Flower of Life

The journey begins in Iquitos at 9:00 AM. A two-hour drive reaches the Port of Nauta, and a 45-minute boat ride along the Marañón River carries guests the rest of the way to Flower of Life, a retreat center facing the Pacaya Samiria National Reserve. The center is cottages, gardens and a river balcony, with a maloca set among the trees for ceremony.

The center's pages date it to 2014 and describe it as founded, owned and led by a woman. It takes its name from the flower of life, the pattern of evenly spaced overlapping circles with six-fold symmetry that appears in manuscripts, temples and art across many cultures. The founders chose it to stand for creation, the bringing of something new into existence. The team keeps an office at Calvo de Araujo 627 in Iquitos, open to visitors by appointment.

Ceremony is led by Shipibo and Kokama healers, and the center points to the Shipibo tradition of plant medicine, sacred songs called icaros, and kené patterns. Groups are capped at eight, a limit the center says it never exceeds. Ayahuasca and San Pedro are the core medicines, with kambo offered as a single session. Guests follow a preparatory diet and complete a confidential admission and medical screening before arriving. The center says part of its earnings supports native communities and projects in the Amazon.

Programs run from a three-day introduction to a 28-day immersion. They include a 14-day medicinal plants dieta and a shamanism and curanderismo course. Afterward, a three-session integration program is held one-on-one over Zoom. For those who want no ceremony, a rest stay for two offers a private cottage, meals and a guided day in the reserve.