Im looking to find a cactus practitioner during my stay in peru. i was hoping someone here might suggest a person/organization they are familiar with

thank you!

Good luck and good vibes on your journey!

I'm not personal familiar, only heard good responses about this rather well known casadelagringa of Lesley Myburgh.
Bravo for your travel, wonderful!

Ross Heaven leads trips in Peru to see various practitioners. You might look him up and contact him. He's written a couple books on the matter too that you may have read.

I cant speak from personal testimony about this place, but i too have entertained this idea and i have read information from this website, and if i were to do this i would research this place mroe, but i like the sounds of what they describe!

here is the link it is called choque chinchay
http://www.biopark.org/peru/huachuma.html

whereever you end up, id be interested to hear how it went
cheers

thank you all for your energy.
ill let you know what responses i receive.

feel free to continue suggesting

On the Couchsurfing.com forum there is a subgroup called "psychedelic peru". It might be worth asking there too.

From some folks I've talked to, it sounds like it's going a bit the way of ayahuasca in some areas. By that I mean that the locals have figured out it's a valuable thing to tourists and sometimes take advantage of this fact.

I've also read there are different types of ceremonies, and that some of the ceremonies are more ceremony than psychedelic experience.

I have yet to go to Peru. It is a dream of mine that hopefully will come true this winter for me. I can't wait to hear about your experiences there. Please keep us posted!

ross heaven is affiliated with a group going in october, im still in the planning stages

whats your itinerary like?

It's hard to say at this point. I REALLY want to go the Chavin. That is a must see for me. Also would really like to see Kuelap. Also want to see the Northern coast and Las Huaringas. Machu Picchu sounds incredible too, but sometimes I tend to avoid tourist traps, even when they are super epic. I'd also love to make it to the Amazon basin side for ayahuasca, but cacti are more my focus I think.

id really like to see the temple of chavin as well, i just got prices back from Choque Chinchay and they all run about 200 dollars a day... sadly i didnt budget for this, i may just have to go down and pray to achuma i dont get killed trying to learn from the plants directly

I would just go see La Gringa man..I think her place is right in front of the temple of the moon..I cant vouch for her but so many others seem to.

I did a little research on the Chavin site and from what I could gather, it sounds like there is a hotel that has a campground there. I can't imagine that other cactus folk don't go there to partake, but maybe I'm just hoping that will be the case.

I know of a fair amount of places for this. What region will you be in?

cusco would be ideal, but im willing to go to the north coast if need be. also the prices online are... absurd imo... i dont know about others but i dont sell experiences and certainly not for the amount frequently requested...

the finances seem to be my biggest obstacle i have about 1250 usd to spend over a month and a half, thats more than id spend here in the usa but it just dosent seem nearly enough for even a week long excursion...

considering a dose of san pedro costs about a dollar i can afford to eat all the cactus i want, just need a pot (or pressure cooker) a knife, and a jug

i realize that regardless, ill come back with plant knowledge one way or another.. even if i have to go out get the cactus myself and set up camp somewhere.

i will visit casa de la gringa, since ill most likely be staying in cusco. maybe shell let me do some labor in exchange for her service

La Gringa was my neighbor when i lived at the ruins, she seems to run a good center and her sons I got to know are really good people. For me Cusco is too crazy and the vibes just didn't sit well with me for doing a ceremony there. I would highly recommend taking a 20 min collectivo to Pisac. Get a moto taxi and ask them to bring you to El Molle. There you will meet Roberto and his family. They have beautiful rooms or camping area. In Pisac are about 5 healing centers. Some better than others but 2 men there hold some of the best rated ceremonies I have been told.

Pisac is a small town in which everynight there is a ceremony of some sorts, drum and healing sound circles, fire walking, sweat lodges at El Molle I highly recommend and Roberto does Kambo in a traditional method. Its in the Sacred valley and is breath taking. You can see pics in the travel forum. There are very important ruins in Pisac, where one of the final stands against the Spanish occurred. Let me know if you need more info.
Hope that helps.

thanks a bunch oly!~

my buddy just affirmed this was the guy he was talking to me about. im looking more into this.

In looking at the website I could find for El Molle, it sounds to me that they only offer week long retreats that start at $1700. I guess you usually don't find the good deals for this type of thing online.

I'm curious olympus mon- are there other ways to stay there and participate in ceremonies? The website doesn't really make it clear if there are other options.

Actually El Molle doesn't provide any retreats themselves they are more of a for hire retreat center. people come from all over to hold their retreats there, that is unless there is another El Molle. Yea that way way too much money! Most drop in ceremonies there are around 100 soles, about 40 dollars and they go all night into the morning. They drink multiple re-dosings at sunrise often plus have live drumming and other instraments with their icaros. Its well worth the cost.

Its best to just go there and stay were ever you feel comfortable. there will be flyers at some of the good resturantes and Tiendas showing what ceremonies are where and when. I stay away from retreats to be honest. Way to expensive and often held my those who intention is financial gain. The core group of the town though are very good healers and shamans although I dont like using that word.

Here is the communtiy FB page that has lots of info about ceremonies in Pisac area.
http://www.facebook.com/groups/165019380222804/