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Ayahuasca retreats in Peru
Legal in PeruAyahuasca

Kapitari

Near Iquitos, Loreto

Ayahuasca retreat beside a jungle lake near Iquitos, led by Don Lucho and his family, running 7-day retreats with three ceremonies for small groups.

Details from the centre's own website and independent sources, read 28 Sep 2026.

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Public record

Reported events involving this centre, as published by the sources linked. Each entry is dated and attributed; a response is included where the centre published or gave one. We have not investigated these events ourselves.

  1. Sep 2015Death

    New Zealander Matthew Dawson-Clarke, 24, died in September 2015 after a tobacco purge during a retreat at Kapitari. Witnesses said staff did not seek medical help promptly. A Peruvian investigation was reopened after pressure from his family. ('Parents warn backpackers after son's Amazon death', RNZ; 'Grieving parents issue warning to backpackers', ABC News, 14 Mar 2017; 'Kiwi Matthew Dawson-Clarke dies in Peru after tobacco purge', Stuff)

The legal position in Peru

In 2008 Peru's National Institute of Culture declared the traditional knowledge and uses of ayahuasca by native Amazonian communities Cultural Heritage of the Nation. The declaration protects traditional use and contrasts it with decontextualised commercial use; it does not license retreats. No authority inspects retreat centres, so standards vary between operators, and legality says nothing about safety.

The sources for this

The law and every listed centre in Peru

Programmes and cost

ProgrammeNightsSessionsFrom
7-day retreat

All-inclusive

63$850as published on 28 Sep 2026

Prices and formats as published by the operator on the date shown. They change, so confirm directly before budgeting. We never estimate a price that is not published.

Included, as published

  • Three ayahuasca ceremonies
  • Plant baths
  • Jungle dieta
  • Preparation and integration support

Screening, as the centre describes it

Not stated on the pages we read.

The cited ayahuasca safety facts to check it against

Accommodation

  • Traditional jungle tambos without air conditioning or wifi

What a ayahuasca retreat involves

The typical shape of this kind of programme. Use it as a checklist to ask against, not as this centre's timetable.

  1. Before arrivalMedical and psychiatric screening, and a dieta, commonly restricting alcohol, recreational drugs, pork, fermented foods, salt and sugar, and sexual activity. SSRIs and MAOIs must be resolved with a clinician well in advance.
  2. Day 1Arrival, orientation, one-to-one consultation with the healers, intention setting. No ceremony.
  3. Ceremony daysLight plant-based breakfast, integration workshop mid-morning, light lunch, rest and fasting through the afternoon, pre-ceremony yoga around 6:30pm, ceremony from roughly 7:30pm running several hours.
  4. Rest daysCeremonies alternate with rest days: group sharing circles, flower baths, healer consults, bodywork, and time to do nothing.
  5. Final dayClosing circle and integration planning. Most centres advise against flying the same day.
  6. AfterIntegration support varies enormously, from a single follow-up call to a year of community access. This is the single biggest quality differentiator and the least advertised.

Sources for this profile

The dispatch

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