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Pisatahua is locally owned and managed by
residents of the Aquicuana Reserve
Wara Wara Puma is a female Shaman and medical doctor of Aymara origin, brought up by her mother and grandmother, both native aymara women. She is well versed in Aymara healing practices and spirituality as well as Ayahuasca and San Pedro (Wachuma) ceremonies.
Wara is also a Sun-Moon Dance and Moon Mother facilitator. She has a pure and courageous heart and sings with the voice of an angel. Truly a treat to behold, Wara works with love, surrender and devotion. She maintains tha uttmost respect and care for her patients. In addition to being an incredibly talented and dedicated healer,…
Master Curandero Don Marcial was born in an indigenous community outside Riberalta in 1937. His parents are both Tacana natives that migrated from the Ixiamos region at the height of the rubber boom at the beginning of the 20th century.
Don Marcial, the youngest of his three brothers, discovered many of the jungles’ mysteries and developed a deep spiritual connection with the Amazon from a very young age. He would accompany his brothers for excursions that could last months, surviving on the abundance of fruits, fish and nuts they found along the way.
Despite his 81 years of age, Don Marcial is extremely fit and spends most days working in his gardens. He leads ceremonies and has the ability to concentrate and chant for many hours. He is extremely attentive to participants and Pisatahua guests often comment of his strength and warmth.
Don Marcial is windowed and the father of 16 children. He lives a 15 minute drive from Pisatahua with many of his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Wara Wara Puma is a female Shaman and medical doctor of Aymara origin, brought up by her mother and grandmother, both native aymara women. She is well versed in Aymara healing practices and spirituality as well as Ayahuasca and San Pedro (Wachuma) ceremonies. Wara is also a Sun-Moon Dance and Moon Mother facilitator.
She has a pure and courageous heart and sings with the voice of an angel. Truly a treat to behold, Wara works with love, surrender and devotion. She maintains tha uttmost respect and care for her patients. In addition to being an incredibly talented and dedicated healer, she’s a full-time mother to her son, Inti (4), and her baby girl, Illari Rosita.
Tupak Wayra is a Bolivian healer from two indigenous linages: Quechua in the Amazon, and Aymara in the Andes. He is the cofounder of numerous organizations that work for the restitution and diffusion of indigenous knowledge such as: “Camino Ancestral Bolivia” (Organization providing ceremonies with plant teachers), “Ayllu Phunchhawi” (Practical workshops and investigations on ancestral music), Ayllu Qollañan (Education and Indigenous investigation) and Casa Ajayu (Cultual and Healing Center). He also leads distinct workshops about indigenous cultural history and knowledge. Alongside his community, he travels throughout Bolivia, organizing ceremonies to heal and spread indigenous culture.
“To cure ourselves we must return to our roots”; for this reason the healing ceremonies must always be accompanies by the wise words of Mother-Earth (Pachamama). The techniques utilized for healing can be teacher plants (Ayahuasca, San Pedro, Willka, and Tobacco), offering to sacred locations, teas from plants that heal specific diseases, and consultations with the sacred coca leaf (a very important master teacher plant in the indigenous Cosmo-vision that acts as our oracle).
Chaca was born and raised in Riberalta, the capital of the Bolivian Amazon. For over 25 years, he’s worked as a professor of socio-cultural anthropology at the University San Andres in La Paz. He’s conducted research and written extensively on native communities of the Bolivian Amazon with a focus on high risks populations, indigenous sexuality, spiritual culture, sustainable development, indigenous rights and political participation.
Wigberto also served as the Bolivian State Minister for indigenous affairs, he’s been an adviser to numerous indigenous organizations, and worked as a consultant for indigenous development projects. He helped establish multiple indigenous territories and fought extensively for ingenious land rights. His investigations concerning ethnic and cultural diversity were used by the Bolivian Government as a basis for the new constitution of the Plurinational State of Bolivia.
He’s co-founder of Pisatahua and the Bolivian-based non-profit Fundacion Amazonia.
Erik was born and raised in Northern California, graduating from UC Davis with a degree in political philosophy. He’s worked as an educator in the US, a researcher for the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung in Berlin, Germany, and as a consultant and board member to non-profits in Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. He holds a masters’ degree in sociology from the Universities of Freiburg (Germany), KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa) and Jawaharlal Nehru (India). Erik is the founder and executive director of the 501(c)3 non-profit organization, Sustainable Bolivia.
For more than a decade Erik has conducted research in the Peruvian, Ecuadorian and Bolivian Amazon on cross-cultural shamanic plant medicine. He’s worked as a researcher and graduate assistant at the University of New Mexico, he’s dieted master plants and studied ancestral medicine from a spiritual guide in Bolivia. Alongside his wife, Sasha, he’s utilized his unique personal and professional experience to facilitate plant-medicine ceremonies in Europe, the US and South America. In 2013, Erik and Sasha received a powerful message regarding their life purpose — 2 weeks later they moved to the Bolivian Amazon to start Pisatahua.
Erik is cofounder to both Pisatahua and the Bolivian-based non-profit Fundacion Amazonia.
Sasha was born in Riberalta, Bolivia, a short distance from the retreat center Pisatahua. For the first two years of her life, she lived in an indigenous Esse Ejja community, before moving to the Bolivian capital La Paz. Growing up she would split time between the Andes and the Amazon, attending high school, while accompanying her father into the jungle on multiple anthropological expeditions.
She considers herself a life-long student, having studied ancestral & medicinal plants from a personal spiritual guide, law and human rights in Bolivia, and psychology in the US. She’s speaks multiple languages including Spanish, English and Portuguese as has followed a diverse professional path — working as a model, a TV moderator, the director of project development for a non-profit in Bolivia, and a as gardener on a Northern California farm …to name a few. She’s taught yoga and pilates, worked as facilitator for plant medicine ceremonies and as has experience as a nature guide.
Sasha’s life-history provides her a unique perspective where indigenous cosmovisions a ‘modern’ healing practices collide. As co-founder of Pisatahua, she continues to integrate different healing modalities, while further developing Pisatahua’s integrative approach to mental/physical health.
Carlos Gil studied web development in Spain.
He has also taken SEO courses (web positioning on the internet). He is applying his knowledge in our current projects, he helps us to have better visibility of our organization on the internet.
Carlos was born and raised in Guayaramerín, a town about 90 kilometers from Riberalta. He currently lives in Riberalta with his wife Karina.
After living several years outside of Bolivia, he has returned to his homeland, where he enjoys the jungle environment offered by the Bolivian Amazon.
Since 2021 he has been collaborating with Sustainable Bolivia.
