Invitation 

My family and I are constructing a Shipibo healing center in the Peruvian jungle and you are invited to participate in the completion of what we hope will be a place of refuge, healing, and care for many years to come. The vision and preliminary structural pieces are in place. Now, we are inviting friends new and old to participate in bringing the rest of the vision into reality. I hope you will be inspired to participate in a way that’s just right for you at this time.  

Project Overview

We are creating a healing center that will be available to travelers from around the world, as well as to local Peruvians. We are offering an authentic Shipibo healing experience through ayahuasca ceremony and master plant “dietas” for those seeking recovery from emotional, physical and spiritual ailments. Along with this goal, the center will support, nurture and expand a growing community of people around the Vasquez family. This includes the people working at the center and, in the future, Shipibo people in need of community, especially orphans and other children in precarious situations, who will find in our center a place in which to ground themselves and thrive.

To this end, we are seeking backers to help us carry the vision, complete the construction, and come to Peru to participate in the healing center. Below, we outline how your support will build a community of healing and cultural preservation through the creation of a Shipibo led and operated healing center and the practice of master plant “dietas.”

Ways to participate

• Let us know you are carrying the vision with us with a contribution of any amount. You will be added to the insiders list and get updates about our progress. We’d love to celebrate with you as the center comes into being!
• With a donation of $100 or more you will receive a video recorded icaro (healing song) from  Maestro Manuel Vasquez delivered to your inbox, in addition to becoming an insider with access to information about our progress.
• Please share our visionary campaign to friends who might be interested in participating.

About Master Plant “Dietas”

A master plant “dieta” is a profound journey people may undertake for the sake of their own healing or in order to become healers for others. Dieta is the Spanish translation for the Shipibo word sama which means to make a relationship with a medicinal plant for it’s healing qualities.

There are many restrictions involved in a proper sama, including the type and quantity of food and other limitations such as the intake of all forms of media, and sexual contact and thoughts. Isolation from other people is also an important part of the process.  The intention behind this is to limit external input so as to allow the spirit of the plant being “dieted” to connect with the participant. 

Participants initially open their sama with the help of a maestro who later aids its maintenance and finally closes it in ceremony.  Sama is a very deep, non-linear process, which is generally foreign to the Western mind.  This practice leads to deep healing and spiritual wisdom.

6-12 Month Vision

Our center is undergoing construction. We broke ground in July of 2022. Financing so far has come from personal funds ($39,250) and from the contribution of individual donors ($5,900). Below are the major projects required in order for the center to become fully operational, for which we are seeking your support:

Complete the construction of:

• Maloka (ceremonial house, currently being roofed)
• Residential cabins (currently being framed and roofed)
• Lounge (currently being framed and roofed)
• Bathrooms and showers
• Internet tower
• Put a marketing plan into effect, which will include continuous outreach to individuals and organizations, a website and a social media presence.
• Continue to hire additional staff.
• Begin hosting retreat participants.

Five Year Vision

• Complete all aspects of construction outlined above.
• Successfully engage El Centro Inka Meraya as a business entity capable of sustaining our family and community.
• Provide a home for 6-12 orphaned Shipibo children.

Leadership & Qualifications

Manuel Vasquez (Bawan Yoi)

Manuel Vasquez is 76 years old. He began his training to become a curandero in his home village of Curiaca, on the Ucayali River, at the age of 18.  Manuel has completed master plant dietas consistently throughout his life and currently holds the title of Onanya. In the Shipibo language, onanya means “a person of wisdom.” Those who have attained this status are highly regarded curanderos in the Shipibo community. Manuel is a calm, gentle and insightful man who carries potent medicine in his songs and visions for the healing of others.

Sergio Vasquez (Inkanima)

Sergio Vasquez was raised in the Shipibo village of Curiaca, on the Ucayali River.  He comes from a long and proud lineage of Shipibo curanderos. From an early age, his father Manuel Vasquez raised him in the healing tradition of the Shipibo people. Sergio has completed several dietas and is currently under training to become a curandero. Sergio is a wealth of knowledge in regard to the Shipibo’s use of ayahuasca and master plants. Like all members of his family, he is fluent in his native tongue. Sergio worked for Centro Nihue Rao for three years, gaining valuable experience in teaching the Shipibo language, participating in the day-to-day operations of the healing center, and assisting in as many as eight hundred ceremonies. He is very experienced in working with people from outside his culture. He’s been assisting his father in ceremony since the age of nine.

Robert Morrow (Rono Soi)

A world renown violin bow maker by trade, Robert Morrow is a curandero in the Shipibo tradition with three and a half years of experience holding ceremonies and more than eight years working with ayahuasca solely within the Shipibo tradition. To date, he has led more than three hundred ceremonies with participants from all over the United States. His training includes the traditional apprenticeship of a one-year master plant “dieta” with Maestro Ricardo Amaringo, as well as fifteen months of master plant dietas with Maestro Manuel Vasquez.  He has also completed five other shorter dietas.  Prior to leading ceremony, Robert assisted in well over one hundred ceremonies in the Shipibo tradition.

Support Staff

Our staff includes a team of skilled professionals and workers:

• Eusebio Martinez Sr.: Master maloka builder, carpenter, and sawyer.
• Eusebio Dahua: Skilled wood worker, carpenter, plumber, cement and tile craftsman.
• Ernesto Vasquez: Agriculturist, personnel manager
• Cooking and care  giving staff: Brenda, Gabriela, and Carmela Dahua
• Carpenters: Ladislao Pereyra , Manuel Vasquez Jr., Mike Lozano,  and Moises Dahua
• Laborers: Noe Dahua, Esteban Dahua
• Isabel Falcon: translator, ceremony assistant, and yoga teacher currently based in the U.S.

Sacred Lineage Preservation

The Shipibo healing lineage is a living tradition that requires a lifetime of practice and hard work to master. Wisdom keepers have trained apprentices from time immemorial and continue to do so. We are fortunate that the ancient wisdom of countless generations remains intact, and available to us, however centers such as El Centro Inka Meraya are critical to the survival and dissemination of this ancient wisdom.

The Inka passed down the ayahuasca medicine to the Shipibo people, who are the guardians and wisdom keepers of the Amazonian plants. The arrival of the Spanish conquistadors, missionaries, and others has resulted in great loss for the Shipibo people. 

The vast knowledge of healing and plant medicine held collectively within the Shipibo is ancestral, profound and vital for future generations. Shipibo elders have humbly accepted the burden that comes with their unique place in this world. However, younger generations have been affected by a different burden: that of Western culture and mercantilism. Supporting this sacred lineage and the preservation of its healing powers is our utmost priority.

As an institution of cultural preservation, learning, and healing, El Centro Inka Meraya trains and empowers healers known as “curanderos” as they progress through increasingly advanced levels of practice. El Centro Inka Meraya exists to support healers, and disseminate their knowledge across the globe and within the local community. 

Your donation will help create

You can make a donation or prepay the admission for your stay that you may schedule for a future date. These advanced bookings will be used to finish necessary construction.

Below, we outline the costs associated with building the center.

Necessary Building Projects

Maloka, ceremonial house: $ 20,000 (30% completed)

6 isolation cabins with bathroom for 1 guest: $10,000 (40% completed)

Bathrooms: $6,000

Internet tower: $6,000

Resident lounge: $10,000 (20% completed)

Furniture: beds, tables, chairs, dressers, etc: $8,000 (10% completed)

Projected total: $60,000

Other Building Projects Pending

6 isolation cabins with bathroom for 1 guest: $10,000

Central bathrooms, shower house, septic system: $12,000

Marketing plan: $30,000

Solar electricity: $12,000                                                        

2 guard houses: $3,000

Drilling of hand-operated well: $5,000

6 residential cabins: $12,000

2 staffing houses for 6-8 ppl: $6,000

1 large house for 2 caretakers for orphans: $4,000

Projected total: $94,000

Investments made to date

• Robert Morrow $39,250
• Other donors $   5,900

Prepaid Dietas:

Retreats/dietas may be pre-purchased.  Proceeds from prepaid stays will be applied to the current construction and associated expenses.

El Centro Inka Meraya Pricing:

• 1 week $1,500
• 2 weeks $ 2,500
• 1 month $3,800
• 3 months $9,000
• Longer stays available.

Prices includes: 

• Private cabin
• Meals 
• Transportation 
• Ceremonies
• Flower baths

Conclusion

We at El Centro Inka Meraya have gathered a top-notch staff in all areas of operation. On staff are qualified healers, professional builders, a kitchen team, assistants and translators. Our goal is to have a self-supporting onsite community and active Shipibo healing center. We have already accomplished a great deal with little outside support. We have a three-acre garden, chickens, a well, six houses, a kitchen and dining room, a maloka,  guest cabins, and office/guest lounge under construction. Please consider partnering with us to complete the remaining construction and marketing needed for the center to become a reality and for our community to thrive. 

While Peru has become a destination for plant medicine, the qualifications and lineage of the healers is critical.  El Centro Inka Meraya offers visitors a chance to experience ceremony with the renowned Vasquez family healers, and live alongside their family for a unique and transformative visit.

A Note from Robert

“Working with ayahuasca has benefited my life in innumerable ways that leave me quite grateful.  This medicine and master plant dietas have healed me physically, emotionally, and spiritually.  Master plant dietas have initiated my ability to work as a curandero. My work as a curandero has provided me the privilege of witnessing hundreds of people’s lives improve greatly through this ancient healing tradition. I hope you will join me in continuing to offer this life-changing work to seekers of all walks.”