Journey Through Living Traditions | 10 Days of Ayahuasca & Human Connection in Colombia

There are places we visit.

And there are places that ask us to become quiet enough to meet them.

This journey takes us to **El Encano, in the mountains of southern Colombia**, beside the waters of **Laguna de la Cocha**.

Our home for these days lies away from the village, surrounded by water, mountains and vegetation. We reach it by boat.

As the shore disappears behind us, something begins to change.

The noise becomes distant.

The rhythm slows.

And for several days, there is very little between us and the essential things: water, earth, fire, food, weather, other human beings and our own inner world.

This is the spirit of this retreat.

A retreat shaped by the place

We are welcomed into the home of a local Inga family living beside the lagoon.

This is not a resort created for retreats.

It is a living place.

A family home surrounded by land, plants, animals, water and the changing moods of the mountain landscape.

We come here as guests.

For Casa Oraya, this distinction matters.

Rather than creating an environment disconnected from its surroundings, we want to spend these days in relationship with the place that receives us — learning its rhythm, eating simply, walking, observing and allowing the landscape itself to become part of the experience.

There are few distractions here.

No city noise.

No need to rush somewhere else.

The lagoon becomes a horizon we return to again and again.

Five ceremonies with Mauricio

At the heart of our time together will be **five yagé ceremonies accompanied by Mauricio**, who joins us from Putumayo.

Working with the medicine over several ceremonies allows the experience to unfold gradually.

One ceremony does not necessarily explain another.

Each may reveal a different layer.

There can be moments of intensity and moments of extraordinary simplicity. Memories may appear. The body may speak. Emotions may move. Images, sensations or questions may emerge.

And sometimes very little seems to happen.

We make space for all of it.

There is nothing you are expected to see, understand or accomplish.

Rather than searching for a particular experience, we slowly learn how to listen to the experience that is actually taking place.

The days between ceremonies

The space between ceremonies is intentional.

Mornings begin quietly, with meditation and time to return to the body.

The rest of the day may unfold through walking, resting, sharing meals, observing the landscape, writing or drawing.

Those who wish will also be able to explore **painting with natural pigments and nature journaling** — not as an art class or something that needs to be beautiful, but as another way of noticing.

A colour.

A plant.

A texture.

A dream remembered from the night before.

Something seen during ceremony that cannot yet be explained in words.

We may visit the surrounding natural reserve, spend time learning about local plants, enter the waters of the lagoon when conditions allow, or simply remain at the house.

There is no need to transform every moment into an activity.

Some afternoons may be spent doing almost nothing.

That, too, is part of the retreat.

Living together

For several days, we live as a small group.

We eat together.

Travel by boat together.

Move through ceremonies together.

And slowly begin to know one another beyond the usual social introductions.

At the same time, togetherness does not mean constant interaction.

Silence is respected here.

There is space to withdraw, walk alone, sit beside the water or simply observe what is moving internally.

Casa Oraya deliberately keeps the group small because this allows the retreat to remain human.

We can notice one another.

We can accompany someone when support is needed.

And we can preserve the intimacy that this kind of work requires.

Preparation and integration

The journey begins before Colombia.

Every participant has an individual conversation with us before being accepted into the retreat.

We speak about physical and emotional health, medications, previous experiences with plant medicine, personal circumstances, intentions and anything that may be important for us to understand before travelling together.

You will also receive preparation guidance before arrival.

During the retreat, we create spaces to reflect upon what is being experienced — through the body, emotions, personal history, dreams, memories and symbolism — without reducing the journey to one single interpretation.

Some things become clear immediately.

Others continue unfolding long after we leave Colombia.

Integration therefore does not mean finding an explanation for everything.

Sometimes it simply means learning how to stay close to what has been touched.

A journey, not an escape

This retreat is also a journey into another way of inhabiting time.

We arrive by boat.

We wake beside the lagoon.

We notice the weather.

We learn the paths.

We share the same table.

We enter ceremony.

We return.

We sleep.

And we begin again.

Away from many of the structures that normally organise our lives, simple things become visible again.

How we relate to silence.

How we react when there is nothing to distract us.

What our body has been carrying.

What we miss.

What we no longer need.

What feels alive.

Colombia is not a backdrop

We do not come to Colombia merely because it is beautiful or exotic.

And we do not want to romanticise the people or cultures who receive us.

We come as visitors.

With curiosity, gratitude and respect.

The medicine, the territory and the relationships that make this gathering possible existed long before Casa Oraya arrived.

Our responsibility is not to claim them.

It is to enter carefully.

To listen.

To learn.

To respect the home that receives us.

And to leave something good behind us.

Returning

Eventually, the boat takes us back across the lagoon.

But the retreat does not really end there.

We return to our families, relationships, work, cities and ordinary responsibilities.

And perhaps that is where the deeper part of the journey begins.

Not in how extraordinary our experience in Colombia was.

But in what remains when life becomes ordinary again.

What do we listen to differently?

What do we care for differently?

What have we understood about the way we are living?

What deserves more space?

What can become simpler?

El Encano offers us something increasingly rare:

time without constant interruption.

A landscape large enough to become quiet inside.

A small group.

A few essential practices.

The medicine.

And several days in which there is nowhere else we need to be.

An invitation not to escape life,

but to come closer to it.

To inhabit life.