The following is advice for those coming to stay at the center.

International Flights

The following websites and airlines provide flights to Lima. It is recommended to purchase your ticket as early as possible to get the lowest fair.

Lima – Iquitos Flights

Flights from Lima to Iquitos can be booked online.  Tickets should cost no more than $150 round trip.

If you have trouble booking your flight, we can book from Iquitos for a $50 fee.

Arrival

You will be met at the Iquitos Airport and taken to the Temple property.  We ask you to arrive on any Wednesday or Sunday in the morning or early afternoon.

Passports and Visas

US and Canadanian citizens do not need a visa to enter Peru, only a valid passport. This is the case with most countries, but if you are unsure about your country’s requirements, please contact your local Peruvian embassy.

Malaria and Yellow Fever

Although it is theoretically possible to get malaria in the Iquitos area, the chances of it are very small. Our center has virtually no mosquitos and is fully mosquito netted. We do not reccomend getting vaccinations or taking anti-malaria pills, and doing so is not required. There is no yellow fever in the Iqutos area.

What to Bring

• Swimsuit and towel
• Long sleeve shirt and long pants
• Comfortable footwear and clothes
• Notebook and pen
• Voice recorder and/or camera
• US dollars or bank card
• Mosquito repellent
• Flashlight
• Personal hygiene items

What to Be Careful Of

• Don’t change money on the street
• Don’t buy magic plants in Belen without assistance.  Sometimes plants are labeled falsely.
• Don’t walk without shoes, especially at night
• Don’t drink water that is not bottled or extensively boiled (beware of street foods and beverages that may contain unclean water)
• Dress in long-sleeve shirt and long pants and use repellent when there are mosquitoes around

Plant Diets

In the Amazonian Shamanism tradition, plants are seen as intelligent beings. Many of the plants in the Amazon are powerful spirits that have many things to teach us and many powers to give us. In taking these teacher plants during a period of abstinence from particular foods, an individual embarks on a special retreat, also known as “La Dieta”,or the plant diet.

At the Temple of Inner Peace, we offer several types of Healing Retreats. The minimum time for a retreat is 1 week, but we recommend 10 day or 14 day retreats in order to fully receive the benefits of the Amazon environment.

Retreats can also be ongoing up to one month or more, depending on the person’s needs and the depth of the problem. During the retreat, the participant takes one or more medicinal remedies, made from fresh jungle plants by the healer-shaman. “La Dieta” requires that the participant abstain from the intake of certain foods that hinder the healing process – red meat and pork, eggs, all fats and oils, sugar, salt, spices and alcohol – and also requires abstinence from any sexual activity until the end of the treatment.

Depending on the plant one is partaking, the diet can have more or fewer restrictions. Some spirits require us to eat only one meal a day, others require total abstinence from food (fasting). The participant always has a choice as to how strong the diet will be, but in general, the more one sacrifices the greater are the rewards.

Detoxification

The jungle retreat is an opportunity to detoxify and simplify your mind and your life, strengthen your body, and connect to the spiritual realms. A retreat can be quite challenging, but always rewarding. Maestro Javier DaSilva always says “you have to give from your part”.

To give from your part means to keep focused on what you want to achieve, and to not get distracted by doubts, fears, and thoughts irrelevant to your healing. The jungle environment is very natural and very quiet. Because of this, the first few days are often days of adjustment. Our busy minds are addicted to the distractions and frenzy of city life, and often go on overdrive during a retreat. It is normal to feel strange emotions during the first 2-4 days. Our addictions to various foods can also intensify this process.

If you have doubts, fears, anxieties, worries and so on, remember that it is normal and quite common, and that it will pass. The best thing to do is to stay calm and have faith. Remember that our shamans Javier and Juan are there for you, so don’t hesitate to tell them of what you are feeling or thinking. Their wisdom can often shed a new light on a situation.

After the period of adjustment is finished, most people feels very much at peace and very happy.

Spirits

Maestro Javier DaSilva is a commander of spirits. He doesn’t do everything himself, but has a legion of spiritual beings (he says more than 10 000 of them) under his command. These spirits obey his commands and continue working with Javier’s patients, whether he is there or not. Therefore, once Javier diagnoses a patient’s problem and assigns spirits to work with that person, the healing continues even in Javier’s absence. Javier says that his spirits are doctors and healers of the past – including powerful Indians, citizens of the lost city of Atlantis, and spirits that dwell in the water, land, forests, and air.

There are also spirits of the forest itself, which live on the territory of the Temple. Sometimes our shaman’s channel these spirits and the participants have an opportunity to talk with them and ask them questions. These spirits can also sometimes be seen during ceremonies – either with eyes open or with eyes closed. It often happens that the spirits of the forest bestow spiritual gifts on the persons staying in the center. If this happens, Javier and Juan will inform you. The spirits reward people based on the purity of their hearts and the sincerity of their efforts.

Dreams

The spirit doctors and forest spirits often work through dreams. It is highly recommended to write down whatever dreams one has and to share them with Javier or Juan. Even the dreams that seem ordinary and mundane have deeper spiritual meanings in the context of the jungle retreat.

In general, dreams of the past signify the release of the past. Javier says that the things we dream about our past during the period of retreat are removed forever.

While we may see people we know in dreams, it is usually the case that what we really are seeing is the doctors and the spirits who are working with us disguised in the form of people familiar to us. They do this in order not to scare us, because their real forms can sometimes be strange or frightening.

The spirits and doctors can give us spiritual gifts of healing, protection or power in several ways. If you are offered something to eat or drink or dream of having sexual relations during your retreat, it is likely that the spirits are interacting with you