What is the best country in South America to do Ayahuasca?
This is a common question, perhaps a silly one.
It’s like asking what the best food is – depends on what you are trying to experience, if you want some wild variety, if you want some bad soup then you know where to go, if you want the best pasta then there’s a different place for it.
What’s the best place to do Ayahuasca in South America?
Let’s look at the differences, when people are asking this what they’re basically asking is what are the differences between drinking Ayahuasca in Peru, Daime, Uni in Brazil, Yage in Colombia.
For those of you that do not know, these are the different names that are given to the mix between this vine and this leaf that create the plant medicine commonly referred to as Ayahuasca, however.
What a lot of people don’t know is that there are over 18 ways of preparing Ayahuasca.
There’s a wide variety of the vines, there’s some vines that according to their shape and composition are a little bit different one from another.
Once, i was talking with a Shaman here in Colombia, he shares that every vine has a specific use; all of them are good for healing, but some of them are good if you want to study, if you want to go deep inside yourself there’s a specific brew that they can create, if you want to go deep outside of yourself then there’s something else.
I’ve never tried Ayahuasca in Peru, Costa Rica or Ecuador, so what i’m going to share now is not from personal experience but it is from one of the Shamans that we work with and his personal experience having traveled a lot, done conferences and health talks in a lot of different communities, having been trained by the authority of the Ayahuasca world.
Which is Shaman Querubin Queta who is 108 years old, from what i understand he’s the most respected Shaman or one of the most respected Shamans in all of South America because he’s been serving the medicine for over 80+ years.
What’s the difference? I once asked this gentleman: “Hey, what’s the difference between Ayahuasca and Yage? Ayahuasca being served in Costa Rica, Peru and Yage being mostly served in Colombia?“
He started giggling and he said “Ayahuasca is soft, it’s easy.” I was shocked, then asked why.
According to him, it can be a lot more of a psychoactive trip of colors, visions and very subtle, one of those experiences that for a lot of people are strong, memorable, but sometimes, not quite enough to instill a long-lasting transformation.
Then i asked him how he would describe Yage “Tigre” (Which is what we usually cook here in Colombia, it means tiger), he said:
It packs a stronger punch, it is usually not as gentle with the person’s body or sometimes, not even the mind. It’s coming for a purpose, like a tiger, it’s coming to rip away everything that is untrue whether that is trauma, karma, some energy that you have collected from your journey.
The tiger is more confrontational, Ayahuasca is believed to be the divine mother, like a grandmother’s spirit.
It’s known to have more masculine qualities, when you drink it you can really sense that it’s a very loving fighter but also a very strict one, so while the mother holds you and lets you cry all that you need to, showing you that everything is okay…
The father does that but then at one point he holds your hand and tells you “All right, son/daughter, there’s something that you need to get, there’s something that you need to learn.“
This can be difficult because a lot of people that are curious about plant medicine wish to have a good trip, Yage does not guarantee that, he guarantees that the trip you have is very good for you, perhaps even more than Ayahuasca.
But it does not always guarantee that it’s going to be a pleasant experience because of that, it’s a very strong energy, it can be very confrontational, it will allow you to pay close attention to everything within of you, everything inside that needs to be healed and let go of.
This is a difficult thing to do for most people, these are the differences that i know of.
Other than knowing that every center, place, temple has it’s own traditions.
What i invite you to do is to find a space whose Shaman (and hopefully the team that is facilitating) are people who you “vibe” with, to do a little bit of research, understand who are the people helping you, are you just paying to come in and out?
Or are they supporting your preparation process, your integration process.
Look around YouTube, social media, Instagram – look for some testimonials, videos, see the place, see what you’re vibing with, the people, the space, the location, then, make your choice.
However, i really encourage you not to do it with what i call “Casual hippie facilitators” – people who are good vibes, playing to music from a playlist, taking this just as another psychedelic substance, often holding mushroom ceremonies and a lot of other things.
They are jacks of all trades yet masters of none.
This is very dangerous, best case scenario you have a good trip with them, but nothing meaningful comes out of it.
However, if you’re going to do Ayahuasca, whether in Brazil, Peru, Ecuador or Colombia, find that Shaman leading it, who was been properly trained in one of the indigenous traditions, dedicated at least 10 years of their life to working with and hopefully serving the medicine.
Some Shamans will say that 10 years is not enough but this is a guideline.
Do not go to somebody’s house/college and do medicine from the hands of someone who spent one year or a few months in the jungle.
Be very careful and pay a lot of attention to how the medicine is cooked; Who’s cooking it? What’s the process?
A lot of people do not pay a lot of attention to this and it has an impact in how strong the medicine is; it depends on how impeccably it was prepared, which then depends on how much the people preparing it knew…
Ask about the preparation, integration, see places, the temple, how the medicine is, what tradition they’re trained in, what experience they have and let your heart decide.
Whether you want to come here, do medicine with us in Colombia or go somewhere else, let your heart be the guide, you’re gonna be in the right place with the right people and the right guides.
It doesn’t matter what place you’re in as long as things are done properly, which will result in going to a beautiful experience for you, ensure that whenever you go you have done your due diligence.
If you end up coming to South America let us know sharing a comment of how your experience was, or if you have worked with us before. You’re welcome here!
If you feel the calling to sit with Ayahuasca, in a container held by Colombian Shamans at a sacred temple in the middle of the mountain forests, please check:
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