An American tourist has died after taking a hallucinogenic herbal tea at a spiritual retreat in the Peruvian Amazon.
Aaron Wayne Castranova, 41, died on Monday in Loreto, a region on the border with Brazil, after drinking the trance-inducing brew in a spiritual session.
According to the regional prosecutor’s forensic pathologist, Narciso Lopez, the tourist, understood to be from Alabama, suffered a ‘breakdown that led to his death’, from the brew, known as ayahuasca, which triggered a multi-organ reaction in his body.
The ritual is said to have taken place in a hostel called La Casa de Guillermo ICONA in the indigenous community of Santa Maria de Ojeda, which has been largely associated with ‘spiritual tourism’ in recent years.
According to the hostel’s managers, Castranova failed to tell ceremony organizers that he was taking antibiotics.
Ayahuasca, which Lopez warned can cause ‘not only death, but also permanent, irreversible damage’, is a concoction traditionally used by Indigenous cultures in the Amazon, often for spiritual and healing rituals.
The bitter-tasting drink is made from the bark of a vine and the leaves of a bush found in the Amazon that contains N-N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), a hallucinogenic.
Ayahuasca tourism in Peru has surged in recent years, with dozens of jungle retreats offering the traditional indigenous brew to visitors under the supervision of a guide or shaman.
Many tourists seek the drug out because of its reputation as a way to help ease depression and other mental troubles.
An American tourist has died after taking ayahuasca in the Peruvian Amazon
Amazonian tribes in South Americs use ayahuasca, or yage, as an important spiritual and medicinal tool
Amazonian tribes in South America use ayahuasca, or yage, as an important spiritual and medicinal tool.
The tragedy comes a year after a British mother died at a Bolivian retreat that specialises in the psychedelic drug.
Social worker Maureen Rainford booked a ten-day stay in October 2024 at the Ayahuasca and San Pedro Pisatahua Retreat, an Amazon commune billed as a wellness and detox retreat.
The family of the mum-of-three, who paid £800 for the trip, stressed that she was fit and healthy ahead of the visit.
Her daughter Rochel, 32, was told by a resort official named Eric that Ms Rainford suffered a ‘medical emergency’ while on site.
Others told her that her mother collapsed ten minutes after drinking the ayahuasca and she was complaining of feeling ill as her breathing and heart rate dropped.
Despite CPR efforts Ms Rainford died an hour after she collapsed with a doctor not arriving until after, the family heard.
