Ayahuasca ceremonies (one week)

Don Gardel is from a family of curanderos: his grandfather was one, and his two brothers are shamans as well. He learned ayahuasca from a Shipibo woman (la maestra Alicia) deep down on the river Momon. Now it’s 40 years that Don Gardel has been practicing this medicine. When he was a young man, he had the chance to go to work near Brasil where the Matses people live. There he learned to use kambo. This in combination with his experience and studies as a nurse make of Gardel one of the most famous Kambo healer of Iquitos. Now in the center he combines all the ancestral medicinese available: mambè, rapè, yopo etc.

The term "Maestra" (which in this context refers to the teacher) is used to refer to Alicia, who was once Gardel's teacher. Her grandfather was a "tabacchero," a type of curandero who specialized in using tobacco for medical purposes. She was initiated when she was quite young, but it was a major crisis, a traditional spiritual awakening, a death that gave her a new lease on life that ultimately inspired her to become a healer. She has a lot of allies from her years of long-term dieting and extensive knowledge with plant-based therapies. People from the neighbouring villages travel to her for traditional treatments. She is a strong, yet tender woman who acts as a big mama to all of the patients.