Coraçao do Cacau
✦ A Seven-Day Immersion Journey Into the Spirit, Medicine, and Living Tradition of Sacred Cacao ✦
November 9 – 15, 2026
Bahia, Brazil
Deep in the lush heart of Southern Bahia, where the Rio de Contas winds through ancient cacao groves, we gather for a rare and intimate journey. This retreat is an offering to the medicine of cacao, to the wisdom of indigenous guardians, and to the deeper knowing that lives within each of us.
"Cacao opens what the heart already knows"
For seven days, you will live, eat, sing, move, and be transformed alongside the land itself. You will learn from various local medicine wisdom keepers who will open the path to a deeper connection with Cacao as a sacred teacher. You will receive this wise plant as ceremony, as medicine, as food, as song. And you will carry something home that is personal and sacred- your own deepened relationship with the Spirit of Cacao Medicine.
The Experiences
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The Experiences *
❋ Cacao Plant Spirit Initiation
A transformative ceremonial experience with communing with Cacao as teacher and beloved, held in sacred space with guidance and integration support.
❋ Cacao Guardian Immersion
Spend sacred time with Nara, an Afro-Indigenous Cacao guardian. Learn the cabruca tradition of cultivation, harvesting, and the living relationship between people and the plant.
❋ Cacao Medicine Making
Hands-on preparations of cacao, from flower essences to body care rituals, and healing preparations to chocolate making- medicine from the plant in its fullest expression.
❋Singing with Cacao
Voice as medicine. We open our hearts through song, icaros, and cacao-inspired soundscapes in ceremony and in joy.
❋Yoni Steam Circle
A ceremony of feminine healing and connection - gathering in sacred circle for warmth, herbs, and the wisdom of women's bodies.
❋ Sound Healing
Immersive sound baths and vibrational healing sessions woven throughout the week to deepen integration and open subtle channels.
❋ Cooking with Cacao
From bean to feast - explore the culinary dimension of cacao, learning preparations that nourish body and spirit alike.
❋Capoeira & Samba
Move, sweat, and celebrate in the living traditions of Bahian Afro-Brazilian culture with samba as embodied liberation.
Where the River Meets the Grove
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Where the River Meets the Grove *
Our home for the week is a working cacao farm nestled beside the Rio de Contas in Southern Bahia in the midst of the Atlantic Forest. The landscape here holds an extraordinary concentration of biodiversity, culture, and beauty.
Rio de Contas - Our retreat sits on the banks of this sacred river, offering daily access to its healing waters and extraordinary presence.
Itacaré - Visit the gorgeous surf town and its legendary beaches, framed by lush Atlantic rainforest.
Waterfall and Herb Walk at Cacao Farm -a living farm where the whole arc of cacao is visible, from flower to fermented bean. Plus an exquisite private waterfall and swimming hole.
The Journey
Seven Days of Immersion
Sunday, November 9th
Arrival & Welcome
Arrive at Ilhéus Airport by noon and board your included shuttle to the retreat center. The afternoon is devoted to settling into the land - your room, the river, the sounds of the farm. As evening approaches, we gather for an energetic clearing with a local traditional curandera, releasing the weight of travel and opening ourselves to what is to come
Monday, November 10th
Into the Grove~ Opening the Sacred Container
We begin with an offering to the cacao grove and the land spirits, opening our ceremonial container in right relationship with the place that holds us. Nara leads us into the living tradition of cabruca farming - walking the land, learning its language. In the afternoon, we gather to make cacao flower essences, drawing medicine directly from the blooms. Massage sessions with Flor begin today
Tuesday, November 11th
Cacao As Muse~ Movement, Clay & Song
The morning opens with samba - body, rhythm, and joy as medicine. We move into the afternoon with pre-Columbian ceramic making with Paola, working with clay as a form of ancestral remembrance. Ashley then leads us on an herbal sonic exploration - an invitation to connect with the spirit of cacao and express that connection through sound and song. Massage sessions continue
Wednesday, November 12th
Journey and Cooking with Cacao~ Water, Plants & Sound
A morning excursion takes us to a neighboring cacao farm, deepening our relationship with the living tradition of cacao cultivation. We visit an exquisite private waterfall and swiming hole, before returning to the farm for a cacao culinary meal preparation - cooking together as ceremony. The evening closes with a sound healing session
Thursday, November 13th
Medicine, Sea & Celebration
Morning is devoted to making cacao topical medicines - body butters, oils, and healing preparations to carry home. The afternoon brings a beach picnic on the local shore - salt air, warm water, and open sky. As the sun lowers, we gather for a communal sunset ritual. The evening comes alive with a samba night
Friday, November 14th
Integration & the Feminine
A slower, softer day devoted to integration on the land. Space to rest, reflect, journal, and receive. In the afternoon, we gather with Nara for a chocolate making session - learning the traditional art of transforming cacao from bean to bar. Massage sessions with Flor continue. The evening gathers us in a yoni steam ceremony - warmth, herbs, and the wisdom of women's bodies held in sacred circle
Saturday, November 15th
Closing & Ofrendas
We close as we opened - in ceremony and in gratitude. Our closing ritual includes the creation of ofrendas, offerings made to the land, the plant, and to one another. We give thanks, release, and carry the medicine of this week forward. Departures from midday
Please note that while we have lovingly crafted this itinerary, the flow of activities is subject to change. Weather, the rhythms of the land, and the needs of the group may guide us in unexpected directions. We trust the intelligence of what wants to emerge and invite you to do the same.
Meet Our Facilitators
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Meet Our Facilitators *
Francisca Santibanez
Lead Co-Facilitator
Francisca Santibanez is a vegetalista, yerbera, consejera, clinical herbalist, medicine maker, and founder of Plant Spirit Talk. Born in the Mata Atlântica of Brazil and raised between São Paulo, Santiago, and California, she carries the living thread of South American curanderismo, plant spirit medicine, and ancestral healing in everything she offers.
Her path began through her own body - a period of chronic illness and disability that allopathic medicine could not reach the root of. It was through Amazonian plant medicines that her true healing began, and what started as personal initiation became a lifelong calling. She formalized her herbal training at the Berkeley Herbal Center in 2013 and has apprenticed since 2016 with Shipibo Onanya Maestra Amelia Panduro de Sinuiri of Pucallpa, Peru, with Plant Dietas as her primary language of learning.
Cacao holds a particularly intimate place in Francisca's lineage. As a daughter of the Mata Atlântica returning to the land of her birth, this retreat is both an offering and a homecoming - a weaving together of indigenous wisdom, ancestral memory, and the living medicine of the Amazon and Atlantic Forest.
Through Plant Spirit Talk, she creates sacred space where healing, remembrance, and the fulfillment of soul purpose become possible.
Ashley Campos
Lead Co-Facilitator
Ashley Campos, RH(AHG), is a clinical Western herbalist, educator, and holistic health practitioner deeply committed to rewilding, healing, and forging meaningful connections between land, plants, and people through the wisdom of herbal medicine.
In addition to her clinical work, Ashley serves as Executive Director of the Berkeley Herbal Center, one of the country’s longest-standing community herbal schools and clinics. Her journey with plant medicine began as a student at BHC, where she discovered the transformative power of herbs and community-based learning. That experience ignited a lasting passion for accessible herbal education and community-centered wellness, values that now guide her leadership of the organization.
Ashley’s work bridges clinical herbalism, ancestral healing traditions, and relationship-centered care. Drawing inspiration from her South American lineage, she is passionate about helping others reconnect with the land, their bodies, and the deeper cultural and spiritual dimensions of plant medicine. She also serves on the Board of Directors for the American Herbalists Guild, where she contributes to conversations surrounding herbal education, mentorship, and the future of the herbal profession.
Nara Rodrigues
Cacao GuardianNara Rodrigues was born in Ilhéus and found in the land a path to purpose and autonomy. She is the founder of Mimos da Mata, a micro-enterprise that transforms native Bahian ingredients — cacao, fruits, herbs, and seeds — into chocolates, medicinal preparations, oils, and natural butters. She is the first woman in her family to register land in her name, and cultivates her farm in the cabruca agroecological tradition, honoring the cycles of the forest and preserving biodiversity. Among her creations is purple chocolate, made with unfermented cacao that preserves the original color of the seeds. Her story inspired the short film Guardian of Cacao — Afro-entrepreneurship in Southern Bahia, a testament to the strength of Black women in the countryside and the power of land, culture, and conscious creation. "Nature teaches. You just have to listen with an open heart."
Jenny Arocha
Medicine Woman and Chef Jenny Arocha is a cook who cooks from the heart and soul. She is a Latin American mother born in the US and raised in Argentina by a Cuban father and a Mexican mother, and she has lived in Brazil for the last 12 years with her family.
Jenny runs her project, Tierra, Conscious Eating, where she offers healthy, inclusive flavors made with love and grounded in holistic nutrition. She creates food that brings awareness and care; the preparation of food is a daily prayer where she seeks to unite the alchemy of the earth and the spirit.
In addition, she is a midwifery apprentice, an eternal student of medicinal plants, and committed to welcoming and empowering people on their life journeys.
Flor Martinez
Body Work and Movement TherapistFlor Martinez was born in Argentina and brings over 25 years of experience in body education, movement, and integrative healing. She is a certified teacher and therapist trained in Alexander Technique, Yoga Therapy, Pilates, Dance Therapy, Contact Improvisation, and multiple massage modalities — including her own method, Harmonizing Therapeutic Massage. Her work also encompasses Family Constellations, Nonviolent Communication, Sound Healing, and Reiki. She is the creator of Systemic Therapy of Bodily Memories, applied in individual and group therapeutic processes, and offers Systemic Dance Therapy programs for women. She currently lives in Serra Grande, Bahia, where she coordinates the Cooperative Center for Human Development, offering retreats and programs for women, mothers, and pregnant women.
Paola
Pre-Columbian Ceramicist Paola is a Uruguayan ceramic artist living in Bahia. From a very young age, making things with her hands was not simply a passion — it was a vital necessity. Her conscious relationship with clay began in 2017 while working with children in creative education, where she felt a deep calling to the material that has guided her ever since.
A self-taught artist with error as her greatest teacher, Paola devoted herself to a path of profound self-discovery through the study of Pre-Columbian ceramics. Today her work is rooted in the recovery of ancestral techniques, encompassing the full ceramic process — from hand-building and hand-forming to wood firing. She advocates for the intelligence of the hands, for pieces made entirely without the wheel, and for the rich diversity of thought and form that emerges when ceramics are made with identity, intention, and rootedness in tradition.
Tuition & Pricing
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Tuition & Pricing *
What's Included
All accommodation at the cacao farm
All meals prepared by Jenny, chef & medicine woman
All ceremonies & facilitated sessions
Cacao PSI ceremony
Cacao guardian immersion with Nara
Medicine making, sound healing & bodywork
Samba instruction
Itacaré beach day
Waterfall visit
Airport transfers to/from Ilhéus (IOS)
Not Included
International & domestic flights
Travel insurance (recommended)
Personal expenses
Pay in Full
Save $100 when you pay your full tuition upfront. Simple, complete, and done.
Payment Plan
Spread your tuition over monthly installments. Currently available as a 5-month plan — terms adjust as the retreat date approaches.
The Application Process
This is an intimate, intentionally curated gathering. We welcome all who feel called to apply.
1st Step
Submit Your Interest
Complete the interest form below. Share a little about yourself, why this retreat is calling you, and your accommodation preference.
2nd Step
Interview Call
Within 5–7 days of submitting your form, you will be invited to a video call with Ashley and/or Francisca. This is a mutual conversation, a chance for us to meet and ensure this retreat is the right fit for you.
3rd Step
Confirm Your Place
Following your interview, accepted applicants will receive enrollment details and payment information to secure their spot. Space is limited and offered on a first-confirmed basis.
Interest Form
All fields required · We will be in touch within 5–7 business days
Are You Feeling
Called?
Space is intimate and limited. If this journey is calling you, we invite you to reach out and begin the conversation. We welcome those who feel aligned and wish to come in a genuine heart, ready to learn and engage in sacred exchange with Cacao as teacher, the land, and all involved in bringing this heart-dream to life.