Our retreats are for those on a journey of personal growth, clarity in their life purpose, emotional and physical healing. Through the indigenous teachings, we help our family to develop a stronger spiritual connection within and with the world around them.
Reconnect to your heart’s emotions.
Discover your authentic, genuine self.
Bravely live an honest and coherent life in alignment with your values.
Unveil a clear direction in your life.
Find your tribe, your family
Deeply connect with nature and community.
Expand your curiosity and knowledge in your spirit.
Santiago Ayala and Ximena Morales are certified Curanderos (healers) from Ecuador and Peru. They have lived in the sacred San Pedro Valley, Vilcabamba with their family for over 20 years. Their family rituals weave the rich traditions of North Native American and South American lineages to awaken our spiritual connection and expand consciousness. Together they have over 20 years of experience cultivating sacred space for physical, emotional and spiritual healing with shamanic medicine ceremonies. Their family & many staff are fluent in the english language.
Our family nurtures a safe, loving environment by guiding medicinal experiences that foster a steady relationship, as well as useful tools to apply in daily life for the compromise with conscious growth. You can trust in the container we hold for deep transformation to blossom.
See what our past family members have said about their experience with Casa del Sol!
Visit our family sanctuary and continue the healing journey by applying today.
The sacred mountains and rushing river await!
Our Ecuador San Pedro retreats are led by Santiago Ayala and Ximena Morales, experienced San Pedro shamans. Santiago and Ximena intertwine the power of the powerful tall cactus with ancient ceremonies to take you on a spiritual journey of self-growth and healing.
Our mission is to lead you through your journey of self-discovery by helping you connect deeply with yourself, letting go of your past traumas, understanding the universe better, and inspiring in you the need to flourish. The herbal medicine combined with our sacred chants, instruments, and deep personal discussions will dive deep into your life’s direction.
Our shamans will give you their blessings, protect you while you commence through your personal journey, grow your connection with nature, and open your awareness.
San Pedro Ceremonies will take place in the temple of San Padro and during the walks. Herbal medicine will be distributed during the walk to the cleansing waterfall in order to reconnect with nature and explore its consciousness. Personal exchange sessions will be held during the San Pedro ceremonies to help participants reflect deeply on their lives, purify their intentions and conscience.
There are numerous San Pedro retreats in South America, but what makes Casa Del Sol different?
First, Santiago is certified by the government to practice shamanism in Ecuador. Being licensed by the government means that he only constitutes ethical practices of shamanism. Albeit, being a shaman does not have any specific set of rules, being licensed by the government means that Santiago meets all of the legal requirements in Ecuador.
Additionally, Santiago has lived in the sacred San Pedro Valley for over 17 years. Casa Del Sol is located in the heart of Vilcabamba, Ecuador. His history on the lands has given him familiarity with the plants and experience with San Pedro ceremonies. Casa Del Sol’s sacred ceremonies are hosted on an area devised for spiritual learning, exploration, and growth.
Santiago has been running San Pedro ceremonies for 16 years and working with the medicine for 26 years. We understand how to handle any blips or inconveniences that may arise from the ceremony. Our San Pedro shaman specialist will be your experienced lifeguards as you dive and swim into your personal journey. Santiago speaks English as well so it will be easier to understand his instructions or answers from any of your questions during the ceremonies. We can assure you a smooth, seamless San Pedro ceremony experience as you commence into your spiritual journey of healing and personal growth.
Unlike most retreat centers for San Pedro, our retreats are capped at 13 people. We truly believe in giving you a personalized retreat experience where we can dedicate our time and attention to helping you achieve your intention items. Each individual will be given specialized attention to help them sift and sort through whatever problems or issues they face or help them make massive progressions in their life while providing a truly authentic San Pedro ceremony experience.
You can contact us today to inquire about our retreat availability and to answer any of your questions. Retreat seats are limited to 13 participants, so we recommend you reserve your spot ahead of time, to guarantee your participation in the ceremony.
The retreat activities vary depending on the length of the retreat. A typical full 11-day retreat includes:
San Pedro’s juice (also referred to as tea) is made of 100% pure San Pedro cactus. The active compound is mescaline, so mild psychoactive experiences do occur. With higher dosages, the cactus juice can produce similar effects of other psychedelics such as psilocybin (in Mushrooms) and LSD.
San Pedro ceremonies are an ancient, tool used to expand one’s consciousness for a better understanding of the universe.
San Pedro has been known to help people do some intense personal development and spiritual work. Past participants in our ceremonies have declared to have a clearer life purpose and a better connection to their own heart’s true desires. The sacred plant will help you acknowledge your weaknesses in your life and help you work to strengthen them.
Consuming San Pedro will expedite your personal development and expand your consciousness. The experience will make you reflect on your day-to-day actions, why you do them, and help you live a more honest life with yourself. Correspondingly, when a person is living a life more honest with themselves, they cut out a lot of sources of stress in their life and they become less anxious. As a result, herbal medicine tends to reduce stress and assist people in becoming more at peace with themselves.
San Pedro cactus will also make one question the order of the universe and see the energy stored within it. San Pedro will reveal to a person the universe in an energy-to-energy, spirit-to-spirit level. Participants in the San Pedro ceremony will realize that animals, plants, humans, and objects in this universe are all made of energy and are connected in some way as well as be changed. This keen awareness will, in turn, cause one to question the kind of energy they are emitting into the world and the energy that they are receiving from the people around them. They will begin to question the activities they partake in their daily life and if it is serving their well-being.
San Pedro is a powerful herbal medicine that treats a large breadth of mental, physical or emotional disorders
San Pedro has seen to have immense therapeutic benefits. Ceremonies have resulted in sexual abuse victims and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) people overcome their past traumas. Sexual abuse victims claim to have overcome their shame or guilt after going through a San Pedro ceremony. PTSD victims have announced that their symptoms have diminished or even completely healed after a partaking in a ceremony as well.
The trauma experienced, which was an extremely negative experience, was replaced with a new optimistic, positive outlook on their life. These therapeutic benefits are common amongst people who ingest the sacred San Pedro cactus.
San Pedro has a long history of treating other addictions, sicknesses, and ailments as well. The cactus has been noted to treat illnesses such as diabetes, fevers, hepatitis, drug addiction, alcoholism, high blood pressure, issues with joints and various other detrimental conditions.
The San Pedro cactus heals, cleans, and purifies your mind, akin to a mental detox. Our team of San Pedro shamans has assisted countless people to overcome depression, addiction, suicidality, anxiety, shame, and guilt. We have witnessed rape victims make peace with their past and violent people alter themselves to become calm and tender after participating in these ceremonies.
These vast substantial benefits have caused the plant to be called a “miracle medicine”.
San Pedro is a traditional Andean medicine that has been used for over 300 centuries. The name San Pedro is derived from Christian mythology: Saint Peter was said to hold the keys to the gates of heaven, and in the ancient traditions of the Andes, the San Pedro cactus is said to hold the key to heavenly gates.
In South America, San Pedro is also known as Huachuma and is consumed as a sacred medicine to cure emotional, spiritual, physical and mental conditions, including addictions. San Pedro grows throughout Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, and Peru. It is considered a highly sacred plant along with tobacco, Ayahuasca, and coca leaves, all of which are protected by the government.
San Pedro is said to have a Grandfather-like spirit and is a teacher of great compassion and understanding. It shows us how to live in balance and harmony; how to love, respect, and honor all living beings. It connects us to the natural energies of Pachamama (mother earth) and opens up and clears our chakras, especially our heart. It is common for participants drinking to report seeing the life energy in the form of luminous fibers emanating from mountains, fingertips and people alike. It is a window into the spiritual dimensions that normally go unnoticed in our day-to-day lives and it is a place where you can draw meaning from the invisible world, a world the shamans have been pointing us to since humans had a relationship with the natural world. San Pedro teaches us the correct attitude, a moderate approach, and a harmonious relationship to the physical and spiritual worlds.
San Pedro can produce powerful visions and induce a rich tapestry of beautiful colorful images. Often these visions are accompanied by an inner knowing and direct spiritual guidance to the questions you are seeking answers to. San Pedro can also make you purge if you are working through energetic blocks or any undigested emotions that you have held onto over the years. You will usually feel a great sense of relief and healing after you get it out, you should always allow it and never fight it, it is all part of the healing process working with San Pedro.
An interesting note: According to the Andean shamans, San Pedro creates a portal of the un-manifested possibilities and it is the shaman’s work to find the best possibilities in each individual or situation, then speak to that possibility, in this way the best version of that person or situation is supported by the shaman’s prayers and intentions, and then ushered in to the present matrix reality. It is also why shamans spend a great deal of time praying with tobacco in ceremonies and making offerings. It is a time of new possibilities that transcend the fabric of time and space.
So it is with this understanding that the shamans offer their prayers, promoting beautiful ideas and intentions of healing into the universal consciousness. When a shaman has this relationship with San Pedro, connecting him deeply with his intentions and with the spirit world, unexplained and spontaneous healing happens.
Unfavorable experiences with anxiety may occur when ingesting the San Pedro tea. However, it should be noted that these feelings of worry, nervousness, or unease happen less frequently with San Pedro than other plants and substances and will often pass fairly quickly.
