Your experience begins with a welcome in Zapotec — the indigenous language spoken in this village every day — and a brief, moving introduction to the world of Oaxacan curanderismo : who the healers are, what they do, and why their role in the community is irreplaceable. Your curandera will then perform a full clean using bundles of fresh herbs swept across the body, copal smoke to cleanse the spirit, mezcal as a sacred element of purification, and candle flame to read the energy. This is followed by an egg reading, in which the healer interprets what the egg reveals about your physical and emotional state, and a soul calling — a ritual calling of the soul back to the body, used when a person has experienced fright, loss, or spiritual imbalance. Intimate, personal, and conducted with complete seriousness and care.

In the second village, a local family receives you as a guest in their home. Lunch is served — a light, nutritious, traditional meal made from ingredients grown and prepared locally, the kind of food that sustains communities here every day. After eating, each guest is invited into the tub bath : a large clay or wooden tube filled with warm water infused with medicinal herbs and flowers selected by the healer for their therapeutic properties. You'll soak as long as you need, followed by a gentle massage of the neck and shoulders to release tension accumulated in the body. The experience closes with a cup of herbal tea — a final, quiet moment to absorb everything you've felt and experienced before the journey back to the city.