OUR TEAM

About our shaman and maestro
After years of intense study that have included several month-long master plant dietas spent in solitude in the jungle Niño is a curandero ayahuasquero, curandero tabaquero, curandero palero, curandero perfumero, and curandero oracionista. He has received and healed patients suffering from lesmanyasis, reproductive problems, addictions, depression, insomnia, anxiety, mal viento, heart problems and various forms of trauma.
Niño brings a truly remarkable energy to his work - an unshakeable strength along with a respectfully and loving grace that is the flame and fortitude of the work that we are so grateful and proud to do here at Casa de Pawua.
Niño has also spent years as the president for the *Asociacion Médicos Tradicionales de Rurrenabaque* (Rurrenabaque’s Association of Traditional Doctors). He is the maestro and co-founder of Casa de Pawua.

Always having lived in symbiosis with the jungle, Niño is native to Rurrenabaque, Bolivia. He started his “camino de las plantas” at age eleven. During his early teens was when he truly started to feel the calling of the jungle. To be able to support his parents and siblings, he turned this curiosity and passion for the plants and animals of the jungle into work as one of the city’s most noteable and adventurous tour guides.

The years he spent living, exploring and learning in the jungle flourished into the powerful connection he now has with Pachamama and the medicine itself. Just like the sinchi runas, sleeping under the protection of ancient trees allowed him to learn from the jungle at a very deep level. He brings a heartfelt desire to treat those who come to him with health problems into all work that he does. It is said that shamans are traditionally either chosen by Pachamama, have inherited the gifts of their parents or they have decided themselves to follow this route. In Niño’s case, it’s a matter of the first two. Throughout his childhood and early adolescence he underwent several near-death, mystical and powerful experiences that intensified the plans Pachamama had for him: to heal with plants.

Niño’s father was his very first teacher. His knowledge of medicinal plants led many people in town to his doorstep. Niño would actively watch and learn as his father prepared medicines to cure stomach illnesses, headaches, kidney problems and more using plants found in the jungle around their home.

In his early teens he started drinking ayahuasca with different shamans around his town and in his twenties he had a powerful ayahuasca vision of his to-be maestro Juan Flores. After searching for this mythical man, he finally found a new home as a student at the prestigious school for medicinal plants in Pucallpa, Peru. The center was Mayantuyacu. When finishing his studies, he returned to his family in Beni with the determination to start a center of his own that would follow the strict indigenous tradition behind ayahuasca healing and continue his maestro’s lineage.

Our core team

Our “medicine family” is constantly growing. Our core team/ family members are listed below. Because of the recent climate regarding the pandemic, it could be the case that not all of our team is at Casa de Pawua at the same time (though that is certainly our dream!).

Yana

APPRENTICE
Yana has worked with ayahuasca since 2019 and is our go-to person for anything we may need. Yana helps with all aspects of the center from cleaning and organizing to assisting our maestro in ceremony.
Tita

APPRENTICE
Tita has sat in ayahuasca ceremonies since 2013. After years of searching for her true teacher she found Niño which is also when she really started to deepen her apprenticeship with the medicine and truly enter the “camino de las plantas”. Tita supports the ceremonies with icaros, helps with construction planning and patient communication.
Chiqui

CONSTRUCTION AND COOKING
Chiqui is Niño’s brother and our “cocinero de la medicina” at Casa de Pawua. Chiqui also supports the center with anything from constructing stone steps to building walls, carrying materials and cooking up some delicious foods!
Demetrio

APPRENTICE
Coming from a lineage of curanderos working with local Tacana methods of healing, Demetrio decided at very early age to follow his father’s footsteps. Ever since his first introduction to the medicine, he has been dedicated to learning as much as possible about the world of medicinal plants.