THE ANCESTRAS CACAO JOURNEY
May 19th - 24th, 2025
Cacao Begins Here.
Your Awakening Begins Here Too.
A six-day retreat guided by ELDERS, held through land, ceremony, and lived tradition.
This retreat unfolds where devotion, land, and lineage still meet.
Why the Cacao Journey?
Because cacao opens the door to everything else.
Cacao in this journey is inseparable from Maya cosmovision. It is lived within land, ritual, history, and daily life, not as an isolated practice.
Yes, those who join take part in cacao rituals, altar creation, and the journey from bean to beverage. But something else happens alongside this. By witnessing how life is lived on this land, something within us quietly rearranges.
Moving through ancient sites, sharing food, ceremony, silence, laughter, and time with elders creates an inner reorientation. Reflection arises naturally. We begin to meet ourselves differently, not through effort, but through experience.
What shifts is not forced. It emerges through presence, proximity, and exposure to a way of life that carries coherence.
6 days, 5 nights | may 19th - 24th | limited to 10 guests
Days 1-3: Tabasco
Days 4-6: Chiapas
The Heart of the Experience
Day-by-Day Journey
DAY 1: Arrival & Welcome
Arrival Arrive in the region and settle into a 4½-star hacienda-style retreat, where arched corridors, hand-painted tiles, and sunlit courtyards echo the quiet elegance of Mexico’s historic estates. This becomes your home for the opening chapter of the journey, a place where you can land, breathe, and transition from the pace of daily life into the rhythm of the land. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Cultural Visit Our first visit leads you into an open-air archaeological sanctuary where ancient stone monuments rest beneath the shade of native trees. Here, amidst colossal carved heads and ceremonial altars, you begin to feel the presence of the ancestors who shaped the earliest stories of cacao and Mesoamerican cosmology. This is where the journey subtly starts shifting from travel into remembrance. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Opening Cacao Blessing & Dinner As the sun lowers, we gather for an intimate opening blessing with a respected Mayan Chontal elder who carries the ancestral cacao tradition in their lineage. Through sacred words, copal smoke, and cacao offered in its pure ceremonial form, the path is blessed, intentions are opened, and the group steps into a shared field of connection. We close the evening with a nourishing welcome dinner, allowing you to unwind, integrate, and bond gently with your fellow travelers. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Includes • Airport transfer upon arrival • Overnight stay in a double-occupancy room • Breakfast the following morning • Welcome dinner on arrival day
DAY 2: Early Departure, Maya Archaeological Site and Cacao Heartland
Maya Archeological Site Begin the day with an early departure into a remarkable Maya archaeological setting, the only site of its kind constructed with fired brick and ancient mortar. Walk through its plazas and temple structures while learning about the sophistication, engineering, and cosmology that shaped this unique place. The morning is spacious, immersive, and designed to help you feel the atmosphere of an ancient world. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Cacao Heartland The journey continues into the cacao heartland. Here you visit traditional estates where cacao has been cultivated for generations. You witness the stages of transformation from fresh cacao fruit to fermented beans and handcrafted drinking chocolate. These haciendas offer a living window into the cultural, agricultural, and culinary lineage that shaped the world’s relationship with cacao. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Regional Lunch A regional lunch is served at a local culinary treasure known for honoring ancestral flavors. The menu reflects the richness of the region, including cacao prepared in traditional and contemporary forms. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Evening at Leisure Return to the city in the late afternoon for rest and personal integration. The evening is open for you to relax, explore, or enjoy dinner on your own. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Includes Transportation for all scheduled activities Guided visit to the archaeological site Admission to the archaeological site Breakfast at the hotel Lunch at a regional culinary venue Overnight stay in a double room with breakfast the following morning
DAY 3: A Day with the Cacao Guardians
Heart of the cacao region Spend the day in the heart of the cacao region, guided by Maya Chontal elders who carry generations of ancestral knowledge. This immersive experience blends cultural exchange, spiritual connection, and a deeper understanding of cacao as both a sacred plant and a living part of the ecosystem. Walk among the cacao trees, hear the stories that link them to creation and ceremony, and witness the ways the land, the people, and the traditions are woven together. Through ritual, shared meals, and moments of quiet reflection, you are invited to connect not only with the spirit of cacao, but also with the living culture that has shaped this region for centuries. Participants who feel called may sit one to one with the elder for a focused healing session rooted in ancestral wisdom and practical clarity. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Ancient cacao traditions Learn about the thirteen sacred Maya cacao beverages. Participate in a Mayan altar and a Pago a la Tierra offering to the Earth. Visit the ancestral cacaotal and hear stories of plant spirit and lineage. Engage in ceremonial and hands-on preparation of cacao. Share a communal lunch with the elder’s community. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Evening return Return to the city at night for reflective integration and rest. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Includes Transportation and guided activities Breakfast, lunch, and dinner Overnight stay in a double room with breakfast the following morning
DAY 4: Crossing into Chiapas and Entering the Heart of the Jungle
Depart Tabasco and journey south into Chiapas, where the terrain rises and the vegetation deepens into shades of emerald. As you cross into this region, you enter what the Maya Chol lineage calls the Heart of the Jungle. The land carries a palpable presence, a pulse that has shaped ceremonies, healing traditions, and cosmology for centuries. Arrive in Palenque and settle into a lodge surrounded by forest and birdsong. The atmosphere shifts into something quieter, slower, and vibrantly alive. This region is known for its depth of healing and spiritual refinement. As evening approaches, gather for a cacao ceremony guided by Maya Chol elders. Here cacao becomes a companion for grounding, introspection, and connection to the rhythms of the jungle. Following ceremony, enter the temazcal for a night of purification. Heat, steam, and prayer weave together to support physical release, emotional unwinding, and the integration of everything the journey has opened so far. For those who feel called, optional one to one healing sessions are available with the elder during the evening. These sessions are offered through personal donation and create space for individualized attention, insight, and energetic clearing. The night ends with quiet integration beneath the sounds of cicadas and running water, allowing the body to settle and the heart to absorb the experience. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Includes Breakfast and lunch Transportation and guided travel Cacao ceremony Temazcal ceremony Optional one to one healing sessions (by personal donation) Two night stay in Palenque in double rooms
DAY 5: Palenque Archeological Sanctuary and Evening Integration
Begin the morning within one of the most extraordinary Maya cities ever uncovered. Palenque rises from the jungle with an elegance that feels almost otherworldly. Temples emerge through mist. Waterfalls echo in the distance. Carved glyphs describe kings, queens, cosmology, and the great cycles of life. Guided by a regional specialist, walk through plazas, temples, and ceremonial complexes that still carry a profound presence. This site is not only an architectural wonder but also a living energetic landscape where nature and ancient design remain intertwined. Expect a morning of quiet awe, spacious reflection, and deep connection to the intelligence of a civilization that viewed time, life, and spirit through a different lens. After the visit, return to the lodge for rest. The afternoon is intentionally open so the body and mind can absorb the experiences of the past days. You may choose to swim, journal, nap, or simply listen to the sounds of the jungle. As the sun begins to set, gather for a final group integration session. This space allows you to reflect on what the journey has revealed, clarify what you are taking home, and anchor the internal shifts that have occurred throughout the week. It is a spacious and grounded closing, designed to help you return to your life with clarity, intention, and inner continuity. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Includes Breakfast and lunch Transportation and guided tour Entrance to the archeological site Evening integration session Hotel stay in a double room with breakfast the following morning
 |  | ![IMG_7021[1]](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/80d52d_91adc928fcd741c48b27e3e3e1d60981~mv2.jpeg/v1/fill/w_250,h_333,al_c,q_90,enc_auto/80d52d_91adc928fcd741c48b27e3e3e1d60981~mv2.jpeg) |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |  | ![IMG_7204[1]](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/80d52d_4bee72cdf9df41b986e589d4c1105978~mv2.jpeg/v1/fill/w_250,h_333,al_c,q_90,enc_auto/80d52d_4bee72cdf9df41b986e589d4c1105978~mv2.jpeg) |  |  |
 |
why this journey is different
This journey is not approached as an experience to consume, but as an encounter to enter.
Those who are drawn here often do not arrive with a clear intention. They arrive with a sense that something in their life is asking for attention, honesty, or reorientation. What unfolds is not directed by force or belief, but by relationship, with land, with tradition, and with what moves beyond personal will.
This retreat takes place across two regions, Tabasco and Chiapas, where cacao, ceremony, and daily life remain woven into the land rather than separated into performance.
Land and Continuity
These lands are not symbolic. They are lived.
Cacao here is not introduced as a concept or a trend. It exists as lineage, agriculture, prayer, nourishment, and medicine. Ceremony is not isolated from life; it is embedded in the way people work the land, prepare food, mark time, and tend to one another.
Participants are received into this continuity respectfully, without expectation to understand or interpret what they encounter.
This is a ceremonial retreat co-led by ELDERS and held through land-based practice, prayer, and lived tradition.
Over the course of the journey, participants come into direct relationship with cacao as lineage and living medicine, with ceremony as an act of responsibility, and with the intelligence of the land itself. Teachings are offered not as doctrine, but as guidance shaped by experience, humility, and care for what is sacred.
As we move between regions, the journey is shaped by rhythm rather than agenda. There is space for ritual, for rest, for conversation, and for what arises unexpectedly. Some experiences are collective. Others are deeply personal.
This is not a vacation.
It is a retreat designed to allow what is ready to change to do so with dignity and support.
You are not asked to become someone new.
You are asked to meet what is already true.
ARRIVAL & WELCOME STAY
Ceremonies with ELDERS
Enter ceremonial spaces guided by ELDERS whose lives are rooted in land, lineage, and responsibility. These ceremonies are not symbolic reenactments. They are living practices shaped by continuity, prayer, and daily relationship with the land.
One-on-One Time with ELDERS
The journey is intentionally small to allow for direct conversation, guidance, and shared presence with ELDERS. These moments often become the most impactful, not because they are dramatic, but because they are honest.
Stays at selected luxury 4 to 4.5-star hotels
Accommodations have been chosen for comfort, quality, and alignment with the character and history of each region, allowing space for rest and integration.
Cacao as Living Tradition
Work with cacao as it is held today: as lineage, nourishment, offering, and relational medicine. You will participate in cacao practices that honor its agricultural, ceremonial, and communal role, learning through experience rather than explanation.
Optional Individual Healing Sessions
For those who feel called, individual healing sessions with ELDERS may be requested during the journey. Participation is always optional and approached with respect for personal readiness and consent.
Meditation at high-energy and ancient sites
Including Palenque, archaeological sites in Tabasco, and locations deep within the jungle, offering time for stillness, listening, and direct contact with the land in places of historical and energetic significance.
Traditional Altar Creation
Participate in the creation of Maya altars and offerings to the land. These acts are not decorative. They are gestures of reciprocity, gratitude, and presence that mark each ceremonial threshold of the journey.
Time Across Two Regions
Spend time in two distinct cacao regions: Tabasco and Chiapas. Each carries its own cultural, ecological, and energetic character, offering different ways of listening, learning, and being with the land.
Temazcal (Sweat Lodge)
Enter a traditional temazcal as a practice of purification, preparation, and renewal. The temazcal is held with intention and care, honoring its role as a space of humility, prayer, and recalibration.
Teachings on Maya Cosmovision
Receive teachings on time, land, ceremony, and relationship within Maya cosmovision. These teachings are offered through story, observation, and lived context rather than doctrine.
Visits to Ancient and Living Sites
Move between archaeological sites, cacao lands, and active ceremonial spaces. These are not museum visits. They are places where life, memory, and meaning continue to be shaped.
Integration and Personal Guidance
This retreat does not end when you leave Mexico. The journey includes one-on-one coaching with Rocío before, during, and after the retreat to support integration, clarity, and grounded return.
Rocío Cervantes
Founder of Ancestras · Journey Guide · Integration Coach
Rocío Cervantes is the founder of Ancestras, a platform devoted to creating spaces, products, and immersive journeys that honor ancestral wisdom, land-based traditions, and embodied transformation.
Through Ancestras, Rocío curates ceremonial cacao offerings, ritual oils, ceremonial grade cacao, and handcrafted objects, alongside intimate retreats and cultural journeys rooted in relationship with elders, artisans, and living traditions across Mexico and beyond. Her work is not centered on spiritual spectacle, but on creating conditions where depth, integrity, and real encounter can take place.
The Cacao Journey in Tabasco and Chiapas is one expression of this broader vision. Rocío also leads immersive journeys to Peru and other regions, each shaped by its own cultural, ceremonial, and historical context. While every journey is distinct, all are guided by the same principles: respect for lineage, collaboration with elders, and careful integration of experience into everyday life.
Rocío is a trained transformational coach. She supports participants before, during, and after each journey, helping them prepare, remain grounded as experiences unfold, and integrate what arises in a meaningful and sustainable way.
The ancestral and ceremonial authority within these journeys comes directly from the elders and communities who carry those traditions. Rocío’s role is to steward access, hold the container, and support participants in reconnecting with their own innate intelligence so that what is received is not romanticized or left behind, but lived.
Ancestras exists to bridge worlds with care: ancestral and contemporary, inner and outer, personal and collective. The work is not about becoming someone new. It is about returning to what is already true and learning how to live from it.
