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

Ayayní Healing Retreat Center: An In-Depth Review for Bufo and Psilocybin Sessions near Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

Ayayní Healing Retreat Center sells short psychedelic sessions in El Nogalito, a jungle village on the Nogalito River south of downtown Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, under the Retreat Guru brand “Ayahuasca Retreats México.” Despite the name, it lists no ayahuasca program. Its four undated “2 Days Package” offerings are a bufo (5-MeO-DMT) session for $280, a private psilocybin “macrodose” session for $890, a “Balance Wellness Retreat” for $850 and a couples retreat for $1,350. Its facilitators are Victor Chong, presented as a psychologist and “healing master with over 20 years of experience,” and Kiki Nerina, a naturopathic therapist and Reiki master. It has no reviews on any platform, no website, no named medical staff, no published screening or contraindications and no emergency plan, and its listing carries an amenities list that appears word for word on two unrelated centers. Psilocybin and DMT are controlled under Mexico’s health law. It has no connection to Ayayni House in Mallorca, Spain. We found no incidents.

🎯 At a Glance

• Locations: Sessions are held in El Nogalito (postal code 48399), a village on the Mismaloya road south of Puerto Vallarta, while the center’s Retreat Guru page gives a downtown address, “Naranjo 123, Zona Romántica.” The same listing gives travel times from “15 min from downtown” to 45 minutes from the airport. No GPS location is published.
• Approach: Bufo (5-MeO-DMT) sessions and private psilocybin “macrodose” ceremonies with breathwork, a rapé circle, a cacao ceremony, flower and steam baths, sound healing and one integrative therapy session. The listing also advertises “Ayahuasca Ceremonies Guided by Psychotherapists & Shamans” and “Ceremonies DMT In the beach,” with no program for either.
• Suitable For: Hard to recommend until it publishes medical screening, names its medical cover and states what it actually serves. It is not suitable for people taking antidepressants or with heart or psychiatric conditions.
• Costs: $280 for a bufo session, $890 for a private psilocybin session for up to two people, $850 for the Balance Wellness Retreat and $1,350 for the Reconexión Couples Retreat, according to its Retreat Guru page, which states no currency. Meals and medical insurance are excluded from the psilocybin price. The $1,999 on our earlier listing has no source. The psilocybin page shows refund terms that match Retreat Guru’s standard wording: the deposit is refundable until one day before the start and full payment until 30 days before.
• Overall Assessment: Private, very small sessions near Puerto Vallarta, offset by potent psychedelics with no published screening, medical staff or emergency plan, a brand name that advertises a medicine it does not list, unverified credentials, no reviews anywhere, copied amenities and an AI-generated gallery image, no website or legal entity, and substances controlled under Mexican law. Directory evaluation: D+.

💬 What Guests Are Saying

The positive picture. There are no independent reviews. Our earlier profile described its online reputation as clean and noted no testimonials on AyaAdvisors or Retreat Guru; Retreat Guru still shows none.

The negative feedback. None found, because no reviews exist.

Who is writing the reviews. No one, independently. One of the roughly 47 images in its Retreat Guru gallery has a filename showing it was generated with Google’s Gemini, and its amenities list (air conditioning, pool, spa, sauna, hot tub, fitness center, restaurant, café and bicycles) appears word for word on the Retreat Guru listings of two unrelated centers. The psilocybin program’s page title calls it a “ketamine retreat.” 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 Ayayní, Ayahuasca Retreats México, Victor Chong and Kiki Nerina.

• Deaths and serious injuries: None found.
• Sexual misconduct: No allegations found.
• Theft and fraud: No complaints found.
• Legal action: No police action or lawsuits found, and no reported enforcement against retreats in Jalisco or Nayarit.

Our earlier profile also found no theft, sexual misconduct, crime, arrests or police involvement, and cited general 2024 Reddit discussions of emotional challenges after ceremonies, none tied to this center; those discussions remain unverified. With no reviews and almost no online footprint, the absence of reports says little.

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

🔍 Critical Notes

Not an ayahuasca center. The brand name and the listing’s highlights advertise ayahuasca ceremonies and “DMT In the beach,” but every listed program is bufo, psilocybin or wellness. Ask in writing what will be served, in what dose and by whom.

Mexico’s law. DMT and psilocybin mushrooms are listed in fraction I of Article 245 of Mexico’s General Health Law, the category for substances with little or no therapeutic value, as the 2014 decree shows. Mexican law tolerates mushroom and peyote use in Indigenous ceremonies, but “No Mexican court has drawn a bright line” on commercial retreats and COFEPRIS does not license them, according to Mind Medicine Law. 5-MeO-DMT is not federally scheduled, but the Sonoran Desert toad that produces bufo is a protected species under NOM-059-SEMARNAT-2010, according to the same publisher’s 5-MeO-DMT guide. Since 2022, people carrying ayahuasca have been arrested at Mexico City’s airport, as Proceso reported. We found no enforcement against this center.

Unverified credentials. Victor Chong is described as a psychologist and crisis-intervention specialist who works with addiction detox, mood disorders and PTSD; we found no professional license (cédula profesional) for him. A psychologist is not medical cover for 5-MeO-DMT or a psilocybin macrodose. Kiki Nerina is described as a “certified SAAM acupuncturist,” Reiki master and tarot reader.

Two addresses. The downtown Zona Romántica address (postal code 48380) and the El Nogalito event address (48399) are in different parts of the city; a directory copy of its Facebook page merges them as “Naranjo 123 el Nogalito.” The downtown address may be an office. Confirm where sessions take place.

A crowded evening. The psilocybin program runs breathwork at 7 pm, a rapé circle and cacao ceremony at 8 pm and the psilocybin macrodose at 9 pm, all on the first evening.

Not Ayayni House. “Ayahuasca Ayayni,” also called Ayayni House or Medicine Mallorca, is a separate, well-reviewed center in Esporles, Mallorca, with no link to this center.

Corrections to our earlier profile. The center offers bufo (5-MeO-DMT), which our earlier profile omitted, and lists no ayahuasca program. Its team is named. Prices on Retreat Guru are in dollars rather than €300 to €1,800, bookings run through Retreat Guru rather than its own platform, and it has a Facebook page. DMT is scheduled in Mexico, so ayahuasca’s status is less ambiguous than our earlier profile said. We found no source for a one-day ayahuasca ceremony on October 18, 2025, a three-day retreat on November 21 to 23, 2025, an “Ama’ya” retreat on January 16 to 18, 2026, full-board packages from €300, dietary preparation, the center’s origin as a detoxification center, its “sacred mountains,” or the figure that about 55% of participants face transient challenges; those details remain unverified.

🆘 Screening & Mental Health Risks

No medical questionnaire, contraindication list, medical staff or emergency protocol appears on any of the center’s listings, and medical insurance is excluded from the psilocybin price. The nearest full hospitals are in Old Town Puerto Vallarta, including CMQ Hospital on Basilio Badillo with a 24-hour emergency room, according to a local hospital list; by the center’s own travel time that is about 15 to 20 minutes by road. 5-MeO-DMT is a very potent, fast-acting psychedelic, and combining it with MAOIs, including ayahuasca, or with serotonergic antidepressants carries serious risks. High doses of psilocybin can trigger panic and, in people prone to psychosis or bipolar disorder, lasting psychiatric problems. Never stop a psychiatric medication to qualify for a ceremony without your prescriber’s guidance.

🧪 Brew Substance

The center lists 5-MeO-DMT from Bufo alvarius, the Sonoran Desert toad, and psilocybin mushrooms as a “macrodose,” with rapé and cacao. It does not publish doses or where the toad secretion comes from. No ayahuasca recipe is published, because no ayahuasca program is listed. Kambo, San Pedro and master-plant dietas are not mentioned.

📍 Location, Setting & Style

• Setting: El Nogalito sits on the Nogalito River, inland from Punta Negra on the Mismaloya road south of Puerto Vallarta, as Villa del Palmar describes. The center says it is “nestled in the heart of El Nogalito” among tropical jungle.
• Rooms: “Private & Shared Accommodations,” with no room types described.
• Style: An eclectic mix of Reiki, tarot, acupuncture, sound healing and breathwork alongside psychedelics, in private and couples formats.

Practical guidance: Fly into Puerto Vallarta; no airport transfer is offered. The center describes vegan dishes “prepared by a chef,” but meals are excluded from the psilocybin price. In February 2026, after the Mexican army killed the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, Puerto Vallarta saw burned vehicles, vandalized businesses and cancelled flights, and Canada told its citizens there to shelter in place, as OPB reported. Check current travel advisories.

Should You Book?

Not as listed. Before paying, ask what substance and dose you will receive, who provides medical cover and what their qualifications are, how medications and health conditions are screened, which hospital would be used in an emergency, and which address sessions take place at, and get the answers in writing. Read our guide to verifying retreat facilitators.

The Team & Story

Victor Chong is presented as a “healing master” who studied Mexican, Chinese and Amazonian traditions with traditional teachers, which matches our earlier profile’s description of a center integrating those traditions. Kiki Nerina says she comes from “a lineage of traditional Mexican healers” and offers massage and body and facial treatments. The center’s mission draws on the Andean principle of ayni, or sacred reciprocity. No owner or legal entity is named. Photo filenames in its gallery date from 2022 to 2025. We did not independently verify anyone’s training.

Prep & Integration Tips

Before you go: Disclose every medication and condition in writing and plan any change with your own doctor. After you return: 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

Programs are listed on Retreat Guru without dates under a “2027 Schedule” title. Before paying, confirm the substance, the facilitators, the location, the refund terms 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.