10-Day Master Plant Dieta Retreat with Sacred Tobacco (Mapacho) & Amazonian Master Plants, Costa Rica
10-Day Master Plant Dieta Retreat with Sacred Tobacco (Mapacho) & Amazonian Master Plants, Costa Rica
Up to 5 in group
Feb 12 - 21, 2027
Retreat Highlights
- The only center in Costa Rica offering a private Mamancunawa master plant dieta with Sacred Tobacco (Mapacho), one-on-one, never a group. 7 days of ceremony and solitude, a closing and an afternoon of rest, maximum 5 guests per retreat.
- Authentic Mamancunawa Lineage: Led by Gwendal and Negar, traditional healers with 30 years of combined healing practice and initiation in the Mamancunawa lineage.
- A 7-Day Dieta in Silence and Solitude: A private ceremony every day. Your first dieta is with Sacred Tobacco, as long as your health screening shows no contraindications.
- Sacred Tobacco (Mapacho): Revered in the Amazon as La Medicina Rey, the King Medicine and master of all plants. Psychoactive, not psychedelic: it works on the physical, emotional, energetic, and spiritual levels, and speaks through the dream world.
- Other Master Plants: For returning guests, or where tobacco can't be taken: Bobinsana, Chuchuhuasi, Ajo Sacha, Abuta, Ayahuma, Bellaco Caspi, Chiric Sanango, and Tamamuri, always accompanied by tobacco when possible.
- Personalized Protocol: Built from a free consultation and health screening, with daily 1:1 consultations and dream reflection with your healers throughout the dieta, and safe plant substitutions where needed.
- Closing and Rest: The dieta closes in the late morning of Day 9 with a 1:1 consultation and dream reflection, followed by a plant bath and an afternoon of rest by the river before your journey home.
- Digital Detox: No phone, internet, or distractions during the dieta, so you can hear the plant and your own inner voice.
- Rainforest Sanctuary: Wake to birdsong, sleep to the river. Private access to Río Tigre, at the edge of Corcovado National Park, one of the most biodiverse places on Earth.
- Meals: During the dieta, two simple organic vegan meals a day, such as fruit or soup (no salt, oil, sugar, or spices). After the closing, nourishing organic meals following post-dieta protocol (no ice, chili, or pork).
- Longer Stay Available: The 15-Day Master Plant Dieta Retreat (same start date) adds six days of guided integration and is recommended for deeper integration.
- Transportation Included: Pick-up and drop-off from a designated location near Puerto Jiménez Airport.
About this Retreat
Gwendal is a curandero, a Shipibo-initiated ayahuascero, and a Mamancunawa-trained tabaquero with over fourteen years walking the Amazonian medicine path. He studied under Maestra Olivia Arévalo (Panshin Beka), one of the most respected Shipibo healers of her generation, and was later initiated into the Mamancunawa lineage by Maestro Ernesto García Torres, one of Peru’s most highly regarded tabaqueros, under whose guidance he continues to work today.
His path began far from a classroom: years of travel, extended solo dietas, isolation, and fasting in the jungle shaped a practice built on real apprenticeship. He also holds a deep Ashtanga Yoga practice developed under Danny Paradise, and brings Mongolian throat singing, shamanic drumming, and vibrational sound into ceremony and integration. He leads with precision, depth, and quiet devotion to the lineages that shaped him.
Negar is a curandera and tabaquera in the Mamancunawa lineage, initiated by Maestro Ernesto García Torres. Her sixteen years on the healing path have moved through plant medicine, yoga, and bodywork, with Sacred Tobacco (mapacho) and the Amazonian master plants now at the center of her work. She came to tobacco after years in art and film, when a dieta redirected her toward a life of service — and she has not looked back. Each dieta she holds is personal and attentive, following the guest's process and dreams as they unfold.
Alongside her work as a tabaquera, she carries womb wisdom and womb massage learned from a priestess-healer, Maya Abdominal Massage trained with Mayan midwives in Guatemala, and Chi Nei Tsang, and leads gong meditation and sound baths.
Details of this retreat
A PRIVATE MASTER PLANT DIETA WITH SACRED TOBACCO (MAPACHO), IN THE RAINFOREST OF COSTA RICA
At Templo del Tigre, on the edge of Corcovado National Park, one of the most biodiverse places on Earth, you don't join a group ceremony. You work privately with a master plant and two traditional healers in the Mamancunawa lineage — in silence, in the jungle, with the river a few steps away.
WHAT IS A MASTER PLANT DIETA?
A dieta, Spanish for "diet," is one of the oldest practices of Amazonian plant medicine: a way of building a relationship with the consciousness and spirit of a plant. In many Indigenous lineages these plants are called Teachers and Doctors. The dieter enters a period of mental, physical, and spiritual purification — isolation, a simple diet, and the daily intake of the chosen plant — to receive guidance, knowledge, and healing. It is held inside a sacred container by a guide, and in many ways it resembles a marriage between the human spirit and the plant spirit.
At Templo del Tigre, you spend seven days and seven nights in solitude and silence, eat two simple meals a day (no salt, oil, sugar, or spices), and take your plant in a private ceremony each day, with a daily 1:1 consultation and dream reflection with your healers. Nothing is done to you. You listen. This is not a trend or a shortcut. It is a traditional apprenticeship with a plant, and it asks for commitment and respect.
It asks a lot: isolation, a digital detox, a simple diet, and an open heart. Purging — vomiting, crying, shaking, or other forms of release — is a natural part of the process, and your guides are with you throughout.
YOUR PLANT
Your first dieta is with Sacred Tobacco (Mapacho), as long as your health screening shows no contraindications. In the Amazon, tobacco is revered as La Medicina Rey, the King Medicine, master of all plants. It gives structure, direction, and strength to every plant it works alongside, which is why it is the foundation of this path. For returning guests, we continue with other Amazonian master plants such as Bobinsana, Chuchuhuasi, Ajo Sacha, or Tamamuri, always accompanied by tobacco. If tobacco isn't safe for you, your healers choose another master plant instead. You don't need to know which plant you need. That is our work.
Tobacco is a powerful psychoactive teacher, not a visionary one. In the Mamancunawa tradition, it works directly on the soul level, and its healing is understood to reach the cellular level and extend through up to seven generations of your lineage. It speaks through the body and the dream world, where lucid and vivid dreams become the language of the work. It is strong, demanding, and not for the faint of heart. There are no visions to wait for — the work happens through discipline, dreams, and deep inner listening.
WHAT A DIETA CAN OPEN
DEEP HEALING ON MANY LEVELS: In the Amazonian tradition, master plants work on the physical, emotional, energetic, and spiritual levels. The dieta creates a protected space where what has been held — old grief, fear, dense energy — can rise, be witnessed, and move.
A RELATIONSHIP WITH THE PLANT: Over seven days, a subtle line of communication opens between you and the plant you diet. It speaks through dreams, feeling, and intuition, and many guests notice their own intuition sharpening as the noise of the outside world fades.
CLARITY: Insights about your purpose, your relationships, or what has been blocking you often arrive through dreams and quiet reflection, and keep unfolding long after you leave.
NATURAL RHYTHM: Simple food, time in nature, and the work of the plant retune your system to a slower pace. Many guests describe feeling grounded and in balance.
A TURNING POINT: Many guests describe the dieta as the start of real change — in habits, relationships, or work — toward what feels most true.
HOW IT WORKS
Free consultation and health screening. We talk about your health, medications, and intentions.
Preparation. At least two weeks before arrival: no alcohol, meat, processed or fermented foods, stimulants, or sexual activity. We guide you step by step.
Day 1: Arrival and orientation.
Days 2–8: The dieta. Seven days and seven nights in reflective solitude, with a private ceremony each day and a daily 1:1 consultation and dream reflection with your healers.
Day 9: Closing and rest. The dieta closes in the late morning with a 1:1 consultation and dream reflection, followed by a plant bath and a quiet afternoon of rest by the river.
Day 10: Departure, then 1:1 support after you return home.
IS THIS RIGHT FOR YOU?
First-timers are welcome. Every guest is screened, and your healers choose the plant that is safe for you.
This is not a retreat for comfort or entertainment. It asks for commitment, honesty, and a willingness to stay with what arises. In return, you receive personal guidance and the space to listen deeply.
YOUR GUIDES: GWENDAL AND NEGAR
We are traditional healers, tabaqueros and curanderos, trained in the Peruvian Amazon. Both of us were initiated into the Mamancunawa lineage by Maestro Ernesto García Torres, one of the most respected tabaqueros in Peru.
Negar is a curandera and tabaquera in the Mamancunawa lineage, with 16 years of healing practice woven through plant medicine, bodywork, and yoga. She holds master plant dietas centered on Sacred Tobacco, carries womb wisdom from Mayan midwives, and tends the quiet space where the body remembers how to heal.
Gwendal is a curandero, a Shipibo-initiated ayahuascero and Mamancunawa-trained tabaquero, with 14 years walking the Amazonian medicine path. He apprenticed in the Shipibo tradition under the late Maestra Olivia Arévalo (Panshin Beka), and leads master plant dietas with precision, depth, and devotion to the lineages that shaped him.
Guidance offered in English, French, Spanish, and Farsi.
WHAT GUESTS SAY
"Gwendal and Negar are wise, caring, intuitive healers... My life was profoundly impacted." — Benjamin F.
"A real jungle sanctuary, not a tourist spot... I found a whole universe within me, and tools and understanding I couldn't have reached any other way." — Julia P.
"I left feeling completely seen, held, and changed at a cellular level." — Andrea N.
Hear from two past guests about their experience with us: https://vimeo.com/1220314245
Rated 5.0 on Google and 5 stars on Tripadvisor, with 100+ guest reviews.
RESERVING YOUR SPOT
Your booking is a reservation request. Your place is confirmed after your free consultation and health screening. If the dieta isn't right for you at this time, your payment is refunded in full. Please don't book flights until your reservation is confirmed. Want to diet more than one plant in a row? Ask us about a custom schedule.
WANT DEEPER INTEGRATION?
The 15-Day Master Plant Dieta Retreat (same start date) continues after the dieta with six days of guided integration: yoga, breathwork, gong sound healing, time in nature, and a closing circle. From $3,600 when you reserve 60 or more days ahead ($3,800 standard). The full 15 days are recommended if you can make the time.
IMPORTANT TO KNOW
Tobacco is replaced with another master plant for guests with heart conditions, asthma, or blood pressure irregularities. All medications and substances are reviewed during screening. Not suitable during pregnancy or breastfeeding.
Our focus is the master plant dieta. When your healers feel it is appropriate, a private ayahuasca ceremony may be woven into your dieta. It is never offered by default. It is discussed, and priced separately, during your consultation.
Early Bird pricing applies when you reserve at least 60 days before the start date. Casita del Tigre (+$1,000) is limited to one guest per retreat, first-confirmed.
At Templo del Tigre, on the edge of Corcovado National Park, one of the most biodiverse places on Earth, you don't join a group ceremony. You work privately with a master plant and two traditional healers in the Mamancunawa lineage — in silence, in the jungle, with the river a few steps away.
WHAT IS A MASTER PLANT DIETA?
A dieta, Spanish for "diet," is one of the oldest practices of Amazonian plant medicine: a way of building a relationship with the consciousness and spirit of a plant. In many Indigenous lineages these plants are called Teachers and Doctors. The dieter enters a period of mental, physical, and spiritual purification — isolation, a simple diet, and the daily intake of the chosen plant — to receive guidance, knowledge, and healing. It is held inside a sacred container by a guide, and in many ways it resembles a marriage between the human spirit and the plant spirit.
At Templo del Tigre, you spend seven days and seven nights in solitude and silence, eat two simple meals a day (no salt, oil, sugar, or spices), and take your plant in a private ceremony each day, with a daily 1:1 consultation and dream reflection with your healers. Nothing is done to you. You listen. This is not a trend or a shortcut. It is a traditional apprenticeship with a plant, and it asks for commitment and respect.
It asks a lot: isolation, a digital detox, a simple diet, and an open heart. Purging — vomiting, crying, shaking, or other forms of release — is a natural part of the process, and your guides are with you throughout.
YOUR PLANT
Your first dieta is with Sacred Tobacco (Mapacho), as long as your health screening shows no contraindications. In the Amazon, tobacco is revered as La Medicina Rey, the King Medicine, master of all plants. It gives structure, direction, and strength to every plant it works alongside, which is why it is the foundation of this path. For returning guests, we continue with other Amazonian master plants such as Bobinsana, Chuchuhuasi, Ajo Sacha, or Tamamuri, always accompanied by tobacco. If tobacco isn't safe for you, your healers choose another master plant instead. You don't need to know which plant you need. That is our work.
Tobacco is a powerful psychoactive teacher, not a visionary one. In the Mamancunawa tradition, it works directly on the soul level, and its healing is understood to reach the cellular level and extend through up to seven generations of your lineage. It speaks through the body and the dream world, where lucid and vivid dreams become the language of the work. It is strong, demanding, and not for the faint of heart. There are no visions to wait for — the work happens through discipline, dreams, and deep inner listening.
WHAT A DIETA CAN OPEN
DEEP HEALING ON MANY LEVELS: In the Amazonian tradition, master plants work on the physical, emotional, energetic, and spiritual levels. The dieta creates a protected space where what has been held — old grief, fear, dense energy — can rise, be witnessed, and move.
A RELATIONSHIP WITH THE PLANT: Over seven days, a subtle line of communication opens between you and the plant you diet. It speaks through dreams, feeling, and intuition, and many guests notice their own intuition sharpening as the noise of the outside world fades.
CLARITY: Insights about your purpose, your relationships, or what has been blocking you often arrive through dreams and quiet reflection, and keep unfolding long after you leave.
NATURAL RHYTHM: Simple food, time in nature, and the work of the plant retune your system to a slower pace. Many guests describe feeling grounded and in balance.
A TURNING POINT: Many guests describe the dieta as the start of real change — in habits, relationships, or work — toward what feels most true.
HOW IT WORKS
Free consultation and health screening. We talk about your health, medications, and intentions.
Preparation. At least two weeks before arrival: no alcohol, meat, processed or fermented foods, stimulants, or sexual activity. We guide you step by step.
Day 1: Arrival and orientation.
Days 2–8: The dieta. Seven days and seven nights in reflective solitude, with a private ceremony each day and a daily 1:1 consultation and dream reflection with your healers.
Day 9: Closing and rest. The dieta closes in the late morning with a 1:1 consultation and dream reflection, followed by a plant bath and a quiet afternoon of rest by the river.
Day 10: Departure, then 1:1 support after you return home.
IS THIS RIGHT FOR YOU?
First-timers are welcome. Every guest is screened, and your healers choose the plant that is safe for you.
This is not a retreat for comfort or entertainment. It asks for commitment, honesty, and a willingness to stay with what arises. In return, you receive personal guidance and the space to listen deeply.
YOUR GUIDES: GWENDAL AND NEGAR
We are traditional healers, tabaqueros and curanderos, trained in the Peruvian Amazon. Both of us were initiated into the Mamancunawa lineage by Maestro Ernesto García Torres, one of the most respected tabaqueros in Peru.
Negar is a curandera and tabaquera in the Mamancunawa lineage, with 16 years of healing practice woven through plant medicine, bodywork, and yoga. She holds master plant dietas centered on Sacred Tobacco, carries womb wisdom from Mayan midwives, and tends the quiet space where the body remembers how to heal.
Gwendal is a curandero, a Shipibo-initiated ayahuascero and Mamancunawa-trained tabaquero, with 14 years walking the Amazonian medicine path. He apprenticed in the Shipibo tradition under the late Maestra Olivia Arévalo (Panshin Beka), and leads master plant dietas with precision, depth, and devotion to the lineages that shaped him.
Guidance offered in English, French, Spanish, and Farsi.
WHAT GUESTS SAY
"Gwendal and Negar are wise, caring, intuitive healers... My life was profoundly impacted." — Benjamin F.
"A real jungle sanctuary, not a tourist spot... I found a whole universe within me, and tools and understanding I couldn't have reached any other way." — Julia P.
"I left feeling completely seen, held, and changed at a cellular level." — Andrea N.
Hear from two past guests about their experience with us: https://vimeo.com/1220314245
Rated 5.0 on Google and 5 stars on Tripadvisor, with 100+ guest reviews.
RESERVING YOUR SPOT
Your booking is a reservation request. Your place is confirmed after your free consultation and health screening. If the dieta isn't right for you at this time, your payment is refunded in full. Please don't book flights until your reservation is confirmed. Want to diet more than one plant in a row? Ask us about a custom schedule.
WANT DEEPER INTEGRATION?
The 15-Day Master Plant Dieta Retreat (same start date) continues after the dieta with six days of guided integration: yoga, breathwork, gong sound healing, time in nature, and a closing circle. From $3,600 when you reserve 60 or more days ahead ($3,800 standard). The full 15 days are recommended if you can make the time.
IMPORTANT TO KNOW
Tobacco is replaced with another master plant for guests with heart conditions, asthma, or blood pressure irregularities. All medications and substances are reviewed during screening. Not suitable during pregnancy or breastfeeding.
Our focus is the master plant dieta. When your healers feel it is appropriate, a private ayahuasca ceremony may be woven into your dieta. It is never offered by default. It is discussed, and priced separately, during your consultation.
Early Bird pricing applies when you reserve at least 60 days before the start date. Casita del Tigre (+$1,000) is limited to one guest per retreat, first-confirmed.
Schedule
PRE-RETREAT: Free consultation and 1:1 preparation guidance (online)
DAY 1: ARRIVAL. Pick-up near Puerto Jiménez, settling in, orientation
DAYS 2 TO 8: THE DIETA (7 days, 7 nights) 7:00 am – Breakfast 11:00 am – 1:1 consultation and dream reflection with your healers 12:00 pm – Medicine ceremony and contemplative practice 5:00 pm – Dinner 9:00 pm – Quiet time
DAY 9: CLOSING AND REST. The dieta closes in the late morning with a 1:1 consultation and dream reflection, followed by a plant bath and a quiet afternoon of rest by the river
DAY 10: DEPARTURE
POST-RETREAT: 1:1 follow-up and continued support
Schedule is approximate and may change to suit the group's energy.
DAY 1: ARRIVAL. Pick-up near Puerto Jiménez, settling in, orientation
DAYS 2 TO 8: THE DIETA (7 days, 7 nights) 7:00 am – Breakfast 11:00 am – 1:1 consultation and dream reflection with your healers 12:00 pm – Medicine ceremony and contemplative practice 5:00 pm – Dinner 9:00 pm – Quiet time
DAY 9: CLOSING AND REST. The dieta closes in the late morning with a 1:1 consultation and dream reflection, followed by a plant bath and a quiet afternoon of rest by the river
DAY 10: DEPARTURE
POST-RETREAT: 1:1 follow-up and continued support
Schedule is approximate and may change to suit the group's energy.
Note: Schedule is approximate and may change
Getting Here
Directions
Templo del Tigre is located in Dos Brazos de Río Tigre, on the Osa Peninsula near Corcovado National Park.
By Air (recommended): Fly from San José to Puerto Jiménez with Sansa (about 50 minutes). We pick you up at the Puerto Jiménez airport, and it’s a 20-minute drive to Templo del Tigre. Return transport is provided at the end of your retreat.
By Car or Bus: The drive from San José takes about 6 hours, and the bus about 8 hours. Contact us and we’ll help you plan your journey.
By Air (recommended): Fly from San José to Puerto Jiménez with Sansa (about 50 minutes). We pick you up at the Puerto Jiménez airport, and it’s a 20-minute drive to Templo del Tigre. Return transport is provided at the end of your retreat.
By Car or Bus: The drive from San José takes about 6 hours, and the bus about 8 hours. Contact us and we’ll help you plan your journey.
Accommodation
Guests stay in private open-air jungle rooms with shared bathrooms, featuring bamboo showers, compost toilets and hammocks. For those wanting more seclusion, Casita del Tigre is a fully private cabin with its own kitchen, outdoor space, marble bath and compost toilet. A peaceful open-air shala sits within the forest, with direct access to the river.
Jungle Room - Early Bird/Booked 60 days in advance
Jungle Room - Standard
Private Cabin - Early Bird/Booked 60 days in advance
Private Cabin - Standard
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
Templo del Tigre is set in the rainforest on the banks of Río Tigre, on the Osa Peninsula near Corcovado National Park, one of the most biodiverse places on Earth. Blue morpho butterflies drift through the land every day, toucans, scarlet macaws and other birds fill the trees, and the calls of howler monkeys echo through the nearby forest. The river runs alongside the property, with shallow natural pools for bathing, and the land is surrounded by tropical fruit trees and permaculture gardens.
Intimate, quiet and secluded, it’s a place where the forest holds you. Living in the open air, falling asleep to its sounds and waking to birdsong, you are in close contact with nature from the first night. Here, the jungle is not a backdrop but part of the medicine.
Intimate, quiet and secluded, it’s a place where the forest holds you. Living in the open air, falling asleep to its sounds and waking to birdsong, you are in close contact with nature from the first night. Here, the jungle is not a backdrop but part of the medicine.
Meals
Menu Types
Vegan
Vegetarian
Pescetarian
Ayurvedic
Includes Meat
Organic
Gluten Free
Dairy Free
Nut Free
During the dieta, guests receive two simple vegan meals a day, prepared according to traditional dieta guidelines. After the dieta, three nourishing meals are served daily, kept light and simple without heavy spices to support continued cleansing. Meals can be vegan, vegetarian or pescatarian, made with fresh fruits, herbs and vegetables from our land and local producers, and fresh fish from local fishermen. Water comes directly from the source.
What's Included
- Pre-Retreat: Free consultation, health screening, and personalized preparation guidance.
- The Dieta: 7 days and 7 nights with a daily private ceremony, closing in the late morning of Day 9. Your first dieta is with Sacred Tobacco (Mapacho), as long as your health screening shows no contraindications.
- Other Master Plants: For returning guests, or where tobacco can’t be taken, other Amazonian master plants (Bobinsana, Chuchuhuasi, Ajo Sacha, Abuta, Ayahuma, Bellaco Caspi, Chiric Sanango, Tamamuri), as chosen by your healers.
- Consultations: Daily 1:1 consultation and dream reflection with your curanderos throughout the dieta and at the closing on Day 9, with further support whenever you need it (English, French, Spanish, Farsi).
- Closing and Rest: A plant bath at the closing of the dieta and an afternoon of rest by the river.
- Meals: Organic meals from on-site and local ingredients. During the dieta, two simple vegan meals a day, such as fruits or soup, following traditional protocol. After the closing, nourishing organic meals.
- Accommodation: Open-air Jungle Room with private river access, designed for focus, silence, and connection to nature. Upgrade to the Casita del Tigre, a more secluded private cabin, for +$1,000 per person.
- River Access: Private access to Río Tigre for bathing, grounding, and relaxation.
- Transportation: Pick-up and drop-off from a designated meeting point near Puerto Jiménez Airport.
- Post-Retreat: 1:1 follow-up and continued support after you return home.
- Modifications: For heart conditions, asthma, or blood pressure irregularities, tobacco is replaced with another master plant.
- Intimate Retreat Size: Maximum 5 guests for focused, personalized guidance.
What's Not Included
- International airfare and transportation to/from Costa Rica
- Domestic bus, flight, or taxi fares to Puerto Jiménez
- Accommodation outside Templo del Tigre before or after the retreat
- Travel insurance
- Integration program (yoga, breathwork, gong sound healing, nature outings), available in the 15-Day Healing Immersion
- Optional excursions after your retreat (e.g., Corcovado National Park, whale and dolphin tours, kayaking, horseback riding): participants cover activity and transport costs
- Personal expenses
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