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Atmosphere and feature ratings above are based on Best Retreats research (October 2026). They will be updated if Amayas Ayahuasca Ecuador submits its own information.

Amayas Ayahuasca Ecuador: An In-Depth Review for Retreats near Tena, Ecuador

Amayas Ayahuasca Ecuador is a small, foreign-run ayahuasca retreat on the Misahuallí River in Cotundo, Napo province, about 30 minutes from Tena and three hours by road from Quito. It was launched in 2023 by Karolína Urbanová, a Czech media personality formerly known as Daisy Lee, who says ayahuasca helped her rebuild her life, and it is run day to day by her Argentine partner, Gabriel. Ceremonies are led by a Kichwa healer the center calls Don Luis Andi. It runs seven- and eleven-day retreats for up to eight guests that mix three or four ayahuasca ceremonies with rafting, caves, waterfalls and thermal baths, at published prices of $1,200 and $1,750, and every review we found is five stars: 5.0 from 10 on Tripadvisor and 5.00 from 75 on BookRetreats. We found no deaths, injuries or misconduct. The concerns are medical. The center publishes no contraindication list and has no medical staff, it promotes a separate “treatment of serious illnesses” stay for cancer and leukemia with the claim that “Every disease can be treated,” and its travel advice says “the vaccine can weaken your immune system.” Its own listings also disagree on the shaman’s age, refunds and group size. Our earlier profile is out of date: prices, reviews, contact details and the deposit policy are all now published.

🎯 At a Glance

• Locations: About 5 hectares of private riverside land in Cotundo parish, Archidona canton, Napo province, with two river beaches, about 30 minutes from Tena, according to the center’s accommodation page and Retreat Guru listing. The center’s own map pin is at about -0.8362, -77.8159.
• Approach: Kichwa-led ayahuasca ceremonies in a maloca, with a water-tobacco purge, mapacho cleansings, an herbal sauna and an individual cleansing by the shaman during each ceremony, combined with guided excursions: rafting, a canyon and cave waterfall, a chocolate farm, a Kichwa community visit, a jungle spa and a mountain thermal bath.
• Suitable For: Healthy guests who want a small group, an organized program with adventure activities and a foreign host who handles logistics. Not suited to anyone with a serious illness, a psychiatric history or a need for medical supervision.
• Costs: $1,750 for 11 days with four ceremonies and $1,200 for 7 days with three, with some dates discounted to $1,390 and $960, according to its dates page. A private cabin costs about $250 extra. Lodging, three meals a day, excursions, a translator and transport from Quito are included; flights are not. The site asks for a $240 deposit, described as non-refundable, with the balance paid in cash on the first day.
• Overall Assessment: A well-organized, small-group retreat with consistently glowing reviews, transparent prices and included transport, offset by no published contraindications or medical staff, unsupported claims about treating cancer and leukemia, misleading vaccine advice, refund terms that depend on where you book and inconsistent facts about its shaman. Directory evaluation: C.

💬 What Guests Are Saying

Here is how Amayas Ayahuasca Ecuador rates across review platforms in October 2026:

The positive picture. Reviewers describe excellent organization, warm and attentive hosts, a powerful and caring shaman, respectful facilitators who do not push interpretations, enough rest between ceremonies, good food, reliable transfers and a small group. Several call the experience life-changing.

The negative feedback. We found no review below five stars on any platform. Some guests describe the ceremonies as very demanding and the return to daily life as hard, and testimonials on the center’s site say the program is not suited to people who are easily discouraged.

Who is writing the reviews. Between 85 and 105 reviews across platforms, with overlap, are all five stars, which is unusual even for a small center. The founder says she has a social media following of nearly a hundred thousand, and early guests came largely from her Czech and Slovak audience, so the review pool may lean toward fans. In August 2026 several promotional articles appeared on unrelated websites, one written in the center’s own voice and others with no clear sponsorship disclosure, following a July 2025 press release. The homepage’s “5.070 reviews” display is misleading. We found no evidence of paid reviews. If you have attended, we encourage you to share your experience through our submission form.

🚩 Incident Report

We searched review platforms, Czech, Ecuadorian and English-language news, and legal sources for reports involving Amayas, Karolína Urbanová and Don Luis Andi.

• Deaths and serious injuries: None found.
• Sexual misconduct: No allegations found.
• Theft and crime: No reports found.
• Legal and regulatory: No police action or lawsuits found. In September 2023, as the project launched, the Czech outlet Expres/AntiYoutuber reported that Urbanová had no Czech trade licence for selling the trips and that the website showed no company number or terms; no official action was reported. The center’s waiver now names an Ecuadorian company, AMAYAS ECUADOR S.A.S.

If you have experienced or witnessed an incident at Amayas, please report it confidentially.

🔍 Critical Notes

Cancer and leukemia claims. The center offers a separate individual stay for “leukemia, cancer and others,” with a daily herbal mixture of 21 plants and what it describes as the shaman sucking out the disease, according to its serious illnesses page. The page says the shaman “can also help you with any serious illness” and that “Every disease can be treated,” and it recounts testimonials of metastases disappearing and leukemia improving. It also says ayahuasca alone does not cure physical illness and that no outcome is promised, but it never advises continuing conventional treatment, and it contrasts its approach with “years spent in hospitals, unsuccessful treatments.” The leukemia claim is repeated in the shaman’s Retreat Guru and BookRetreats bios. There is no medical evidence that these treatments cure cancer. Anyone with a serious illness should stay under the care of their own doctors.

Vaccine and malaria advice. The center’s general information says the area has no malaria-carrying mosquitoes and that vaccination is optional, recommending vaccination at least four weeks before departure “Since the vaccine can weaken your immune system.” That is not accepted medical advice. Check current requirements for Ecuador’s Amazon provinces with a travel clinic.

Refunds depend on where you book. The center’s own rules page says the $240 deposit is non-refundable except “in exceptional cases,” allows one free date change, and says “Once the retreat has begun, no refunds will be provided under any circumstances.” Retreat Guru shows the deposit as “fully refundable until 1 day prior,” and BookRetreats offers a “100% deposit refund” on a $402 deposit up to a day before. The balance is paid in cash on arrival. Book through the channel whose terms you can rely on, and get them in writing.

Inconsistent facts. The center gives Don Luis Andi’s age as 74 on one page and 80 on another, with different ages for when he began. Group size is given as 8, 7 to 8, or 2 to 8; pickup time as “around 9 am” or “afternoon.” A second shaman, Papito, aged 84, was listed on BookRetreats until August 2025 and no longer appears on the site. The older Retreat Guru page ticks a pool, hot tub, air conditioning and a gym, none of which the center itself describes.

The legal position. Ecuador’s 2008 constitution recognizes ancestral medicine, but there is no detailed law, registry or protocol for ayahuasca ceremonies, leaving a legal gray area, according to an October 2026 legal briefing. DMT itself is internationally controlled, while the plants are not. Our earlier profile described a “legal gray area,” which still fits. See our country-by-country legal guide.

Corrections to our earlier profile. Prices are published ($1,750 and $1,200), and so are the deposit and cancellation rules. Tripadvisor now shows 10 reviews and BookRetreats 75. The center has an email address, social media accounts and a map pin. It describes one center on 5 hectares, not two centers. Individual cleansings last 25 to 30 minutes by the center’s own account, not 20. Our earlier profile said both shamans had passed a 40-year-old “Association of Shamans” trial in which 20 of 400 candidates succeeded; we found no current source for that claim, and it remains unverified. We also found no source for ceremonies starting around 8 p.m. or for exactly two night assistants, though a guest account confirms sober assistants stay through the night. The center does require medical disclosure, which our earlier profile said was missing, but it still publishes no list of contraindications.

🆘 Screening & Mental Health Risks

The rules require guests to disclose all medical conditions, mental health history and medications, “including antidepressants, psychiatric medications,” and to sign a statement of personal responsibility and assumption of risk on arrival; anyone who withholds information can be removed without a refund. Beyond that, no contraindication list, medication washout guidance, medical questionnaire content or emergency protocol is published, and no medical staff are named or claimed. A diet list is emailed 14 days before arrival. The site says the area has “two hospitals and two private clinic[s],” unnamed and payable on the spot; Tena is about 30 minutes away. The program has a group sharing circle and a final consultation with the shaman, but no post-retreat integration support is described. A directory profile marked as claimed by the center lists adolescents among the people it serves; the center’s own site does not say this, so ask about minimum age. ICEERS notes that ayahuasca’s MAOI component makes combinations with SSRIs and other serotonergic medications contraindicated, and that ayahuasca is contraindicated for people prone to psychosis. Erowid warns of extreme, possibly fatal reactions with some prescription drugs. Ask which medications and conditions exclude you before paying the deposit. Never stop a psychiatric medication to qualify for a retreat without your prescriber’s guidance.

🧪 Brew Substance

The center does not publish its ayahuasca recipe. Traditional ayahuasca combines the Banisteriopsis caapi vine with a DMT-containing leaf such as chacruna, as Erowid explains; our earlier profile’s assumption that Amayas uses this recipe has no source. The 11-day retreat has four ayahuasca ceremonies and the 7-day three, on alternate nights, preceded by a water-tobacco purge and herbal saunas, with mapacho used in cleansings. Optional herbal treatments for pain, infections, inflammation and infertility are sold at extra cost. Guayusa tea was served by the second shaman, and a directory profile lists tobacco rapé. No kambo, bufo, San Pedro or psilocybin is offered. Ask exactly what is in each cup and how doses are set.

📍 Location, Setting & Style

• Setting: Amazon foothills on the Misahuallí River, warm and humid year-round at about 26°C, with river beaches, hammocks, a main maloca, a small maloca with a fire pit and a small traditional sauna.
• Rooms: Several jungle cabins, shared by two guests of the same gender (couples together), each with a private bathroom, hot water, electricity and Wi-Fi.
• Style: A guided adventure-and-ceremony tour. Expect a busy itinerary of excursions between ceremonies, three basic meals a day (rice, chicken, fish, lentils, eggs, soups, fruit), with vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options on request. Hosts speak English and Spanish, with a translator for the shaman.

Practical guidance: Fly into Quito (UIO). The center collects guests from the airport or nearby hotels for the three-hour drive and returns them at the end. Pack light, with rain gear and river shoes.

Should You Book?

Amayas may suit you if you are healthy, want a tightly organized small-group trip that pairs ceremonies with rafting and sightseeing, and value hosts who handle every detail. Its reviews are uniformly enthusiastic. The trade-offs: no published contraindications or medical staff, a center that markets treatment of cancer and leukemia and gives misleading vaccine advice, refund terms that change with the booking channel, and inconsistent information about its shaman. If you go, get the contraindication list, the emergency plan, the nearest hospital and the refund terms in writing, keep any medical treatment you are on in your own doctor’s hands, and read our guide to verifying retreat facilitators.

The Team & Story

Karolína Urbanová, from Příbram in the Czech Republic, was known in Czech media as Daisy Lee before she began organizing ayahuasca trips in 2023. Czech outlets including Aktuálně.cz and the Příbram municipal portal report that she moved to Ecuador around the end of 2023, that a group arrives each month, and, by April 2026, that the center had finished its own maloca. In her own account on the center’s story page, the land originally belonged to Gabriel, an Argentine who rented kayaks there; he now manages the facilities and daily operations. At launch the trips used three shamans, a healer, a translator and a cook. Today the center names one shaman, Don Luis Andi, described as Kichwa and the son of a well-known yachak, Don Ramón. A Kichwa healer with a nearly identical name, Luis Andy, is listed by a separate Czech-run center in Pastaza; Andi is a common Kichwa surname, and we could not establish whether they are the same person. The legal entity named in the waiver is AMAYAS ECUADOR S.A.S. We did not independently verify anyone’s credentials.

Prep & Integration Tips

Before you go: Disclose every medication, supplement and condition, ask for the contraindication list in writing, and talk with your own doctor well before the retreat. See a travel clinic about vaccines and malaria rather than relying on the center’s advice. Follow the diet sent 14 days before arrival. After you return: No structured integration support is described, so arrange support from a qualified therapist at home. Our guide on how to research ayahuasca incidents can help you check any center.

Pros & Cons

Book Your Ceremony

Applications are made through amayas-ecuador.com, its Retreat Guru page and BookRetreats. Published dates run from November 7 to 13, 2026, through May 2027. Before paying, confirm in writing the contraindications, the emergency arrangements and nearest hospital, which shaman will lead your ceremonies, and the refund terms for your booking channel. Best Retreats does not take bookings; learn more about our mission.

Last reviewed October 2026.

This article is for informational purposes only and is not medical advice. Consult a qualified medical professional.