It felt several areas of primary importance were overlooked. - Very few people on the retreat, if any, had given any consideration to psychological preparation of the experience, along with integration of the experience beyond the stay at the villa. - Several people on the retreat hadn't even tried a drug before. Also, several had tried drugs but not psychedelics - this is surely a red flag, as ayahuasca isn't to be taken lightly. - There wasn't enough good-quality, psychological support. - There seemed to be on too strong a focus on delivering the experience, and ensuring participants attended all of the ceremonies - in an attempt to offer as authentic an experience as possible. I noticed this was at the expense of the wellbeing of some/all participants. I know it's difficult to tow the line between creating a commercially-viable business, and a personalised wellbeing retreat - but unfortunately at the time of my experience, I felt the retreat was closer to the prior rather than the latter. Not to discredit the team as I can see how much thought and effort goes into the retreat, so on this basis I've given it the 3 stars - although this goes back to my point of the more important areas being overlooked. ---- Advice to readers - although mushrooms don't have the same perceived healing "sexiness" that ayahuasca may carry societally at the moment, I felt many participants of the retreat I was on didn't need to experience a psychedelic that was as a strong as ayahuasca. Psilocybin might have been better suited to the experience and level of insight they were looking for. Unfortunately, this is unlikely to have happened for several reasons, including; the available of european ayahuasca retreats relative to mushroom retreats. The availability of honestly reviews of people who've been on mushrooms and ayahuasca retreats (everyone wants to say it was "life changing" and "amazing", dont they?"). The knowledge they had access to to form their decision. The possibly perceived ugliness of mushrooms vs the sexiness & mysteriousness of ayahuasca. Also, from experience the psychedelic therapist that I've spoken to find it easier to help people integrate psilocybin experiences vs ayahuasca experiences.

What a week! Doing Ayahuasca is no joke. I had definitely underestimated the power of the medicine, and I think everyone considering doing Ayahuasca should know that you might feel very, very bad in many different ways during some or all of the ceremonies. But it's all for the greater good. Trust the process. Anyway, because the experiences can be so challenging, it is extremely important to know that you can trust the people around you, that is, the facilitators and the shaman. That is why picking a good place is crucial, and that is why, if you are going to do Ayahuasca, do it with APL Journeys. What a team of insightful, professional, kind-hearted and wise people. I am so very happy to have had these experiences, painful as they often were, surrounded by these people. Thank you, thank you, thank you Boris, Sascha, Celeste, Crystalline, Anael, and everyone else helping run this. I love you all.

I had a calling for some time to explore amazonian plant medicine. When browsing the internet and APL journeys crossed my path I had a gut feeling to pull the trigger and book my spot. The blessings I received at the retreat were so many words can't explain. Having met a true master of his craft Mastero Anael was an honor of a lifetime and the same goes for the whole team Boris, Krystaline, Celeste, and Sacha. I hold so much gratitude towards these people and as a true testament for the process of working with plant medicine that previously "gratitude" was only a word I had in my vocabulary but now I´m in the process of further integrating it into my life. Having gone to this retreat is the most significant thing I have done in my life to date and the APL team and the whole group of people I shared the experience played a massive part in making it so.