Ecuador · Amazon Headwaters · Est. 2018

What you've been
seeking has been
seeking you.

Ten days in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Seven ceremonies — three ayahuasca, three mushroom, one San Pedro — in the lineage of ancestral medicine. Held by Víctor Alexéev — a former Romanian minister who once carried political power, and now carries the medicine.

Begin
3 Ayahuasca 1 San Pedro · Wachuma 3 Psilocybe Veladas Shipibo · Andean · Mazatec lineages Integration in four languages 3 Ayahuasca 1 San Pedro · Wachuma 3 Psilocybe Veladas Shipibo · Andean · Mazatec lineages Integration in four languages
The Keeper

A man who once
governed nations,
and now tends fires.

Portrait of Víctor Alexéev
Víctor Alexéev · Ecuador, 2026
From Bucharest to the Amazon

"The first time I drank the medicine, I understood that the politics I once practiced was a smaller scale of the same work — to listen to what wants to come through, and not get in the way."

Víctor Alexéev served as a minister in the Romanian government before stepping out of public life in 2017. What followed was not a retirement, but an apprenticeship — first with Shipibo curanderas in the upper Amazon, then with Andean Wachuma keepers above 3,000 metres.

He speaks four languages, has trained over 1,200 facilitators across Russia, Romania, Israel and the United States, and has held more than 9,000 ceremonies in the eight years since the work began. His framework — known as S2S — is taught in Bucharest, Tel Aviv, Berlin and New York.

Ceremonies Held
9,000+
Languages Spoken
RO · RU · EN · ES
Practitioners Trained
1,200+
The Medicine

Three plants.
Three lineages.
One conversation.

01

Ayahuasca Banisteriopsis caapi · Psychotria viridis

DMT · MAOI Shipibo Lineage 3 ceremonies

The sacred brew of the upper Amazon, prepared for centuries by curanderos to dissolve the boundary between the seen and the unseen. Held in long, song-led ceremonies under the guidance of trained facilitators.

From the Shipibo and Cofán Traditions
02

San Pedro Echinopsis pachanoi · "Wachuma"

Mescaline Andean Lineage 1 ceremony

The grandfather cactus of the Andes, working through the heart rather than the visions. A single sun-side, day-long ceremony that anchors what the night-medicines reveal — gentler, more embodied, more durable.

From the Andean Wachuma Lineage
03

Psilocybe Psilocybe cubensis · "Sacred Mushroom"

Psilocybin Mazatec Lineage 3 ceremonies

Three intimate veladas across the ten days — a precise, often gentler intelligence that meets the work begun by ayahuasca. Held in candlelight, in silence, with one facilitator per six guests.

From the Mazatec Velada Tradition
Held in dialogue with the global research community
Johns Hopkins MAPS ICEERS Imperial College London Yale Psychedelic Center
The Container

Ten days,
structured as a single breath.

i

Arrival & Threshold

Quito → river journey → maloca. Medical screening, intention setting, restoration after the journey.

Threshold
ii

First Ayahuasca

Opening ceremony in the maloca. Long, sung, held — meeting the medicine for the first time.

Ayahuasca · Night
iii

Integration & River Bath

Morning silent walk. Group circle in four languages. Plant baths prepared by the curanderas.

Integration · Day
iv

First Mushroom Velada

Smaller, candlelit ceremony in the Mazatec tradition — six guests per facilitator. A gentler, more intimate intelligence to deepen the work begun by ayahuasca.

Psilocybe · Evening
v

Wachuma · San Pedro Day

The single sun-side ceremony. A walk in the medicine, slow and grounded. Most participants describe it as the day the body remembers.

San Pedro · Day
vi

Second Ayahuasca

Deepening. The medicine recognises you. Specific work with what surfaced in the previous nights.

Ayahuasca · Night
vii

Second Mushroom Velada

A more familiar room now. The mushroom intelligence meets the work the ayahuasca has set in motion. Held in candlelight and song.

Psilocybe · Evening
viii

Third Ayahuasca

Often the most luminous. The work that began in fire returns as quiet recognition.

Ayahuasca · Night
ix

Third Mushroom Velada · Closing

The closing ceremony. Group integration. Personal sit with Víctor. Re-entry plan in your native language: РУ, RO, or EN.

Psilocybe · Closing
x

Departure & Year-Long Container

River → Quito → home. The work continues for twelve months: monthly group calls, integration coach, alumni access.

Re-entry
Voices

From the people who
walked it before you.

"I came in fluent in four languages and left understanding silence. The integration in Russian, two months later, was what made it stick."

Anna K.
Tel Aviv · IL

"Most retreats are run by people who studied. This is run by someone who lived two lives — and now lives a third on behalf of the rest of us."

Daniel M.
Brooklyn · US

"Am venit pentru ayahuasca. Am plecat înțelegând că Wachuma a fost medicina care mi-a vorbit. Nimeni nu mi-a impus o cale — m-au lăsat să o aleg pe a mea."

Ioana D.
Cluj · RO

"The container is held with rare precision. Medical, traditional, and psychological in equal measure. I've sent six clients here. Every one came back changed."

Dr. Mark V.
Berlin · DE
Apply for a Place

If something in you
has already said yes,
begin the application.

Each cohort is intentionally small — two groups of thirty, one departure per month. Applications are reviewed in the order they arrive. We will respond within 72 hours, in your language.

9,000+
Ceremonies Held
800+
Annual Guests
3
Native Languages
12mo
Integration Container