Ancestral Culture, is the event of the year in Costa Rica, which will take place this Saturday 15 and Sunday 16, in Encantada Cottages, Esterillos, Jaco.
Through the event, attendees will enjoy various activities in which they will know as the name says, the ancestral culture of those men and women belonging to indigenous groups, either from the medicinal, therapeutic, gastronomic, art, musical, or ceremonial.
This 2025, Ancestral Culture will be attended by representatives of tribes from other nations: Chile, Panama, Venezuela, and of course, local tribes.
All the activities have their value and special touch. Still, on this occasion, we are going to detail the talk “Enteogens and Alternative Healing: Connection and Access”, which will be held on Sunday 16 and will be given by Daniel Valverde and Germán Carias, with both of them we were able to talk for more information.
David Valverde, is a representative of the Psychedelic Association of Costa Rica, a multidisciplinary organization of Costa Rican professionals dedicated to the education and scientific dissemination of psychedelic medicine, its ethical practices, risk management, and harm reduction.
He is a medical doctor and has focused his professional practice for the last 7 years on the exploration of the phenomena of human consciousness, with a special emphasis on the practices, medicines, and knowledge that provide tools to heal from fear and sadness, being these emotional and mental states the origin of what is usually defined as anxiety and depression.
“The premise is to facilitate access to the peace and joy necessary for our daily life to be harmonious and allow us to fully express our virtues, as well as to polish with compassion our dissonant aspects,” said Valverde.
David also directs the Aurora Center, which was founded 4 years ago thanks to the inspiration of ancestral medicine.
Centro Aurora’s intention is to work towards creating a healthy, resilient, and conscious community environment, under the premise that healthy individuals can create healthier societies. “We trust that human well-being and peace can be achieved, but there is a previous work that concerns each person, this is where we wish to place our humble best effort: we want to help people find balance in their own lives so that love and peace can manifest in their family, their community and their ecosystem. We dream that the work with those people who inhabit our territory can be reflected in a more conscious leadership, whose decisions are more supportive and more responsible with the welfare of Mother Earth and her beloved daughter, humanity” he said.
Currently, the Aurora Center provides emotional support services in situations of anxiety and depression, psychedelic medicine consulting, preparation and integration in expanded consciousness experiences, human wellness workshops, cannabis medicine consulting, and management of artistic and musical events.
Through his presence and constant contribution to the Psychedelic Association of Costa Rica, they seek that the Costa Rican population has greater access to ancestral medicines, both from the ceremonial environment, as well as from psychotherapy facilitated with psychedelics.
David is a native of the southern part of Costa Rica, that is, San Isidro del General, in a valley at the foot of Cerro Chirripo.
He told us briefly that he grew up nurtured by Costa Rican culture, “a culture that values work, peace, and family, but that does not cease in the fight against poverty and the associated social risks. They taught me to be human, to observe and value the sea, the rivers, and the mountains as exemplary masters and teachers whose voice is a reason for pilgrimage for many people around the world”.
He entered the world of alternative therapies because, in her childhood home, she experienced early on the ravages of inherited dysfunctional family patterns, lack of self-awareness, and disharmony in mental and emotional health.
“My caregivers were dealing with their battles: my father was on the autism spectrum population and my mother was prey to a depressive state and generalized anxiety. It was fertile ground to develop useful tools as a healer, but being a child, I couldn’t shake off the frustration, helplessness, and injustice.”
After a divorce, his mother’s condition worsened and as a 6-year-old David expressed, he vowed to rescue her. “This is an idea I would advise against, as the road was filled with pain, dysfunctionality, and co-dependency. However, it was an encouragement to keep the North amid a violent and complicated environment and allowed me to enter the University of Costa Rica as a scholarship student. I must say that during my first years of practice, I lost hope of finding relief for my mother, as multiple professionals agreed that her diagnosis was refractory to treatment and I had been unable to find any promising approach.
All of this led David into a period of great discouragement, which eventually became his immersion into the paths of anxiety and depression. Finding himself experiencing the same symptoms as her (his mother), he stressed that he had no choice but to resume efforts to remedy the emotional and mental states.
“It was during this time that I discovered cannabis and psychedelic medicine, as well as the understanding that other cultures have acquired a profound relationship with sacred plants and that this is manifested in their understanding of health and healthy relationships as a community. I owe infinite and particular gratitude to cannabis and the Holy Children because they not only helped in my process but also worked wonderfully in my mother’s life. Thanks to this, we have had the opportunity to have her back and both me and my children can enjoy the wonderful woman she is today,” she added.
According to what David Valverde shared, the balance between modern and ancestral medicine is important, “working together we achieve what seemed impossible. We trust that personal work heals families and communities. We want to be a bridge between ways of healing, between cultures, and between ways of understanding ourselves as humanity. We want to be a bridge between the mestizo culture of the Ticos, the cultures of the native peoples, and the plural culture that comes to this land from different parts of the world.
Through the conversation in Ancestral Culture, David will deepen in the fact that under the current conditions, the process that his family lives, is obtained only under a series of privileges, “and that only through them, it is possible to access this type of treatment and understanding. But these privileges must become a right because it is nothing more than the possibility to connect with our own heart, our history, our mind, and our experience of being aware of being. During our conversation, I would like us to continue the legacy work of finding ethical, multicultural, and inclusive pathways so that more families can smile and more people can focus our work on a future that shines for all.”
Now, German Carias is a visionary entrepreneur and President of Behold Retreats, a leading platform in the field of human transformation and consciousness expansion through plant medicine. He is also the founder of Resonance Community and Alianza Soberana, dedicated to preserving ancestral wisdom and promoting human sovereignty.
Based in San Jose, Costa Rica, Daniel accompanies transformational leaders on gnostic journeys, guiding them to explore their inner depths and unlock their true potential.
He organizes cultural exchanges with indigenous communities, hosts decentralized community discussions, and leads sacred plant cultivation initiatives for the conservation and regeneration of natural resources.
Through each of the initiatives, Daniel fosters deeper connections to nature and community, championing self-governance and personal development.
In 2012, after German was recognized as one of Shell Oil’s Top 25 Global Energy Entrepreneurs, he began his transformational journey. Since then, his passion has evolved into the advancement of humanity, creating a new paradigm for personal growth through experiential processes that awaken the Spirit.
A passionate advocate for sustainability and regenerative development, German has been instrumental in shaping Costa Rica’s energy and welfare sectors. He has worked closely with Applied Research Associates on biofuels for the U.S. Department of Defense.
His commitment to fostering a decentralized, community-driven model of living has led him to found “Resonance”, an intentional community in Costa Rica focused on a New Way of Living.
At Behold Retreats, she leads with purpose and heart, guiding people on life-changing journeys through plant medicine and personal transformation. Her dedication to human progress is reflected in her mission: to create safe, legal, and deeply transformative experiences that unleash the potential of mind, body, and spirit.
Regarding their Ancestral Culture
Carias emphasized that the Cultura Ancestral event, and as such the conversation, is all part of an initial step to bring together the voices and knowledge that for so long has been taboo and is now increasingly open to the public.
In Ancestral Culture (event), there will be spaces for attendees to learn more about psychedelics, and the integration of medicine. “On this occasion, we are reaching out to people who are in the Central Pacific of Costa Rica and who can visit us from other parts to be able to listen to the different aspects that have to do with this topic”.
German, will talk about what are the antigens, their different types, where they come from, and also about what is ayahuasca, what are the medicinal plants.
Anteogen” is a Greek word that is a combination of words, which means ‘I with God’. We will detail everything from the psychotherapeutic part, addressing what are the medicinal plants, in mental health within the different populations”.
Another topic that will be discussed this Sunday 16 in the event Ancestral Culture, is the sovereignty over medicinal plants, as German together with his team of the foundation (church) Sovereign Alliance, have had as a mission: to have the freedom and sovereignty as human beings to work and use medicinal plants without any restriction.
It is worth noting that through Alianza Soberana, they seek to create an alliance between groups, institutions, and other organizations that have common criteria, “that lead to how to live fully free, as human beings of this planet.
Alianza Soberana is the first church registered with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship of Costa Rica, the first church formed and constituted in medicinal plants.
If you want to know more about the activities of Daniel and David, in addition to the event you can contact them on their networks: Instagram @centroaurora.med @resonance.costarica @behold_retreats @sovereignty.alliance
