The Refugio uses ayahuasca in its healing ceremonies.  As Casper Greeff from the Capetown Sunday Times quotes:    "Ayahuasca is multidimensional medicine. It readjusts your entire immune system. It cleans your blood, repairs damaged neurons, it goes through your spleen and your gall bladder. It repairs psychic and emotional damage. It puts you back in touch with your soul.  The gift of ayahuasca is sanity. It enhances perception and intuition. It makes you react to any situation like an animal " instinctively, immediately and correctly. We call the ayahuasca ceremonies ˜surgery without a scalpel˜". 

Depending upon what you want to heal or personally work on, Scott and Walter may recommend other plant medicines to take.  These can be taken with or without ayahuasca if you choose not to drink it.  Ayahuasca just speeds up the healing process and allows for a more focused approach.  There are over 350 healing plants in the Amazon and many are grown in the Refugio's botanical garden.  Many of these are used in the natural medicine in the U.S. 

For me, it was recommended that I take a couple of other things:

Chiri Sanango - boosts the immune system and synchronizes the chakras.  It also brings energy into the intuition chakra and connects with the nature spirits.

Ajos Sacha - used for Parkinson's disease and alzheimers.  It coordinates the lymph system throughout the body.  It cleanses the blood, liver and gall bladder and helps you break with the past.

Malva - coats the intestine and stomach to take away irritation and excess fire in the stomach.

Yausua tea - used to open the heart and intuition centers and stimulate vivid dreams.  Mug wort with sage is used in the US for the same purpose.

Some of these herbs/plants are mixed with cane alcohol.  They have a stong, earthy flavor - some pleasant, some bitter, some UCK.

Scott is a certified Chinese medicine practitioner and herbalogist as well as a Shaman.  He got interested in the healing arts at a young age when the medical community could not resolve the hepititus he got while teaching in Ecudor.  After several months of not getting any better, he walked into a naturalpath's office and within a few minutes had a diagnosis and "prescription" of herbs that healed him fully in 3 weeks.  After experiencing the power of plants first hand, Scott became a believer and began to pursue the journey that created the Refugio Altiplano.  With this and other extensive training, he is well qualified for the position he holds!