With an Inga family in the Colombian Andes, surrounded by a protected natural environment.

There are places we visit. And there are places that ask us to become quiet enough to meet them.
This journey takes us to El Encano, in the Colombian Andes, at around 2,800 metres above sea level, beside the waters of Laguna de la Cocha.
Our home lies away from the village, surrounded by mountains, water and protected natural land. We reach it by boat and are welcomed into the home of a local Inga family.
This is not a retreat resort created for visitors.
It is a living place.
We come here as guests.
At this altitude, the body naturally slows. The breath changes. Movement becomes more deliberate. The landscape itself invites a different rhythm — one that creates space to listen more closely to the body, to the environment and to what is unfolding within.
Five ceremonies, held over nine days
At the heart of the journey are five yagé ceremonies accompanied by Mauricio, who joins us from Putumayo.
Working over several ceremonies allows the experience to unfold gradually. One ceremony does not need to explain another. Each can open a different layer.
We do not measure the depth of an experience by how spectacular it feels.
Sometimes the experience is quiet. Sometimes it is deeply intense. Memories may surface, emotions may move, the body may speak, images or questions may arise — and sometimes very little seems to happen.
There is no particular experience to achieve.
Our work is to create the conditions in which each person can meet what arises with presence, honesty and support.
The days between ceremonies matter
Integration begins during the retreat, not after it.
Mornings begin quietly, with meditation and time to return to the body. The days may unfold through walking, resting, sharing meals, writing, drawing, observing the landscape or simply doing very little.
Those who wish may explore painting with natural pigments and nature journaling — not as an art class, but as another way of noticing what may not yet have words.
We may spend time in the surrounding reserve, learn about local plants, enter the waters of the lagoon when conditions allow, or remain at the house.
There is no need to transform every moment into an activity.
A small, human group
For several days, we live together.
We eat together, travel by boat together and move through ceremonies together, while also respecting each person’s need for silence, rest and solitude.
Casa Oraya deliberately keeps the group intimate so that individual attention remains possible and the retreat retains the feeling of a shared home rather than a large retreat centre.
Preparation and integration
Every participant has an individual conversation with us before being accepted into the retreat. We speak about physical and emotional health, medications, previous experiences, personal circumstances and anything important for us to understand before travelling together.
During the retreat, we create space to notice what is happening through the body, emotions, memories, dreams, personal history and symbolism without imposing a single interpretation.
Some things become clear immediately.
Others continue unfolding long after Colombia.
Integration does not mean finding an explanation for everything. Sometimes it means learning how to remain close to what has been touched.
Colombia is not a backdrop
We do not come here merely because Colombia is beautiful or exotic, and we do not wish to romanticise the people or traditions that receive us.
We come as visitors, with gratitude and respect.
The territory, the medicine and the relationships that make this gathering possible existed long before Casa Oraya.
Our responsibility is not to claim them, but to enter carefully, listen, learn and respect the home that receives us.
Returning
Eventually, the boat takes us back across the lagoon.
But the deeper part of the journey may begin when ordinary life returns.
Not in how extraordinary Colombia was, but in what remains afterwards:
What do we listen to differently?
What deserves more space?
What can become simpler?
El Encano offers something increasingly rare: time without constant interruption, a vast landscape, a small group, five ceremonies and several days in which there is nowhere else we need to be.
An invitation not to escape life,
but to come closer to it.
To inhabit life.