For years, most international conversations about ayahuasca focused almost entirely on Peru. Retreat seekers, documentaries, and online discussions often treated Peru as the obvious destination, while Colombia remained largely absent from the global conversation. Yet according to Sam Believ, founder of LaWayra Ayahuasca Retreat, Colombia has always held a deep and legitimate ayahuasca tradition — one that was simply overshadowed by history, politics, and perception.
In his view, Colombia is not a newcomer to plant medicine. It is one of the original homes of it.
Why Colombia Was Overlooked for So Long
The absence of Colombia from mainstream ayahuasca tourism had little to do with tradition and much more to do with reputation.
For decades, international perception of Colombia was dominated by conflict, narcotics, and instability. Even people who had never visited associated the country almost entirely with danger.
That shaped where spiritual tourism developed.
While Peru became widely accepted as a destination for plant medicine, Colombia remained outside that wave despite having strong indigenous use of ayahuasca across Amazonian regions.
According to Sam, this created a kind of historical imbalance: one country became globally identified with healing traditions while another carrying equally old traditions stayed hidden.
Ayahuasca’s Place in Southern Colombia
In Colombia, the strongest traditional roots of ayahuasca are found in the southern Amazonian regions, especially Putumayo, near the borders with Ecuador and Peru.
This region is home to several indigenous groups whose ceremonial use of the medicine goes back generations.
The traditions there developed along river systems that historically connected communities long before modern national borders existed.
In practical terms, these traditions were never isolated to one modern country. They spread through indigenous exchange across Amazonian territory.
The plant medicine existed before the borders did.
Inga, Kamsá, and Cofán Traditions
Among the groups Sam has worked with most closely are the Inga, whose ceremonial lineage forms the foundation of LaWayra’s current practice.
He has also sat in ceremonies with Kamsá and Cofán shamans, each carrying distinct ritual styles, songs, and preparation methods.
Although outsiders often search for one “correct” ayahuasca tradition, Sam emphasizes that multiple lineages exist, each valid in its own way.
Some medicines are thicker, some more liquid.
Some traditions rely heavily on music, others more on silence.
Some emphasize fire continuously during ceremony, while others structure space differently.
The medicine may vary, but the purpose remains similar: healing, insight, and guidance.
Why the Shaman Is Called Tata
In many Colombian traditions, male ceremonial leaders are called Tata, while female leaders are called Mama.
The word carries meanings similar to father, elder, or respected guide.
Unlike the word “shaman,” which entered global vocabulary from outside South America, Tata belongs more naturally inside the local context.
It signals not only ceremonial authority but relational respect.
A Tata is not simply someone serving medicine.
He is expected to hold knowledge, responsibility, and emotional steadiness.
Becoming a Tata Is a Long Process
One of the strongest points Sam makes is that true ceremonial authority takes years.
In traditional pathways, becoming a Tata often requires five to ten years or more of intensive apprenticeship.
That usually includes repeated dieta, long periods in jungle conditions, physical hardship, direct learning under older healers, and continuous medicine work.
The process is not romantic.
It is difficult, repetitive, and often uncomfortable.
This is why Sam strongly rejects short certification models where someone drinks ayahuasca a handful of times and quickly claims ceremonial authority.
In his words, serving ayahuasca responsibly resembles soul surgery: no one should enter that role without deep preparation.
Legal Recognition in Colombia
Colombia has a unique legal framework compared with many countries.
Ayahuasca is not fully legalized in the modern commercial sense, but indigenous ceremonial use is protected as part of ancestral heritage.
This means recognized indigenous authorities can legally authorize ceremonial work through community structures.
A Tata carrying proper recognition can transport and serve medicine under that protection.
This creates a middle ground: neither full prohibition nor complete deregulation.
For Sam, that balance helps preserve seriousness while preventing total chaos.
Why Tradition Matters More Than Many Realize
One of his strongest concerns is what happens when medicine becomes detached from tradition.
He compares it to removing a tree from its roots.
The plant may still exist, but the stability disappears.
Tradition does not simply provide songs or aesthetic atmosphere.
It provides tested methods for dosage, emotional containment, safety, and interpretation.
Without that structure, difficult experiences can become chaotic instead of healing.
This is why LaWayra combines indigenous ceremony with modern preparation and integration rather than reducing the process to a single psychedelic event.
Ayahuasca as Wisdom, Not Just Experience
In many indigenous understandings, ayahuasca is not merely something consumed for visions.
It is a source of knowledge.
People traditionally came not only for healing but for practical guidance.
A Tata might drink the medicine while another person asks for help with illness, emotional suffering, family conflict, or even locating something lost.
In that sense, the medicine has always been used diagnostically as much as therapeutically.
The ceremony was not entertainment.
It was consultation with a deeper layer of intelligence.
Colombia’s Image Is Slowly Changing
Sam believes Colombia still carries outdated associations internationally.
Yet every year more people arrive and discover a very different country: mountains, forests, hospitality, and increasingly respected retreat spaces.
For him, ayahuasca may eventually become one of the forces helping reshape Colombia’s global image.
Not by replacing history, but by revealing another side of the country that has always existed.
A Country Still Emerging in the Global Conversation
What makes Colombia especially interesting today is that it still feels less commercialized than some better-known destinations.
The traditions remain close to living communities rather than fully absorbed into tourism infrastructure.
That creates both opportunity and responsibility.
If growth happens carefully, Colombia may become one of the most important ayahuasca destinations in the world not because it imitates others, but because it finally becomes visible for what it already is.
Listen to the whole podcast episode here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4iG3R8mGKY
Sam Believ is the founder and CEO of LaWayra Ayahuasca Retreat, the best-rated Ayahuasca retreat in South America, with over 520 five-star Google reviews and an overall rating of 5 stars. After his life was transformed by Ayahuasca, he dedicated himself to spreading awareness about this ancestral medicine to help address the mental health crisis. Sam is committed to making Ayahuasca retreats affordable, accessible, and authentic, with a focus on care, integration, and the involvement of indigenous shamans. He is also the host of the Ayahuasca Podcast.