Two paths
Both paths share the same house, the same guides, and the same six months. They differ in how much time is spent in ceremony.
Heart Path
All levels welcome.
- Two full day mountain ceremonies
- A balance of ceremony, Inca sites, and time to do nothing
- Time to acclimate to the altitude and rest
This is the one to choose if you have not travelled with us before. It is also the one people come back for.
Fire Path
For experienced seekers.
- Three ceremonies: two on the mountain, one all night by the fire
- Days given over almost entirely to ceremony and integration, with little sightseeing
The all night fire ceremony is the reason this path exists.
Four doors, and a map of a life
Miguel works with four doors, and he opens them in order: east, west, north, south. Each one carries an element and an animal. Fire and the puma. Water and the eagle. Air and the deer. Earth and the snake.
Each door is also a season of a life. The first is childhood. The second is youth. The third is the people you came from and the ones coming after you. The fourth is old age.
That is why a ceremony here tends to feel less like an escape from your life and more like a look at it. As Miguel puts it, we need a map to navigate the terrain.
This is his framework, not mine, and what you meet of it on the mountain is his to give. The preparation calls go further into it before you fly.
About Huachuma
Huachuma, commonly called San Pedro, is a columnar cactus native to the Andean highlands. The Spanish name came later, from conquistadors who decided the plant opened heavenly gates and named it for the saint who keeps the keys. Its ceremonial use in these mountains predates that by thousands of years.
People describe Huachuma as a mirror. It tends to strip away the arrangements we make with ourselves and leave us sitting with what is underneath. That can be tender, funny, boring, or devastating, sometimes in the same afternoon.
Five thousand cacti in the ground
Huachuma is under pressure from over harvesting. Every retreat includes a day at the Huachuma Sanctuary in Taray, where several hundred cacti are already in the ground and the hillside will hold five thousand. You plant. Plant more, worry less.
The preservation work behind the retreat, filmed on the land where you will plant.
Who comes on this
- You are willing to do the preparation before you arrive, not just show up
- You can walk uphill above 9,000 feet for most of a day
- You want to be changed, and you are willing to be uncomfortable on the way
- You can sit with your own discomfort
- You have some kind of support at home for after
- You are interested in the people you will be travelling with, not just the medicine
Every application is read and answered personally, and we talk before anything is booked. Health, medication, and anything else that matters is covered in that conversation, where we can give you a real answer rather than a rule.
Six months, with ten days in the middle
Before. Four weekly calls
We meet online once a week for the month before you fly: the history of Huachuma and the valley, the ceremonies and the four doors, the sanctuary, minerals and plant medicine, packing. Suggested reading: San Pedro Huachuma: Opening the Pathways of the Heart, by Javier Regueiro.
I also recommend a hair tissue mineral analysis before you travel. A balanced mineral state changes how the medicine lands, and altitude is unkind to people running on empty.
During. Ten days in the valley
Ceremony days are full days. We leave in the morning and come down as the light goes. Other days start with breakfast together and end at the fire. The shape below is the Heart Path.
- Day 1Arrive in Cusco, transfer to Pisac, settle in
- Day 2Rest from travel. Gentle walk through Pisac or up to the ruins
- Day 3Opening circle with Miguel at his temple in Taray, including making the medicine
- Day 4Free day. Market, rest, ceremony preparation
- Day 5First mountain Huachuma ceremony
- Day 6Integration. Rest, light group activity
- Day 7Free day. Inca sites, horses, massage, or nothing
- Day 8Second mountain Huachuma ceremony
- Day 9Rest and integrate
- Day 10Closing circle and planting at the Huachuma Sanctuary
- Day 11Departure, transfer to Cusco
The Fire Path adds the all night fire at the temple in Taray, from the evening after the second mountain day through until dawn, with the day after given to rest.
After. Four integration calls
We keep meeting once you are home, while what you saw is still soft and easy to lose: four group calls, space to say the thing you have not said out loud yet, and one to one work with me if you want it.
Your guides
Hamid Jabbar
Space holder, facilitator, founder of the Huachuma Foundation
Hamid merges modern and ancient approaches in his practice. As @mineralshaman he writes about minerals, the body, and the places where those meet spiritual work.
Miguel Mendiburu
Ceremony facilitator, Sacred Valley
Miguel has offered Huachuma ceremonies for over twenty years from his home base in the Sacred Valley. His style is gentle and unhurried. He is known for guiding people into states of unity and remembering without ever making a performance of it.
Miguel owns and stewards the land where the Huachuma Sanctuary is growing, and the preservation project was his vision before it was ours. His decades with the plant shape both the ceremonies and the conservation work.
Where you will stay
We stay at Martina Wasi, a private Andean villa on more than four thousand square meters of garden and farmland, with the mountains directly behind it. Sheep, guinea pigs, and several unserious dogs live on the property.
Room options
- Shared roomTwo to four beds, shared bathroom, assigned by gender unless you tell us otherwise
- Private single room with private bathroom
- BungalowOwn kitchen, patio, and fireplace. Popular with couples
- Premium private suiteThe largest and most private rooms we have
Bungalows and premium suites are usually at Karina Wasi next door, with its own kitchens, patios, and fireplaces. Rooms go in the order deposits arrive.
Pisac is a ten minute walk from the house: the Sunday market, the Inca terraces above town, cafes, bakeries, and the Vilcanota river running below.
What is included
- Ten nights accommodation in your chosen room type
- All ground transport, including airport transfers and ceremony days
- Two Huachuma ceremonies with Miguel, three on the Fire Path
- Pre ceremony intention circles and post ceremony integration
- Two group meals daily, breakfast and dinner, fresh local ingredients, no seed oils
- Evening community time by the fire
- Optional sound baths and cacao ceremonies
- Educational visit and planting at the Huachuma Sanctuary
- Four weekly preparation calls before departure
- Four integration calls after you return
- Preparation materials, packing lists, and flight coordination help
Not included
- Airfare to and from Cusco, usually $900 to $1,400 from a US hub. We help you coordinate flights
- Lunches and some meals, so we can eat our way through Pisac together. It is inexpensive and it is part of the trip
- Travel and medical insurance, which we ask everyone to carry
- Extra wellness activities the group decides it wants: ecstatic dance, temazcal, additional sound work. We make the introductions
- Personal shopping, and you will shop
- Hair tissue mineral analysis and lab review, which are optional and priced separately
Arriving a day early or staying a day late can be arranged at a small additional cost. Ask.
What people say afterward
Prayas G., 2023 GroupThis retreat to Peru, the love song to the mountains, is the best I have been on. And I have been on many. It is really about you, the participant. Not money, not ego, not recognition. There is much purity here. Hamid holds excellent space. Support when you need it, distance when you need it. You are in very good hands.
Saba S., 2023 GroupThis trip to Peru with Hamid and my newfound tribe was no less than life changing. I gained way more than I could have thought possible. Hamid has mastered facilitating with integrity. Incredibly intuitive, providing the right amount of grounded guidance while giving you space to do the inner work. I gained lifelong friendships.
Joel W., 2023 GroupThis was my first experience with this type of plant medicine and I had a bit of imposter syndrome joining a group with deeper understanding. Hamid and the container welcomed me and supported me through it. I shed many layers and was humbled by the sincerity of Miguel. It removed what no longer served me.
Pricing
Prices are per person in US dollars.
Early registration saves $300
Apply and place your $500 deposit before December 31, 2026 and $300 comes off any room option, on either path.
| Room | Heart Path | Fire Path |
|---|---|---|
| Shared room | $3,800 | $4,000 |
| Private single room | $4,800 | $5,000 |
| Bungalow or premium suite, per person | $5,200 | $5,400 |
| Couple sharing a bungalow or premium suite, per person | $4,800 | $5,000 |
Deposit and payment schedule
- $500 deposit holds your spot once your application is accepted
- Fifty percent of the remaining balance is due roughly seven weeks before departure
- The final balance is due roughly four weeks before departure
- Exact due dates are confirmed with you after your application is accepted
Deposits, changes and cover
- If we cancel the retreat, you are refunded in full
- If you cancel and we can fill your spot with another accepted applicant, we refund what you paid
- Deposits and payments are non refundable, apart from those two cases
- You must carry your own travel and medical insurance
- We are never liable beyond what you have paid us, including for flights you booked
Send the application and we will talk it through before anything is decided.
Questions people send us
When will the 2027 dates be announced?
Soon. Both paths run back to back in summer 2027, and you will have the dates in hand before any money changes hands.
The dates are not up yet. Can I still apply?
Yes, and applying early is how the best rooms go. Your deposit is placed after we talk, once you know the dates.
How fit do I need to be?
Fit enough to walk uphill for several hours above 9,000 feet and be on your feet all day. If a knee, a back, or a heart worries you, tell us in the application.
What about the altitude?
Pisac sits around 9,700 feet, and the first ceremony comes after several easy days so your body can catch up. If altitude has hit you hard before, come a day or two early.
I take medication. What should I tell you?
Put everything you take in the application. Medication is one of the first things we go through together, and for most people it is straightforward. Where something needs care we will say so. What you write stays with me.
Is this legal?
The ceremonies happen in Peru, in a traditional Andean context, run by local practitioners under local custom and law. Nothing on this page is an offer or sale of any controlled substance in the United States.
Do I need a visa?
Most travellers from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and the EU enter Peru on a tourist stamp at the airport. Your passport needs six months left on it. Check the current rules for your own before you book flights.
Can I come on my own?
Most people do. You will be nine people in a house for ten days. Nobody stays a stranger for long.
What if I have never done plant medicine?
The Heart Path is built for exactly that, and the preparation calls exist so you arrive knowing what you are walking into. If the Fire Path is calling you, say so in the application.
How to apply
The application takes about twenty minutes and asks for no payment. Every applicant gets an individual reply, usually within a few days, and then we get on a call. That conversation is where we both decide whether this is right, and where you get the dates and the details straight from me. After it, a $500 deposit holds your spot.
