Fernando Laiche

Maestro Don Fernando’s journey with ayahuasca began when he was 15 years old. After a year long illness when he was 14, Fernando met the curandero Juan Salas in Pucallpa who said he could heal him. Fernando spent three months with Juan, taking various plant medicines, doing diets, and sitting in ayahuasca ceremonies with Juan, but not yet drinking. After three months Fernando was healed, and this experience fired a deep interest in healing with plant medicines and ayahuasca. He began drinking ayahuasca with Juan, and after a year decided he wanted to learn to be an ayahuasquero and curandero.

Juan taught Fernado in the true way of a master of medicine plants and ayahuasca, spending months in the jungle teaching the plants and connection with the doctor spirits of the Amazon. Fernando would spend months in the jungle, and get a week off. Another three months in the jungle, and a week off. His maestro Juan was the only person he saw during the time in the jungle. This time of intense learning and dieting lasted for three years. After several demonstrations healing people from a variety of illnesses, Juan proclaimed Fernando ready to work as a curandero on his own.

Don Fernando does not care for the term "shaman", as it is a term recently applied by westerners. He considers himself a curandero, a healer, and has been working with ayahuasca over 38 years, as a curandero for over 30. He is a truly gentle and humble man, and a powerful healer who among other problems has cured a variety of forms of cancer. Fernando takes exceptional care of people during ceremony, and if someone get a little too affected by the medicine or distressed, he is right their to calm their energy and can even reduce the effect of the medicine. During each ceremony he will do specific healing for each person, spending about 10 minutes in front of them singing an icaro. Almost everyone clearly feels the power and energy of his healing.