Awakenings Ayahuasca Retreat Ecuador — Attraction in Santo Domingo de los Tsachilas

Everything was ok during my retreat at Awakenings Ayahuasca retreat until it was not. Long story short: I had 2 ayahuasca, 1 Rambo, and 1 mushroom ceremonies at the place and then it was time for San Pedro. I was told that it is a lighter psychedelic and it is supposed to open my heart. I was looking forward to that experience.

I did drink the brew (approx. 500 ml, I estimate)and in an hour or so I started experiencing weird sensations in my body that I have never experienced before: I was getting convulsions that made it difficult for me to walk, I was shaking uncontrollably, I had a belly ache, I developed a rapid heartbeat, and after some time I felt nauseous and partially paralyzed. The worst part was when I almost lost my ability to speak legibly.

The look on the shamans’ faces told me that something was not right but they tried to keep their cool. I was told to walk more (or rather crawl more) and drink more water. I did to no avail. The symptoms were getting worse and I asked to go to the hospital. A few times I heard a firm no, then one of the shamans just left the scene.

I do not know if these places are supposed to have a first aid kit, but Awakenings Ayahuasca did not. Thank God my daughter was at the premises so I called for her and told her that I need to go to the hospital. Maybe I was not dying but it felt like it. Then the only English-speaking member of the tribe showed up and we repeated out request. It was denied yet again. We asked them to call a cab but they refused (our phones were not able to make a call despite the roaming being on).

Then they started threatening us: we were told that we would be arrested, reported to the immigration authorities, our belongings would be withheld, and they demanded our unconditional trust despite their poor handling of the situation.

Finally they made a call to a doctor they know and we left the retreat premises. The drive was extremely slow and 2 ladies were constantly giggling. Upon arrival to the doctor’s office, my daughter read the sign that this was a gynecologist. At this point I lost any ability to understand what’s going on so she grabbed my hand and left this place. The shaman lady did not want to let us out of her sight and jumped into a cab with us.

At the hospital she took the liberty of explaining to the doctor what happened. Before that they told me a few times that the doctor would be of no help under these circumstances but I was relieved to have an IV.

I want to make it clear: I know that I was assuming the risk when I signed up for this retreat. I’m not blaming the shamans for giving San Pedro to me. I read sources and it is extremely rare to experience the symptoms that I was experiencing. I understand that psychedelics are somewhat unpredictable.

The question that bothers me is this: why did they try to prevent me from seeking qualified medical help when I felt barely alive? This was very worrisome to me. And yes, I was following the strict diet before the trip.

After 4 hours of IV treatment, shots, and other medications, I was able to move and speak. The shamans kept telling me that the doctor still did not do anything to ease my suffering and that they warned me that San Pedro would cause all these symptoms (to reiterate, I was promised a light trip that would open my heart). After I was back to reality shamans tried to make me feel guilty for fighting for my life. Apparently, San Pedro was testing me and I failed badly. Also, that if I had more trust in them, I would be ok.

Since I did not feel safe to stay at this place after all these threats, I made a call to the neighbor retreat center so my daughter and I could stay overnight. They kindly let us. After this, Awakenings Ayahuasca labeled us traitors, spies, unprofessional and inappropriate.

PS. Thank you for pointing out that I was checked into 2 hospitals! In Santo Domingo you were there with me, so who's lying?! Also, Sasha is a nickname for Alexandra so she does not have 2 different names. And she is a US citizen, for...

I came to Ayahuasca Awakenings in February 2025 to meet my mother who had paid for a weeklong stay at the retreat. Nobody met me upon my arrival. I was later given a 2-bed cabin. One bed was in terrible condition, the other was protected by a mosquito net, but was covered in dozens of mosquitoes. I ended up sleeping with my mother in her “glamping” tent. That night my mother had signed me up for a 2-part “Sound therapy” which was provided by Augusto (the first part was at night, and the second, in the morning). Augusto did a great job, but I was never approached to complete the second part of the therapy the following day. Stefany, the organizer of the retreat, was also present at the sound therapy to translate. She did a good job translating, but was constantly discussing money and trying to upsell other services. The following day, my mother and I had breakfast (portion sizes at this retreat are very small, but the food is good). My mother then left me to consume San Pedro. After consuming San Pedro, my mother fell extremely ill. She could not talk, began convulsing, and started to feel paralysis in her extremities. My mother told me later that when she requested help, she was ignored. Eventually, my mother found me and was able to communicate that she needed to go to a hospital. When I found Stefany (the only English-speaker), I requested a taxi. Since we were far from Santo Domingo, this was difficult for me to do. I didn’t have cell service nor could I speak Spanish. Stefany refused to help us. She said that my mother would get taken to jail if she went to the hospital, although before the retreat, she said it was legal to consume psychedelics on tribal land. I pleaded Stefany to call us a taxi, but she would not. She also stated that she would kick us out of the retreat shall we decide to seek medical care. After telling Stefany I did not care about the outcome of seeking medical care, since it was urgent, Stefany agreed to call a “doctor friend” and drive us to him. Stefany drove slowly and would giggle with her friend who also accompanied us to the “doctor.” When we got to the “doctor friend,” I noticed that she had taken us to an unequipped gynecologist’s office. This made me concerned that my mom would not get appropriate medical care. I was then able to flag down a taxi to take my mother to a real hospital. Stefany’s friend caught up to us and got into the taxi against our wishes. During our stay at the hospital, we contacted the owner of the retreat next door to ask for refuge since we were hesitant to stay at Awakening Ayahuasca. After our stay, Stefany drove us back to the retreat (I told her we would take a taxi but she did not leave us alone). At the retreat, they made us dinner. Two minutes into dinner, Stefany and the other members of the tribe surrounded us and shamed us for contacting the retreat next door. They told us we were “traitors” who “wanted to destroy” them and that we were to leave the retreat at 6 am the following day. She stated that we were wrong for seeking medical help and made other insulting comments. They then called for a man to come to the dining room and we fled due to fear of what this man may do to us. My mother paid thousands of dollars to stay at this retreat and had bought their tribe school supplies and other goodies. The retreat next door was accommodating and let us stay the night free-of-charge. Stefany threatened to call the immigration office on us the following day and told us she wanted to keep our belongings hostage. My mother ended up needing to go to the hospital a second time for her symptoms. This was the scariest experience of me and my mother’s life. If you are searching for a spiritual retreat, please look elsewhere. If you experience a medical emergency, you will be refused medical help at...

I really cannot speak enough praise for Awakenings Ayahuasca and the family that owns and operates this retreat center. I had an extremely positive experience. The medicines are strong and the whole organization of my retreat was far beyond what I imagined. I did the 8 day 7 night retreat and it was perfectly balanced between medicine, relax, and play. I absolutely loved the activities included in that package(you must go on the waterfall hike!). I got 3 massages in one week(Johnathan is a crazy good massage therapist and helped release a lot of trauma stored in my body). In that package youre basically getting some sort of energetic cleansing every single day. I am extremely grateful to Stefany, Juan, Manuel, Tigui, Fernanda, Andrea and Johnathan .

Stefany is absolutely brilliant at retaining and translating large amounts of information at a time and is super supportive and mindful of the guests and their needs, my retreat would not have been possible without her. Juan is a brilliant Shaman and walked along with me through a very intense experience and had my back until it was finished. The ancestral reiki session he did was super strong and had me in an gentle altered state afterward haha. Juan also guided me on the waterfall hike- which i didnt realize that my soul needed(bring a bathing suit!). Manuel led my learning to make Ayahuasca class, and then my Ayahuasca ceremony that evening. The ceremony was very strong and out-of-this-world educational. Tigui did a cultural class which was super cool and my temazcal and flower bath- just, wow. Fernanda did my cacao and protection bracelet classes and I had so much fun! And last but not least, Andrea, who cooked my food the entire retreat. The food was simple but so viscerally nourishing. When I left the retreat, I continously found myself craving her cooking and maybe I always will lol.

From the depths of my heart, you all have my highest gratitude. I hope to return when I finish school to stay a little longer :)

Some additional notes for future participants: My first aya ceremony was very light- I understand this to be very common for people everywhere on similar retreats and the remaining two were very strong. This process was necessary for me. If the first was any more intense, It would have been too much for me.

Absolutely take the private shuttle. The prices are unbeatable. When I arrived there were 2! crashes on the way to the retreat from quito. My driver took an alternate route through the jungle to bypass some of the traffic and that was suuper helpful in not losing any more time. You dont get that if you take a public bus.

And explore a bit in your free time. I had a super magical experience at the river right behind the retreat itself.

Also, the medicine is not child's play. It can be very intense and healing isnt always comfortable or pleasant. Take...