7 Day Mexican Medicines Retreat: Peyote, Psilocybin and Bufo Alvarius

I had a really powerful experience at Arkana Spiritual Center. It is a very peaceful place surrounded by nature, which helped me feel calm and focused. The ceremonies were intense but meaningful, and they helped me learn a lot about myself. The shamans and staff were kind, caring, and made me feel safe the whole time.

The retreat was well organized, and the food and rooms were amazing (vegan options available). I also liked the extra activities like yoga, group sharing, and spending time outside. I felt connected to the other people there, and it was nice to share the experience together.

This is not an easy or relaxing vacation it can be emotional and challenging, but most people, including me, felt it was worth it. Overall, Arkana is a good place for people who are serious about healing, learning, and personal growth. I’m so grateful for my new outlook on life it’s truly a fresh start once you do the hard work in each ceremony. I will be forever grateful for Arkana, Jose, and the wonderful shaman and facilitators that made this place run so smoothly for people to come and heal!

I’ve been to both Arkana retreats in Peru the Scared Valley and the Amazon.
Each time it was a wonderful experience with the staff and facilitators and Maestro’s.
I highly recommend Arkana to everyone and anyone.

I attended Arkana in November of 2025. I wanted to wait a few months so that I would have all the right words to say after the initial integration back had passed and also that it would still be true after the "afterglow"

I experienced a lot of traumas in my life, and most were before I was age 13. Because of this I made very poor decisions in my life, especially in the relationships that I sought out. I have worked really hard at finding my inner peace. I have tried psychological therapy (even getting my degree in Psychology), tapping, hypnotism, getting very involved in religion, anti-depressants, drugs as a teenager and alcohol in my later years. I knew plant medicine would probably be my last resort at finding my inner peace. The jungle called to me for years...

I did a lot of research since I am a woman, and I would be going alone. For some reason as soon as I found Arkana on a google search I felt like "this is the one!". It felt safe. Every time I thought about it until the time I got there, I was excited about it.

Now for women that go alone... the best advice I can give is beware of the taxi drivers in Iquitos. They will con you out of $$. Just know what it should cost you to get to where you want to go and you will be fine. There is a free shuttle that gets you to the hotel from the airport, so you may not need a taxi at all.

The next morning when the shuttle bus comes to pick you up and you meet the team....you know you are safe and from that time until you leave to go home... YOU ARE LOVED and CARED for! You'll understand once you trek it yourself.

Now I don't want to go too much into the plant medicine and which ones worked for me and didn't because everyone has a different experience and I wouldn't want you to expect a certain medicine to do for you what it did for me. I can explain my experience though...

I have always been a very spiritual person. I could always feel that there was.....something more. I chased a lot of different beliefs. I can say that for my experience, what I then thought was god in hindsight I see as complete Oneness, if that makes sense. I could see, feel, taste, HEAR every emotion. It was pain, love, fear, joy and most of all TRUST!. It was in me, through me, surrounding me. For once in my life I felt safe... loved.... peace. I wept like I have never wept before... I understood.

I was reborn and after my experience I could feel my aura surrounding me as if it was bumping into everything I walked by. I never believed in this type of thing before.

On my travels home through airports and once a few days later, I could smell the flower water that they used during ceremony. I have woken up several times since, early in the morning and I am back in the jungle, back in the maloka. I have been able to work through people that have hurt me, and I cry... but I am healing.

Now this is not going to be everyone's experience, please know this.... If you have run out of options and you have traumas that are deep in you... this may be a gateway to release.

I love you Arkana. I love your staff that you so carefully choose. I love that you have security on site to keep us safe. I love that you are there for us even after our journey. I am immensely grateful!

Lisa

🌟 Arkana Ayahuasca Center Review: A Transformative Experience 🌟
This is not just a retreat; it's a complete healing journey. After nearly a year of research, I chose Arkana, and I am so grateful I did.
1. My Personal Experience (The Arkana Family)
The entire place is amazing, with every spot having its own unique character.
* The Staff: They are more than just kind—they are truly a new family. Everyone, from the cleaners to the Shamans, is filled with love and a genuine desire to ensure you achieve your goals. Their care is 100% genuine.
* The Healing Journey: The environment is built on four strong pillars: The powerful Jungle, the loving Staff, the sacred Ayahuasca spirit, and authentic Shamans. This is a complete treatment center from arrival to departure.
* Food: The food was outstanding—Yummy, healthy, and perfectly supportive of the cleansing and healing process!
2. For Future Visitors (Important Insight)
If your goal is just to "try" Ayahuasca as a normal drink, this is not your place. Ayahuasca is a spirit that demands respect. This center is for those committed to a deep, complete, and healing journey.
| Category | My Rating & Thoughts |
|---|---|
| Jungle | Super, WOW! A standalone healing force. |
| Staff | I have a new family now. |
| Shamans | Real deal! They share their palpable energy with you. |
| Overall Vibe | The ultimate experience of love, energy, and peace. |

My recent journey at Arkana was not about visions or stories I simply came to listen. It was about truth. It was about understanding that life itself is a song and the medicine only helps you hear the parts you have forgotten. What I received there was not a performance. It was alignment. It was the reminder that my path is strongest when I live from my centre and not from the noise around me.

The shamans reflected my light back to me in a way that was simple and honest. Not inflated. Not romanticised. Just truth. When I sang icaros on my toilet journeys during ceremony they came from a place deeper than my throat, They came from my chest, from my heart, from a part of me that wakes up when the plants speak. For the first time I felt completely safe inside myself. Safe to open. Safe to feel. Safe to let my voice be carried by something bigger than me.
Arkana was not an escape it was a complete recalibration. It stripped away what was left of the stories and left only the essence. The medicine made it clear that the path forward is about singing my own song, not repeating the echoes of others. My work is to stay aligned,to stay honest with myself and to act from the truth that lives in my body already. When I step out of that alignment, I feel it immediately. When I return to it, everything flows again.
This journey finally showed me that I am not invisible. My light is real. My presence is felt. But it is not something to hold onto with an ego. It is something to live from. Something to serve with. Something to protect.

Arkana reminded me that the plants do not want stories. They want sincerity. They want intention. They want you to listen. When you listen, your life becomes a song that guides you. A song that clears what is heavy. A song that brings you back to who you truly are.

This was my second time at Arkana it was an experience to return to truth. A return to myself and a reminder that the path ahead is not about becoming anything. It is about remembering. It is about standing in my own medicine and letting my song move through me with clarity, love and purpose!

During ceremony when I looked up at the roof of the maloca I could feel Jose’s energy and love reflected back at me, and it would make me smile without even trying. Every structure, every detail, every part of the space carries that presence and makes you feel completely held.
The facilitators are genuinely beautiful humans and the light they carry is immense. You feel it in the way they hold space and move through the work. The shamans also became very meaningful to me. By the end of the retreat it felt as if they had become my brothers and sisters.
Love all serve all 💜💜💜