Don Armando

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“Don Armando is easily the most powerful shaman I have ever met, he is the real deal and a true master. I believe he is one of the few “Banco shamans” that still exist! I consider it one of the greatest gift of my life that I could learn, study and drink medicine from/with him! He’s the best!” Read more…

Leo Van Veenendaal, AUSTRALIA

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Traditional Amazonian shaman Don Armando was born in the Santana community of river-dwellers located off the Rio Amazonas, in the Peruvian Amazon basin. He is of Remo Auca descent on side of his father, and Coto Auca descent on side of his mother (both of his parents were indigenous people from Ecuador, living near the frontier with Peru, above the Rio Napo). The Aucas (a Quechua/Quichua term, which literally means “wild”) are an Amerindian indigenous group related to the Huaoranis (or Waoranis) – known to be fearless warriors and extraordinary hunters – dwelling in eastern Ecuador, on the northwestern Amazon. His teacher was also a Remo Auca whilst two of his grandmothers (on side of father and mother) were of Cocama [Kukama] ancestry.

Don Armando is a most distinguished Palero (a shaman/vegetalista who is specialised in working with master trees), an Ayahuasquero (a Maestro specialised in working with Ayahuasca; and also one of the *very few* shamans in Peru who can prepare Ayahuasca made with the magical Puma chacruna plant), a Camalonguero (a Maestro skilled in working with Camalonga – Thevetia peruviana), a Toesero (a shaman specialised in working with the powerful Toé – Brugmansia suaveolens – plant teacher), a Sananguero (a shaman specialised in working with the Sanango class of master trees), a Huachumero (a Maestro skilled in working with the San Pedro/Huachuma visionary cactus, to which he was initiated by his teacher in Tarapoto, in the region of San Martin, in Peru) and a Rosacrucista (an adept of Rosicrucianism, a mystical-esoteric tradition). He was initiated to Ayahuasca by his grandfather shaman when he was only 12, and initiated to the shamanic dieta (with many different master plants, master trees, shrubs, and vines) since the age of 15. After the initial 3 years of dietas learning the ways of traditional Amazonian medicine and la ciencia (the science) of Vegetalismo, at the age of 18 he was formally appointed as Curandero by his teacher. He has now fully matured over 37 years of experience in the field of shamanic plant medicine, and he is one of the shamans with the most extensive knowledge of Amazonian plants we ever worked with in both Peru and Colombia.

Diet with nearly 40 master trees, vines, and plant teachers at once…

Don Armando prepares a very powerful concentrated brew made with a total of 35 master trees and vines (including the magical Lupuna blanca, the king of all master trees) to be ritually drunk during the long shamanic dietas with master trees and during the dita for the shamanic apprenticeship. He also works with a vast array of plants like Ayahuasca (Banisteriopsis sp.), Coca* (Erythroxylum coca), San Pedro (Echinopsis pachanoi syn. Trichocereus pachanoi), Camalonga (Thevetia peruviana), Mapacho (Nicotiana tabacum, Nicotiana rustica), Cacao (Theobroma cacao) and Toé (Brugmansia suaveolens), which rank among the most revered plant teachers of Peru.

With Don Armando you have the choice of following either a very intense & more powerful shamanic dieta than that is offered in the vast majority of the retreat centres in Peru – with nearly 40 among master trees, vines, and plant teachers, to be taken ALL at once, as a highly concentrated brew prepared in the guise of the Ayahuasca medicine – or else, go for the traditional shamanic dieta, dieting with only one master plant, master tree, shrub, or vine at a time (this will be anyway necessary/mandatory when dieting with special plants like Toé, Ayahuasca, Coca*, Camalonga, or Mapacho, among others). The same options are also available when doing a shamanic dieta retreat with Don Guido.

In the specific case of the Ayahuasca diet, one may diet with either Cielo ayahuasca (the best for initiations), Suni ayahuasca (Soliman ayahuasca/black ayahuasca), Lucero ayahuasca and Puma ayahuasca (learn more here).

The various types of shamanic dieta – I

In the strict shamanic dieta with master trees and in the shamanic apprenticeship dieta only the following food are allowed by either Don Armando, or Don Guido:

Boquichico (Amazonian river fish), Acarahuazú (Amazonian river fish), Tucunaré (Amazonian river fish), Palometa (Amazonian river fish), Sardines, Ractacara (Amazonian river fish) – all roasted/grilled and unseasoned – oatmeal, porridge (without any sugar or salt, known locally as mazamorra de avena), rice, salad, green plantains (roasted/grilled), green plantains drink (cooked green plantains ground in water and drank as juice), coconut water (occasionally), lemongrass tea, and lemon leaves tea.

Free range chicken (pollo/gallina de chacra) is only allowed at the end, when the diet is finished and deliberately broken (dieta de alta), either as grilled meat or in form of chicken broth. No oil, fat, spices, chilli, salt, sugar, sweets, or fruit are allowed. Should one feel very debilitated during the dieta they could be given food with a little bit of salt and a a bit of sweet fruits (always “cured” by the shaman with special protective icaros, to avoid harm) for 1-2 days only, then they will return to their usual strict dieta, with no salt, sugar, fruit, fats, oil, spices, or sweets.

Learn more...

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Shamanic dieta and shamanic apprenticeship – Disclaimer:

Whilst we will do our utmost to accommodate and cater for different dietary requirements (including for vegans, as an optional extra), please note that the shamanic dieta – and even more so the dieta for the shamanic apprenticeship – demands tuning with the food traditionally allowed, passed down to the shamans by the spirits of the plant teachers themselves. Don Armando maintains that the more flexible a shamanic dieta is, the less one will learn. And if one gets to the point of basically allowing most – when not all – food NOT contemplated in the traditional dieta, then one shouldn’t expect to be doing a proper shamanic apprenticeship. It will be more like a normal Ayahuasca retreat, and one may still receive visions and purge, but won’t learn from the mother spirits of the master trees and plant teachers, and won’t be doing a proper shamanic training.

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A very powerful Ayahuasca brew

Don Armando prepares a very strong Ayahuasca brew with Cielo ayahuasca vine cuts mixed with 500 leaves of the Chaliponga (also known as Chagro, or Chagropanga, in Quechua – the Diplopterys cabrerana vine), the leaves of the Chacruna (Psychotria viridis) plant, Mapacho cigars (Nicotiana tabacum/Nicotiana rustica, organic black jungle tobacco), 10 fresh Coca* leaves, 10 Chiric sanango leaves, and the bark of the Cacao tree (which ultimately gives the brew a rather sweeter flavour,  and contains also a kind of gel which is soothing for the stomach).

The magical Puma chacruna plant teacher

Subject to availability (it’s a rare plant, very hard to find), we endeavour to offer our participants to experience *at least once* in the course of their retreat the Ayahuasca brew prepared with the magical Puma chacruna (Psychotria carthaginensis) plant teacher, possibly the most powerful ever main plant additive to the Ayahuasca medicine we know of. There is a different schedule of Ayahuasca ceremonies in the shamanic dieta when Puma chacruna is added to the brew. For more details please visit: https://www.elmundomagico.org/plant-teachers-shamanic-diet/#ayahuasca-puma-chacruna.

Don Armando first dieted with Suni/Soliman ayahuasca (Banisteriopsis martiana) prepared with Puma chacruna for 3 months, when he was a 22 years old curandero, as part of a larger dieta of 9 months in the small indigenous Quichua community of Panayjillo, located near the Napo river, under invitation from the local Curaca (higher authority), Don Fidel Alvarado Do Santos.

The Puma chacruna grows in the rainforest, mainly on the edges of small jungle streams. The mother spirit of this plant appears in vision as either a giant, raging, all-powerful red-coloured Puma (puma concolor), or as a giant black panther. It connects one with the earthly realm, with all living animals, plant teachers and master trees. Ayahuasca prepared with Puma chacruna delivers many more, more intense and much more powerful visions than the brew prepared with the conventional Chacruna (Psychotria viridis), or Chaliponga/Chagropanga (Diplopterys cabrerana). To find and harvest the Puma chacruna plant teacher in the wilderness it may be necessary to trek for a full day in the Amazon jungle.

The icaros

Don Armando’s icaros are sang mostly in Quichua, or in a mixture of Quichua and Spanish, with the addition of some words in Remo Auca tongue (especially when he is in trance). During the Ayahuasca ceremony he smokes two Mapacho (Nicotiana rustica/Nicotiana tabacum) cigars at once, to invoke and summon the genios (mother spirits) of the shamanic medicine, and the spirits of the Palos Maestros (master trees), inviting them to the ritual to share Ayahuasca with them.

The San Pedro

You may complement your Ayahuasca, healing diet, or shamanic plant dieta or apprenticeship retreat, with a San Pedro ceremony. Or else, for those who wish to do a more in-depth work with San Pedro, the legendary Cactus of the Four Winds, we also offer a full 8 days/7 nights San Pedro retreat with him (which includes 4 San Pedro, 2 Ayahuasca, 1 Camalonga and 1 smoked Toè ceremonies). 

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* Coca leaves disclaimer:

Please note that the traditional use of Coca leaves (whether fresh or dry) for shamanic, medicinal (including to treat/prevent altitude sickness) and religious rituals (including divination) is 100% legal in Peru. However, in most part of the Western hemisphere possession and use of the plant is restricted. Any other use of the Coca plant at the retreat other than for the following:

• the performance of live shamanic rituals (for instance, when invoking the wisdom and healing powers of the plant);
• the rigorous shamanic diet with Coca (when the fresh Coca leaves juice is drank in ceremony);
• the flexible diet with the Coca (when the Coca leaves are left in infusion in hot/boiled water to be drank in ceremony as a tea);
• the preparation of the Ayahuasca brew, and/or for the concentrated brew of master trees by the shaman.

will not be contemplated and authorised.

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