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

Harmonica Ayahuasca Retreat (formerly Aya Retreat Guacamayo): An In-Depth Review for Ayahuasca Retreats near Medellín, Colombia

Status note (November 2026): Aya Retreat Guacamayo changed its name to Harmonica Ayahuasca Retreat in 2025 and moved to a new site in Girardota in July 2026. See our current profile of Harmonica Ayahuasca Retreat. Best Retreats keeps listings for centers that rebrand so their history stays on the public record.

The retreat our directory lists as Aya Retreat Guacamayo now trades as Harmonica Ayahuasca Retreat. It runs short yagé (ayahuasca) retreats on a mountainside about an hour north of Medellín, founded by Oliver Glozik, a former corporate executive, with ceremonies led by Sergio Henao, a former philosophy professor who says he trained in the Kamëntsá Biyá tradition of Putumayo, and a physician on the team. In July 2026 it moved to a newly built property in Vereda Curazao, Girardota, with a 150 m² maloka; our earlier profile placed it in Copacabana. Three-day, four-day and one-week retreats cost about $545 to $1,495, with a fully refundable deposit until the day before. Guests rate it 5.0 from about 300 Google and Tripadvisor reviews and 4.98 on Retreat Guru, praising the team’s care and the food. No screening, contraindication or emergency protocol is published on its booking pages, kambo is sold as an add-on, the doctor’s license is unverified and we found no registered company. We found no incidents.

🎯 At a Glance

• Locations: Vía Limonar, Vereda Curazao, Girardota, Antioquia, according to its current Retreat Guru listings, about an hour from Medellín’s El Poblado and Laureles districts. Its Third Wave plus code places the site about 4 km north-northwest of Girardota town. Its earlier site, described in our earlier profile as being in Copacabana, was “just north” of the new one, according to a company press release.
• Approach: Two to four yagé ceremonies framed in the Kamëntsá Biyá tradition, with holotropic breathwork, an ice bath, an individual “energetic cleaning,” a “Miracle Morning” routine, sharing circles, an integration workshop and, on the one-week retreat, yoga, art therapy and a cacao and sound ceremony. Kambo and purgatives are optional extras.
• Suitable For: Travelers based in or visiting Medellín who want a short, English-led ceremony program with a lot of support staff and a doctor on the team, and who will ask for the medical screening in writing.
• Costs: The Retreat Guru center page lists $545 for three days, $695 for four days and $1,345 for one week; current event pages and Third Wave show $695, $895 and $1,495. Private rooms cost $50 to $60 a night extra. Shared pickup from El Poblado is included; kambo and purgatives are extra.
• Overall Assessment: A well-reviewed, generously staffed program with a physician, a flexible refund policy and transparency about its team, offset by no published medical screening or emergency plan, kambo offered as an add-on, an unverified medical license, no registered company found, and shifting details on its location, size and contact numbers. Directory evaluation: B.

💬 What Guests Are Saying

The positive picture. Reviewers praise the care of the team and founders, Sergio’s ceremonies and energy work, Oliver’s guidance, live music, the food, the cleanliness, the mountain views, the high staff ratio, the doctor on site and the integration work, and several call the new venue more intimate. Our earlier profile quoted a testimonial on the operator’s website, “Oliver’s wisdom helped me surrender deeply,” and cited a 2025 Reddit post saying guests felt secure and well cared for; neither could be checked, so they remain unverified.

The negative feedback. Two low reviews exist among about 300 on Google and Tripadvisor, one with two stars and one with one star, but their text is not visible in the copies we found. No review below five stars is visible on Retreat Guru.

Who is writing the reviews. Almost every review is five stars. The operator’s own counts vary (“over 200,” “250+”) across its listings, and its July 2026 announcement of the new venue was a paid press release syndicated to unrelated sites. If you have attended, we encourage you to share your experience through our submission form.

🚩 Incident Report

We searched review platforms and English and Spanish-language news for reports involving Guacamayo, Harmonica, Oliver Glozik, Sergio Henao, Dr. Kevin Zapata, Vanessa Delgado Villegas, Jenna Ram, Carolina Forero and Luna.

• Deaths and serious injuries: None found involving this center. In the surrounding area, a 73-year-old American woman died after drinking yagé in a ritual led by an unnamed Indigenous man in Barbosa, the next municipality north, in February 2024, as El Tiempo reported, and a 53-year-old woman died after a ritual drink at a home in Itagüí in May 2024, according to El Colombiano. No center was named in either case.
• Sexual misconduct: No allegations found.
• Theft and crime: No reports found.
• Legal action: No police action or lawsuits found.

Our earlier profile also found no incidents of theft, sexual misconduct, violence or police reports, including on Reddit, Quora, Tripadvisor, Google and ICEERS resources.

If you have experienced or witnessed an incident with this retreat, please report it confidentially.

🔍 Critical Notes

New name, new site. The operator rebranded from Ayahuasca Retreat Guacamayo to Harmonica Ayahuasca Retreat and held its first retreat at the new Vereda Curazao property on July 2 to 5, 2026, according to its press release, which describes five private and two shared en-suite rooms, a 150 m² maloka and a 10 m waterfall, with a sauna and cold plunge planned. Its website remains ayahuasca-retreat.com.

Colombia’s legal picture. No Colombian law specifically permits or prohibits yagé, which has special cultural recognition through Indigenous communities, according to ICEERS. In 2022 Medellín’s Personería warned about unregulated yagé tourism, mostly run by foreigners, in Santa Elena, noting that no rules govern it, as El Colombiano reported. We found no raids or prosecutions of retreat centers near Medellín.

Who you are paying. We found no company, tax number or chamber of commerce registration. Contact numbers differ across listings: a US toll-free number, a Colombian mobile and, in our earlier profile, a German WhatsApp number we found nowhere else.

Corrections to our earlier profile. The retreat is in Girardota, not Copacabana. The earlier property was described as more than 10,000 m², not 20,000. We found no source for a ceremony room called “the selva,” for the three-room layout our earlier profile described, for free weekly support calls, for a 150,000 COP airport pickup or for the bus and mototaxi route via Metro Niquía and Cocorollo; those details remain unverified and may predate the move. Pickup is now from Socialtel in El Poblado rather than Selina. The operator does have a Meetup group. Sergio Henao’s experience is given as 15 or more years elsewhere, not 13. The “$395” shown on our earlier listing was not a price.

🆘 Screening & Mental Health Risks

The operator told Third Wave that a health survey is required, a consultation with the doctor is available and a video call checks each guest’s intentions, but its Retreat Guru booking pages publish no screening questions, contraindication list or emergency protocol. The team includes Dr. Kevin David Zapata, who says he graduated in medicine from the Universidad Tecnológica de Pereira in 2018 and works under the direction of Kamëntsá elders, according to his Retreat Guru profile; we did not verify his license. The center claims “medical supervision on-site” and a team of eight or more per retreat, and reviewers mention the doctor. The nearest hospital appears to be Hospital San Rafael in Girardota. Kambo is offered as a paid add-on without published screening. ICEERS notes that ayahuasca’s MAOI component makes it dangerous with SSRIs and other serotonergic drugs and that it is contraindicated for people prone to psychosis. Integration includes a workshop, an ayahuasca journal and ongoing support. Never stop a psychiatric medication to qualify for a retreat without your prescriber’s guidance.

🧪 Brew Substance

The retreat serves yagé in the Putumayo style, which combines the Banisteriopsis caapi vine with chagropanga (Diplopterys cabrerana) leaves rather than chacruna, as Erowid explains; the recipe and source are not published. One 2025 listing said the medicine was included in the price. Ask what is in the brew: in 2015 a British teenager died after drinking yagé on a Kamëntsá reservation in Putumayo, a death media attributed to borrachero (scopolamine) added to the brew, according to ICEERS; that case has no connection to this center.

📍 Location, Setting & Style

• Setting: A mountainside finca in the Aburrá Valley north of Medellín bordering a nature reserve, with valley views, a waterfall and a new maloka.
• Rooms: Shared rooms for up to four and private en-suite rooms, before and after ceremonies.
• Style: Kamëntsá-framed yagé ceremonies inside a modern wellness program, in groups of up to 12 with eight or more staff.

Practical guidance: Fly into Medellín. A shared pickup from El Poblado is included; airport transfers cost extra. Three meals a day are served, two on ceremony days, with vegan and vegetarian options.

Should You Book?

Harmonica suits people who want a short, well-supported ceremony near Medellín. Before paying, ask for the health questionnaire, the contraindications and the emergency plan in writing, confirm the doctor will be present for your dates, and skip kambo unless you have been screened for it. Read our guide to verifying retreat facilitators.

The Team & Story

Oliver Glozik is the founder, a former corporate executive who bought the new property in 2025 and runs the retreat with his fiancée, Luna, who works on integration. Sergio Henao leads ceremonies as a yagecero; a separate operator’s profile says he has more than 15 years with ayahuasca and learned from Mama Concha, a Kamëntsá elder from Sibundoy, according to Retreat Guru. Sergio and Vanessa Delgado Villegas, who serves the medicine, also work for another operator, Ayahuasca Spirit Colombia, including ceremonies planned in Austria in 2027. Jenna Ram runs the ice bath and art therapy, and Carolina Forero is a therapist and integration guide. The operator claims more than four years of experience and about 35 retreats a year. We did not independently verify anyone’s training or credentials.

Prep & Integration Tips

Before you go: Disclose every medication and condition in writing and plan any change with your own doctor. After you return: Use the integration support and arrange a qualified therapist at home. Our guide on how to research ayahuasca incidents can help you check any center.

Pros & Cons

Book Your Ceremony

Retreats run weekly, with dates on Retreat Guru through March 2027. Its listings state that the deposit is fully refundable until one day before the start and full payment until 30 days before. Before paying anything, confirm the price, the venue, the screening and the emergency arrangements in writing. 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.