After nearly 25 years of experience and serving over 2,000 travelers, we have grown to understand this one-of-a-kind experience intimately and have refined an itinerary flow that creates the most profound impact.
Itinerary
Day 1:
Group convenes at charming Quito hotel in late afternoon to get connected, oriented, and acclimated before enjoying a traditional Ecuadorian dinner together.
Day 2:
Travel by chartered bus through the Avenue of the Volcanoes, experiential visit with highland indigenous group creating a seamless worldview shift to enter the rainforest with an open mind and heart.
Day 3 – 10:
Visit ancestral homelands of our Achuar and Sápara indigenous partners.
Arrive by chartered flight over primary rainforest
Attend early morning dream sharing and interpretation ceremonies
Experience purification rituals
Learn about making artisan items: ceramics, baskets, darts, headbands, etc.
Hike through the rainforest with our indigenous partners to understand their traditional relationship with and understanding of the forest
Experience shamanic ceremonies
Share in cultural exchanges between fellow Journeyers and indigenous communities
Take relaxing siestas in hammocks
Partake in traditional feasts of local foods
Swim, kayak, and float in refreshing rivers
Restore with time for rest, reflection, and journaling
Share conversations with indigenous partners and fellow travelers
Day 11 – 13:
Flight out of rainforest to ideal location in the highlands for rest, reintegration, time in nature, group completions and celebrations.
Day 14:
Departure
Itineraries may vary slightly
Your Guides
Each Journey is skillfully curated by trained leaders and expert guides on the ground.
Our Journey Leaders are volunteers who have experience as a Journey participant and have gone through an extensive leadership training to effectively hold a safe and dynamic space for you on your Journey.
Our Ecuadorian guides have been guiding for decades and are dedicated to supporting the rainforest and indigenous people. Their knowledge, understanding, trust and relationships are an invaluable part of the Journeys experience.
Rebecca manages the Journeys Program for the Pachamama Alliance and is also a popular yoga instructor in San Francisco who has been leading local and international retreats for more than a decade.
Journey Leader: Ya’Acov Darling Khan
From a young age, Ya’Acov has been drawn to the down-to-earth connection with the spirit world that shamanism invites. He has pursued this yearning throughout his adult life, studying and practicing with many gifted teachers around the world. He has been recognised as a practicing shaman (*) by Elder Shamans from the Sami (European tradition), and Achuar and Sápara peoples of the Amazon. His Movement Medicine workshops are inspiring, empowering, contemporary and practical and are attended by people from all walks of life.
Journey Leader: Susannah Darling Khan
Susannah has been in love with life on earth since she was a small girl. She is a clear and compassionate teacher and human being. Her passion, love and commitment for life is infectious and is reflected in her care for each dancer and for the planet we call home. She is a dancer, singer, writer and teacher whose integration of physical, emotional and conceptual awareness creates a fertile field of possibility. Her background is in Anthropology, Gestalt Psychotherapy, and Family Constellations.
Journey Leader: David Tucker
David is responsible for Pachamama Journeys, a transformational program that powerfully connects people to the Earth, their fellow humans and deepest self through direct experience with wild nature, indigenous cultures and shared group experience.
“Having facilitated Pachamama Journeys for 15 years, I’ve come to trust the Journey implicitly. The same spirit and call that came from the rainforest and through our indigenous partners nearly two decades ago, which gave rise to the Pachamama Alliance, still guides us every step of the way on the Journey. We honor that spirit, listen and tend to it, and Journeys full of magic, splendor and transformation are the outcome.”
David has spent considerable time with our indigenous partners in the Amazon and Andes and has studied earth-based wisdom and practices for over 20 years. Prior to his current role, he held several positions at the Pachamama Alliance going back to 1999, including Executive Director for 7 years. David also managed a successful state senate campaign in Massachusetts, facilitated wilderness and solo experiences for at-risk youth in the Arizona desert, and was a Peace Corps volunteer in Latin America.
