All of our travelers must have Emergency Medical Travel Insurance that will cover the dates of the tour. This policy must meet the following criteria: (1) Medical Expenses coverage, (2) includes an emergency evacuation benefit, and (3) includes repatriation to your home country. The medical expenses, evacuation, and repatriation benefits must, when combined together, cover for at least $200,000.00 USD per traveler.

Several travel insurance companies provide this service, and you may find a cheaper provider than the ones we recommend below. Please budget anywhere from $75-250 for this depending on your level of comfort.

BattleFace is the travel insurance company that most of our travelers use. This company is usually the most affordable and a policy can be obtained in less than 15 minutes.

John Hancock Ins. Agency offers three different plan types (Gold, Silver, Bronze) that meet our mandatory requirements and provides you with the best protection based on your budget. They offer toll-free, 24/7 multilingual emergency assistance services to help arrange any care you may need while away from home.

NOTE: The Cancel For Any Reason Option must be purchased with the Gold, Silver or Bronze Plan within 14 Days of confirming your tour to qualify for the change of mind benefits. The Cancel For Any Reason Option allows you to cancel your trip, no less than 2 days prior to the scheduled departure date, and get back 75% of the prepaid, non-refundable payments or deposits for the covered trip arrangements. The Cancel for Any Reason option is not available in New York State.

Every trip we’ve run in Guanacaste has the same DNA: nature, community, movement, and fellow alcohol-free travelers. That all stays the same.

What’s new is the experience itself.

Past retreats hand you tools — workshops, mindfulness, movement, share circles, the people sitting next to you at breakfast. Real tools that work. This retreat adds something we’ve never offered before: two ceremonial nights with mother ayahuasca, a plant medicine Indigenous cultures in the Amazon have worked with for generations and that many people today explore as a tool for healing, reflection, and reconnecting — with ourselves, with each other, and with the earth.

We’re not the healers on this trip. Brad and Sarah at Matriztica hold the ceremonial space. Our job is building the container around it — the group, the setting, the integration, the week together— so that when the ceremony starts, all you have to do is show up and be open to the experience.

Same land. Same reason we all quit drinking in the first place. One new, ancient tool.

November lands us at the tail end of Guanacaste’s rainy season, so don’t be surprised if a storm rolls through during your stay — it’s genuinely one of the more beautiful things you’ll see, and it won’t slow us down.

This is our favorite time of year to go. Six months of rain means everything is green — the jungle, the ranch, the mangroves — in a way the dry season just can’t match. Expect temps in the high 80s to low 90s, plenty of sunshine, and Guanacaste’s wildlife at its most active.

Short answer: the medicine doesn’t mix with alcohol or other drugs, and this isn’t a place to detox.

We ask for 15 days alcohol-free at every Recovery Elevator event, but it matters more here than anywhere else. Ayahuasca has genuine, serious interactions with alcohol and other substances — this isn’t just a vibe thing, it’s a safety thing, and we take it seriously.

This retreat also isn’t the place to get sober for the first time. If you’re currently detoxing or newly in withdrawal, this isn’t your entry point — please reach out to us about our other retreats, or talk to a medical provider first. This retreat is not a substitute for in-patient or out-patient treatment.

Simply put: ayahuasca and alcohol don’t belong in the same body. Come to us alcohol-free, present, and ready for the experience.

Yes, at times during this retreat, you will find yourself sweating in the hot sun of Costa Rica, which is very healthy for you. We will be doing some fitness challenges and group movement but you can always go at your own pace or sit an activity out.

See the images above of pictures of the shared accommodations at Venado Ranch, but here is the lineup of where we’ll be staying each night.

Accommodations are shared. If you’d like to request a single room add on for an extra $650, email kmac@recoveryelevator.com

• Night 1: Hilton Garden Inn
• Night 2: Venado Ranch
• Night 3: Venado Ranch
• Night 4: Venado Ranch
• Night 5: La Tica (Ceremony at Matriztica)
• Night 6: La Tica (Ceremony at Matriztica)
• Night 7: Venado Ranch

Clothing/footwear/misc

• Sandals/flip-flops

• Shoes

• Shorts/skirts

• Sun hat/bandana

• Swimwear

• Reusable water bottle

• Shirts/t-shirts

• 2 long-sleeve shirts

• Small travel towel

• Sunglasses

• Headlamp

• Binoculars (optional)

• Plastic rain poncho (available for under $5 at most outdoor stores)

• Sunscreen

• 1 pair of pants

• Toiletries 

• Earplugs

• Small day pack bag

• Journal and pen

• Eye mask (optional for breathwork)

• Bug spray

• Extra spending money ($300-$500). Bring cash (US Dollars) and a debit card

Documents:

• Flight info (required) (Printouts of e-tickets may be required at customs)

• Insurance info (required) (With photocopies)

• Passport (required) (With photocopies)

Recovery Elevator podcast host Paul Churchill is the retreat leader. He has been hosting retreats internationally since 2018 and feels the extra distance from home helps attendees “drop into” the full retreat experience. He strives to create an environment where people can be themselves without alcohol.

In addition, we are working with local Costa Rica guides for nature excursions, local surf instructors, local chefs, and local transportation companies.

We recommend bringing $300–$500 in additional spending money for personal purchases and optional activities.  If you’d like to book excursions such as zip-lining, surfing, paddleboarding, horseback riding, or snorkeling, plan on approximately $85 per activity.

U.S. dollars are widely accepted in Costa Rica. We recommend bringing clean, undamaged $20 bills, as larger bills such as $50s and $100s can be difficult for smaller businesses to accept or make change for. There’s no need to exchange a large amount of money into Costa Rican colones before the trip.

Because we’ll be traveling in some remote areas, ATM access may be limited, so bring enough cash for your expected spending throughout the trip.

Major credit cards are also widely accepted. Check with your card issuer before traveling to see whether your card charges foreign transaction fees.

Costa Rica is incredibly safe. We have been bringing guests to Costa Rica for several years and have not had any issues. The country has done a tremendous job building its tourism infrastructure and they place a high priority on the safety of tourists.

Is the water safe to drink? Yes! This is a HUGE bonus. Less nausea and less plastic.

Wildlife: Yes there are jaguars, black panthers, crocodiles, and pumas, but encounters with humans are extremely rare. The most venomous snakes in Costa Rica, the Bushmaster and Fer de Lance, are not in Guanacaste, so that is a wonderful thing.

Costa Rica is overall a very safe country to visit, but you’ll still want to be smart and self aware.

Ayahuasca is a plant medicine from the Amazon, made by combining two plants that indigenous cultures have used together for thousands of years. Neither plant does much on its own. Together, something magical happens.

We’re not going to over-explain what that something is. Every person’s experience with the medicine is their own, and we don’t want to hand you a script before you sit down for ceremony. What we can tell you is this: ayahuasca has a reputation for helping people go within and see clearly what’s actually been holding them back. Old patterns. Old fears. Stories you’ve been carrying so long you forgot they were running the show.

The experience is deeply personal. We simply build the space for it. The only way to mess this up is to miss your mouth when you go to drink the medicine. 🙂

Let’s start with the real question underneath this one: attention.

What are you putting into your body and mind right now? How does it make you feel? What leaves you nourished, rested, hydrated, clear? What leaves you depleted, heavy, foggy, disconnected? Food is part of that conversation. So is sleep, alcohol, caffeine, social media, movement, the relationships you’re in. Everything you’re taking in as you walk toward ceremony matters.

Medication & Safety

Read this part carefully. There’s a real difference between the dieta you choose to follow and the medical realities of ayahuasca. Certain medications, substances, and medical conditions create serious risk when combined with this medicine. This isn’t tradition or preference. It’s safety.

That’s why every guest completes a medical form before sitting with Matriztica, and why Sarah personally reviews it and talks with you about anything relevant before ceremony.

Tell us everything: medications, supplements, recreational substances, medical history, even the things you’re not sure matter. Medications that affect serotonin, including many antidepressants, need particular attention here, because the interaction with ayahuasca can be dangerous.

One more thing, and it’s important: do not stop, taper, or change any prescribed medication just to attend ceremony without talking to the clinician who prescribed it. If anything changes after you submit your form, tell us before you arrive.

Preparing Your Body

Ceremony asks a lot of you. Most guests are traveling internationally right before arriving, and travel alone can wreck your sleep, digestion, and hydration. Then you’re walking into an all-night ceremony. No food through the night. Limited water while you’re in the medicine. You may purge.

So hydrate now. Aim for 2 to 3 liters of water a day in the days before ceremony, and add electrolytes, especially after flights or time in the heat. Pale yellow urine is your green light.

What Should I Eat?

Eat what your body already knows how to digest well:

• Fresh fruits and vegetables
• Rice, quinoa, oats, potatoes, sweet potatoes, plantains
• Beans and lentils, if they agree with you
• Fish, chicken, eggs, or whatever simple protein you already eat
• Soups and broths
• Water, coconut water, electrolytes

This part will be easy while staying at Venado Ranch since the meals are prepared with the ceremonies in mind.

As ceremony gets closer, ease off processed food, heavy meals, sugar, fried food, and alcohol. Basically anything you already know makes your body work harder. You don’t need to overhaul your diet or eat foods your body isn’t used to just because you’re coming to ceremony.

Coffee & Alcohol

Alcohol: think about what you’re asking your body to do. Travel dehydrates you. Guanacaste is hot. Ceremony dehydrates you further, and purging adds to that. Alcohol just piles on. Give your body some space from it before you arrive. Plus this is specifically an alcohol-free retreat which requires 15 days away from alcohol before attending.

Coffee: a little more nuance here. Quitting caffeine cold turkey when your body’s used to it daily can leave you with headaches and fatigue. If you want to cut back before ceremony, taper gradually instead of stopping abruptly.

The goal is simple: arrive nourished, hydrated, rested. Let go of doing the dieta “perfectly.” Showing up with intention is enough.

Different Traditions, Different Dietas

Search “ayahuasca dieta” online and you’ll find a dozen different lists: no garlic, no onions, no salt, no sugar, no red meat, no pork, no spicy food, no fermented food, no dairy, no caffeine, no alcohol, no cannabis, no sex. These come from different lineages and ways of working with the medicine. In some traditions, for example, garlic and onions are avoided because they’re believed to interfere with visions. Other traditions see it differently.

You’re welcome to explore these and fold in whatever feels right for you.

Beyond Food, Just Notice

The days before ceremony are a good time to notice what else you’re consuming. How do you feel after two hours of scrolling? After the news? After a hard conversation? After time outside? After moving your body? After a full night’s sleep? That noticing is part of the preparation too.

The Day of Ceremony

Morning: eat a nourishing breakfast and lunch, something you know sits well with you.
Through the day: keep hydrating.
After 2pm: stop eating. Water, coconut water, or herbal tea only.
Remember: you don’t need to fast all day. Arrive nourished. Arrive hydrated. We’ll take it from there.

We’re staying general here on purpose, since every ceremony is different and every person’s experience is their own.

Some people feel a lot. Some people feel what’s sometimes called “nada” — nothing at all. No visions, no big release. Every person and every ceremony is different, and an experience doesn’t have to be dramatic to be meaningful.

You may purge. You might laugh. You might cry. Your muscles might shake. Physical and emotional responses can be part of the experience, and Brad and Sarah will be there to support you throughout the ceremony.

Brad and Sarah hold the space for whatever comes up. You’re never doing this alone.

It won’t hurt to know a couple of phrases like donde esta el baño, but if you don’t speak Spanish, no problemo. Plus, English is commonly spoken in Costa Rica.