Six Best Destinations in Latin America for Traditional Healing

My life revolves around two things: Experiencing new places and staying well without the interference of Western medicine.

I strongly believe in traditional healing, which I define as healing solutions rooted in the earth instead of labs; cultivated over generations or millennia in communities instead of collusions between medical establishments and marketing agencies; and where therapy is equally balanced between physical, mental, and consumable applications.

Our bodies were designed with an incredible capacity for self-repair and self-healing, and natural, plant-based medicine is a vital part of this system. In fact, it’s so effective, that Western medicine is largely built on lifting from indigenous communities their plants and therapies and turning them into pharmaceutical patents.

I am entranced by the notion that we have all the opportunities to seek out health and well-being within ourselves and go to traditional sources to learn what they have been teaching for millennia.

Latin America is an inherently magical place that has been a fountain of ancient healing practices for centuries.

The ONLY way I can get to many of these places is by bus because they are usually in indigenous communities far away from the urban metropolis.  So I use AndesTransit’s amazing transportation network, as no one comes close to their coverage and knowledge of villages deeply buried in the bush and how best to get there. I’ve lately been using SouthAmericaBuses, too, because I’m getting older and there are plenty of trips where I want the most luxurious option to give my feet and shoulders a good rest.

From curanderos in Mexico to shamans in the Amazon, Latin America’s healing tradition is alive and well. Whether you’re looking for holistic retreats or indigenous spiritual ceremonies, Latin America is a great place to go for a natural healing journey.

The following are my six favorite places in Latin America to receive traditional healing.

Mexico City: Temazcal Medicinal

Conveniently located next to the airport in the Caracol neighborhood of Mexico City (Jesús Carranza número 9), this is the only one that many times I fly to, but if you are saving money and traveling by bus, you can get here from as far as Ciudad Juarez if coming from the United States, or if you’re traveling north from Central America, there are buses from Huatulco to Mexico City.

Alberto Flores Alonso is a Mexican curandero who performs natural medicinal treatments that he has inherited from generations of his family practitioners before him. He focuses mostly on spinal work, including back and joint pain, sciatic nerves, herniated discs, and sprains and contractures. His method will bring you a variety of herbal and natural treatments from the forests of Mexico and also includes performing Temazcal ceremonies, which are Mexican sweat lodges and he has one connected to his practicing location.

Alberto is available during business hours Monday through Friday, and by calling him in advance for an appointment at 555.461.4940. Spanish is only spoken.

Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, Costa Rica: Hidden Garden

For an encompassing experience of healing powers that is ecologically focused, including indigenous herbalism and courses learning from traditional healers, you simply must get yourself to the Hidden Garden Ethnobotanic Sanctuary in Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica.  It is amazing!

The sanctuary offers garden tours, introducing you to over 200 plants on the site that have been collected from the surrounding rainforest. Get a personal wellness consultation or coaching to learn the best botanical approach to whatever is ailing you. They also provide full retreats for longer stays and partaking in workshops. To get there, I just get a bus or shuttle from San Jose, and I’m there in an easy five hours.

Atuntaqui, Ecuador: Kampik Uku

Just a short two hours north of Quito is the famed and colorful traditional outdoor market city of Otavalo, which is still governed autonomously by the indigenous Otavaleño people in order to preserve their unique culture and traditions.  A further fifteen minutes are their shamanic villages, Ilumán and Atuntaqui, where for centuries all the traditional healers were and still are located.

It is here in Atuntaqui I seek out the ancestral medicine practitioners who run a small practice called Kampik Uku. They have managed something rather brilliant in fusing together ancient and modern methods that focus on back pain, elbows, shoulders, knees, and other joints. They use no internal medicine, and everything is managed through physical touch and heat lamps to conduct the repairing and regenerating of tissue.  The results have always amazed me, and I always include them in my travel plans when my bones and back are starting to wear out.

To get to Kampik Uku, you can easily reserve a bus ticket to Atuntaqui from Quito here, and it’s also so inexpensive and short enough of a trip in Ecuador that getting a private ride there and back (a day-trip) is something you can reserve (hint: choose Cotacachi as your destination as that’s the nearest point to Atuntaqui).

Making an appointment in advance is necessary, and only Spanish is spoken (or traditional Quecha if you by any chance know that).  You will likely see other patients there dressed in the ancestral manner, but don’t feel inhibited, they are completely fine with “westerners”.

Samaipata, Bolivia: Auka

When it comes to finding naturally made plant-based therapies that are close to their source and have a good shelf life so you can take them on the road with you, you can stock up on everything in Samaipata, Bolivia.  There are tons of other reasons to visit Samaipata, it has great energy, history, climate, folk traditions, and is a sympathetic harbor to those hippies like me that appreciate organic methods and practices.

Auka is a home-based natural medicine studio, so it has no storefront of its own, but the owners live in Samaipata and distribute locally to a few outlets in Bolivia. The closest to them is Cafe Tango, a delightully colorful bistro that is infused with joy in every corner you sit down, located on Av. Arce down a few doors from Sucre (across from the city’s central park).  Inside you will find a gorgeous selection of Auka medicines, including over 50 plant tinctures, medicinal clays, salves based in bees wax or homemade cocoa butter, and even deodorants and toothpaste.

I admit anyone rifling through my backpack would find a veritable laboratory of bottles and pouches of Auka, but no, I’m not selling them (but I may share)! If upon visiting, you don’t quite find exactly what you want, Auka themselves often set out a table of even a wider variety of their products in the central park a block away, and you can contact them at their house which is not far away and they can likely make what you need. English, Dutch, and Portuguese are all spoken.

To get to Samaipata from Santa Cruz de la Sierra (the nearest large city), it’s hard to reserve a bus online as many of them don’t stop there and go all the way to Sucre.  However, you can reserve a private shuttle to pick you up and drop you off, and they’ll even provide the same return trip service.

Tarapoto Peru: Katari Center

If you are truly informed and prepared for an ayahuasca ceremony and its impacts as well as benefits (do not take this lightly), then all of the most reputable and experienced places to offer these are in the Amazonian northeast section of Peru.  The one I prefer because of both its accessible location as well as its quality of care is the Katari Center in Tarapoto.

Katari focuses on retreats because of the necessary time required for preparation before and recovery after treatment. However, they also provide five and six-hour private ayahuasca sessions as well as Kambo treatments (frog medicine).  If you are a beginner, always start with a retreat and only do individual sessions if you are at an advanced level.

Much can be said about ayahuasca, but to summarize it as briefly as possible, ayahuasca is considered a sacred substance that is consumed during ceremonial rituals. A hallucinogen found in one of the two plants that make up the medicine is the same hallucinogen found in our bodies that causes dreams. Working with ayahuasca induces a modified state of consciousness that purges you of unhealthy mental and emotional energies and provides a doorway to higher states of consciousness. Ayahuasca use can have a variety of effects, including sudden ecstasy and emotionally destabilizing that comes from discoveries about yourself that you weren’t ready to know.

To get to Tarapoto by bus, the most sensible starting point is from Chiclayo which itself is 16 hours, but you can also reserve for a much longer 28-hour trip from Lima.

Manaus, Brazil: Bahserikowi Medicina Indígena

A very good practitioner of indigenous medicine on the Brazilian side is Dr. João Paulo Barreto, located in the Amazonian city of Manaus, who runs the Bahserikowi Center of Indigenous Medicine.  He does not have a web page, but his following is huge and it’s worth the trip to reach him.  Manaus is a unique location sitting on the Amazon river, and until recently inaccessible except by air. But with a recent ferry system, buses now can reach it coming from the south from Porto Velho, or easily from the north from Boa Vista if you are coming from Guyana.

Dr. Barreto is an indigenous Tukano man and has a warm and gentle spirit backed up by a tremendous bank of knowledge in both his traditional as well as professional medicine.  Traditional plant-based treatments are offered for all manners of diseases or ailments, both external and internal, as well as ceremonies of protection for travel, work, or other occasions. You can find him on the pretty cobblestone lane at 97 Bernardo Ramos in the old historic center of Manaus.

Conclusion

Latin America holds some incredible destinations for traditional healing practices that have been used since ancient times combined with modern approaches that bring together Eastern philosophies with Western medicinal techniques offering an inspiring path towards emotional balance and physical wellbeing through plant-based medicines found within its majestic ecosystems providing opportunities for individual spiritual growth along the way!