. By safely confronting what has been avoided, one can feel greater sense of peace, emotional release, and nervous system recalibration. This is the process of self-awareness.
In a world of constant stimulation and responsibility, many arrive feeling depleted. Ceremony can create a profound reset helping individuals reconnect with their bodies, reassess priorities, and release the weight of accumulated stress. Participants often describe leaving with renewed clarity and restored vitality.
Help you process unresolved grief, whether from the loss of a loved one, a relationship, or a former version of self. Many experience a deepening of acceptance, compassion, and peace around what has been lost.
This medicine teaches you to surrender, and many times not as passivity, but as trust. Many participants leave with greater clarity, intuition, and confidence in navigating change.
Why Choose Santuario
Small, Intimate Ceremonies
We intentionally keep our ceremonies small (maximum of 10 participants) so every guest can receive the support they need. A smaller container allows facilitators to provide personalized guidance, emotional care, and attentive space-holding throughout the journey.
Integration Support
Many people travel to the Amazon to experience Ayahuasca but return home without guidance on how to integrate what they experienced.
At Santuario, integration is one of the most important aspects of the journey. We help you reflect on your experience, understand its meaning, and translate the insights into meaning and a plan that you can carry into your daily life. Our community continues to offer support even after the retreat ends.
Ethical Relationship With the Medicine
For some people, traveling deep into the Amazon to sit with the medicine can feel intimidating or inaccessible.
For this reason, we have built a respectful relationship with the Palchukan Tautas medicine family, who travel to Santuario to share the medicine within a protected ceremonial space only one hour from Medellín.
The medicine is lovingly prepared by Maima, a respected elder who personally brews the yagé. The Palchukan Tautas family carefully evaluates each participant, ensuring that preparation, dietary guidelines, and health screening are completed before ceremony. Their intention is always to serve the medicine responsibly and with deep respect for its lineage.
A Message From the Palchukan Tautas Family
We are the Palchukan Tautas family, living roots of the ancestral peoples Pasto and Quillacinga. We carry the memory of our ancestors walking in this time.
Our word is born from the mountains, from the páramo and the Andean-Amazon jungle, where the wind still speaks the names of the elders and the waters guard the secrets of creation.
We were born in the sacred Valley of Sibundoy, a spiritual place where the wisdom of the Taitas and the gentle guidance of the Mamas sustain the balance of life. From childhood we were not taught through books, but through the living traditions of our people — around the fire, through the drum that echoes the heartbeat of the Earth, and through the flute that speaks with the spirit of the forest.
We learned to ask permission before planting,to give thanks before drinking,and to listen before speaking.
We are sons and daughters of medicine men and women, raised among ceremonies, sacred plants, and the harmonizing sounds of the Andes and the Amazon.
For us, medicine is not simply a practice.It is a way of living.
The sacred plant Yagé is a teacher and a guide. It helps bring order to the thoughts, cleanses the heart, and strengthens the path of a person’s life. It teaches us to think beautifully, feel beautifully, and live beautifully.
We do not see it as a substance, but as a wise elder spirit who awakens consciousness.
Sound is also part of our medicine. The drum calls the spirit, the flute carries prayer, the rattle clears heavy energies, and sacred songs plant light in the soul. Through these vibrations we remember ancient wisdom that lives within every human heart.
Today we continue our work from our territory near Mocoa, where we protect the waters, plant trees, restore the forest, and care for Mother Earth.
In our family also lives the wisdom of the feminine. Sandra Tautas, woman of the Quillacinga people, carries the ancestral knowledge of the grandmothers and the women healers who came before her. She holds circles for women and preserves the teachings of feminine healing and sacred remembrance.
Together we walk with the medicine of sound, ceremony, and the sacred circle.
We do not impose paths.We simply accompany those who are walking their own.
Where the medicine opens the way, we walk with humility and respect, sharing the message of our ancestors:
To remember that we are nature.That we are community.That we are spirit living within the Earth.
We are water that cleanses.We are earth that sustains.We are fire that transforms.We are wind that carries the word.
We are not owners of wisdom.We are only its temporary guardians.
We walk in service to life, to the awakening of consciousness, and to the harmony of all beings.
— Palchukan Tautas Family
What Happens During the Ceremony
Each retreat at Santuario is designed to support preparation, ceremony, and integration, allowing the medicine to work not only during the night but also through reflection and embodiment the following day.
Our ceremonies are held in a sacred Maloka ceremonial space and guided by the Palchukan Tautas family, who carry the traditions of the Pasto and Quillacinga peoples of the Andes-Amazon region.
Opening of the Ceremony
The evening begins around 9:00 PM with a circle of word (círculo de palabra).
In this moment the Taitas introduce themselves and open the space for participants to share their intentions and express what they are carrying into the ceremony.
Ceremonial Opening
The ceremony is then opened through traditional practices that help prepare the body, mind, and spirit:
Sacred smoke cleansing using copal and palo santo from Putumayo
A ritual bath with bitter medicinal plants to cleanse the energetic field
Prayers and blessings offered by the Taitas
Participants return to the Maloka to begin the sacred work with the medicine.
Receiving the Medicine
The Taitas open the ceremonial prayer and begin chanting ícaros and sacred songs, focusing on each participant’s intention and the collective healing of the circle.
The first cup of Yagé (Ayahuasca) is then offered.
Participants remain seated in silence, allowing the medicine to begin its work and guiding their attention inward.
Musical Healing and Energetic Work
After the medicine begins to work, the Taitas guide a period of musical therapy and energetic harmonization using:
ancestral chants and ícaros
drums and sacred instruments
rattles and seeds
healing prayers
These sounds help guide the experience, clear energetic blockages, and support emotional release.
After some time, participants may lie down and continue the journey as the Taitas perform energetic healing through music, prayer, and sound.
Second Offering of Medicine
Later in the night, those who feel called to deepen their process may receive a second cup of medicine.
The ceremony then returns to a quiet space of introspection as the Taitas continue working with songs and prayers, gradually guiding the energy from subtle to powerful and back into stillness.
Closing of the Ceremony
As the sun begins to rise, the ceremony is gently closed.
Participants may receive traditional energetic therapies such as:
Ortiga therapy (nettle cleansing)
Wayra therapy, a traditional energetic clearing
In some cases, if the Taita feels it is appropriate, a small closing offering of rapé from the Yawanawá tradition of Brazil may be offered to help complete the energetic process. This is not guaranteed and is only offered if the Taita feels it is needed.
The ceremony concludes with a morning integration circle, where participants can begin sharing and grounding their experience.
Integration and Embodiment
The healing journey continues the following day.
In the afternoon we hold another guided integration circle with light restorative movement where participants reflect on their experience and begin translating the insights into their lives.
These sessions may include:
integration circles
guided reflection and emotional processing
body movement and somatic practices
breathwork or meditation
time in nature
This process helps the experience move from insight into lasting transformation.
Who This Retreat Is For
This retreat is for individuals who feel a sincere call toward deep personal growth, emotional healing, and spiritual transformation.
It is especially supportive for those who are:
working through emotional patterns or past experiences
wanting to reconnect with themselves and their purpose
feeling called to explore ancestral medicines in a safe and respectful environment
ready to approach healing with humility, openness, and responsibility
seeking clarity in their life direction
looking to heal from emotional and mental distress
Who This Retreat May Not Be For
Because Ayahuasca is a powerful medicine, it is not appropriate for everyone.
This retreat may not be suitable for individuals who:
have certain cardiovascular conditions
are currently taking medications that interact with MAOIs
are experiencing certain psychiatric conditions that require medical supervision
are not willing to follow preparation guidelines or respect ceremonial protocols
All participants complete a health and psychological screening before attending to ensure the experience is safe and appropriate.
We ask that you pay half upfront and bring the other half in cash.
Schedule
Each retreat at Santuario moves through three phases: preparation, ceremony, and integration. On your first evening, you will gather with the Palchukán Tautas family in a circle of word where intentions are set and the space is opened through sacred smoke cleansing, a ritual bath with medicinal plants, and prayers. The ceremony then begins in the Maloka, guided by ancestral ícaros, drums, rattles, and energetic healing work through the night. As the sun rises, the ceremony closes with traditional therapies including Ortiga and Wayra, and a morning integration circle. The following afternoon we gather again for a guided integration circle with light movement, somatic practices, breathwork, and time in nature — supporting you in bringing the insights of the ceremony into your everyday life.
Note: Schedule is approximate and may change
Getting Here
Santuario Retreats, Medellin, Antioquia, Colombia
Accommodation
Our Garden Cabins are tucked into lush tropical surroundings, offering a peaceful and intimate space for rest and reconnection. Built with natural wood and bamboo, each cabin blends beautifully with nature while providing comfort and privacy. Inside, you'll find two single beds with soft linens and warm natural details. Each cabin includes a private outdoor bamboo bathroom, allowing you to shower surrounded by greenery, as well as a small porch with seating for quiet mornings or shared moments together. These cabins are designed for double occupancy. Single travelers will be assigned a roommate based on gender.
Price
Venue & Amenities
A/C in Rooms
Free Wifi
Spa
Sauna
Pool
Towels
Free Parking
Kitchen
Tour Assistance
Hot Tub
Coffee/Tea
Cafe
Restaurant
Fitness Center
Yoga Studio
Housekeeping
Bicycles For Rent
Santuario sits in the mountains of Antioquia, Colombia, surrounded by nature and far enough from the noise of daily life that you actually feel the difference when you arrive. The property has private rooms, shared spaces, and common areas designed for both rest and connection. Meals, ceremonies, and gatherings happen together. Quiet time is easy to find. From the ceremonial fire pit to the mountain views that greet you every morning, the space holds you in a way that makes the inner work easier
Meals
Menu Types
Vegan
Vegetarian
Pescetarian
Ayurvedic
Includes Meat
Organic
Gluten Free
Dairy Free
Nut Free
Fresh, natural, and nourishing meals made with wholesome ingredients. We accommodate all dietary needs, including vegetarian, vegan, high-protein, gluten-free, dairy-free, and food allergies.
What's Included
- Accommodation (shared cabins with private bathrooms)
- Nourishing Meals
- Transportation to and from the airport
- 2 Ayahuasca ceremonies
- 1 Plant Bath
- Nettle or Wayra Cleansing
- 2 Integration workshops with a trauma-informed plant medicine specialist.
- Water blessing ceremony
- 1 One-on-one preparation video call.
- 1 post Integration call
- Preparation packet
- Access to pool, river, jacuzzi, and sauna
What's Not Included
- Airfare