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Cultura Ancestral 2026 Brought Together Nations From Around The World In Costa Rica Under A Shared Ancestral Purpose ⋆ The Costa Rica News
When the coca leaf circulates once more among hands that respect it, something ancient awakens. That is exactly what happened in Costa Rica during Cultura Ancestral 2026, the third edition of an intimate gathering that, year after year, has become one of the most significant spaces for dialogue highlighting the culture of indigenous peoples.
It took place from March 27 to 29 in Esterillos Este and Quebrada Amarilla, Costa Rica.
This year, people from the United States, Europe, and South America sat down with Costa Rican indigenous communities to learn, connect, and move forward together toward what the organizers clearly and unambiguously call: the sovereignty of the peoples.
This gathering was filled with harmony and understanding. Cultura Ancestral has earned the trust of all the guests; here, indigenous communities and participants in general have the opportunity to learn about and get to know other communities outside their own country or territory—in this case, North America, represented by Kuauhtli and Delfina, and in the southern region through Ecuador, Venezuela, and Colombia.
At this third edition, attendees learned about the Mambeo, or Ritual of the Word. During this activity, they worked with coca leaves, engaged in conversation and dialogue, and everyone presented their questions to the indigenous communities. They also enjoyed other activities and workshops, which Gopali (Ecuador) and Isaías (Venezuela) described to us in an interview. A small market was a special part of this year’s gathering, as was the musical opening described by Daniel Yepez (founder of Cultura Ancestral) as “filled with a lot of emotion, a lot of color, and, well, some lessons conveyed through rhythm.”
For Yepez, the event allowed us to “see one another, recognize one another once again, but above all to advance the sovereignty of the different peoples—that sovereignty forged through teamwork, working in unity, jointly among communities, seeking independence from a system and a government, seeking the liberation of plants and their ancestral medicines so they can be used in daily life for the benefit of mental health and human well-being.”
Ancestral Culture Through the Eyes of Gopali Samay and Isaías Ramos
Gopali Samay hails from the Ecuadorian Andes, surrounded by active snow-capped volcanoes with which she maintains a living, familial bond—volcanoes that have watched over her throughout her journey—in the land of the Upright Sun, exactly at the center of the world.
She is a clinical psychologist and researcher in applied neuroscience, specializing in trauma, the nervous system, and psycho-emotional healing processes. An Andean healer with ancestral training in spiritual leadership and the conduct of ceremonial processes.
Isaías Ramos is a native of Barquisimeto, Lara State (Venezuela), a city rich in art, music, culture, and beautiful landscapes, home to ancestral tribes that possess a broad and deep understanding of indigenous spirituality.
Gopali, who is Isaías’s partner, believes that her primary guides have always been the elemental spirits, the water spirits, the waterfall, the river flowing down from the mountain, Taita Imbabura (the mountain or Apu who rules the Andes), and later the jungle, “my grandmother, my mother, and my sister, who taught me to always return to the counsel of my own truth.”
This young woman considers herself a spirit inhabiting a sacred temple, who has made a decision in this life to safeguard and uphold with integrity the purpose of the continuity of life, freedom, truth, and the sovereignty of the memory of origin; and to share this with anyone who needs to recover this memory, “knowing that we are living the prophecy of the time of forgetting.”
Isaías, on the other hand, in addition to being a father, husband, and life partner, considers himself a “medicine man” in the tradition of Native American cultures, as well as an Andean healer recognized by the Ecuadorian Ministry of Health. He teaches the creation and care of ceremonial instruments of power, such as hand drums, traditional rattles, and feather art. “Together with my wife Gopali, we run a clinical practice in Quito where we support wellness processes across the four structural bodies of the being—physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual—through a Center for Knowledge and School of Initiatory Wisdom,” he said.
Connection with Communities and Indigenous Tribes
According to Gopali, the blood of his ancestors—spiritual leaders who are guardians of life and health—runs through his veins. “My connection to natural culture is rooted in my origins. I belong to the Caranqui-Kitu Kara elemental nation. The knowledge I have inherited is the observation of Allpa Mama (the spirit of all that is natural on earth) to learn how to live, how to relate to others, and the codes of conduct, respect, and mutual care. We have three principles of life:
1. Ama Quilla: Do not be lazy or indifferent, nor ignore my place and contribution in the community.
2. Ama Sua: Do not disrupt the balance of the principle of “RECIPROCITY.”
3. Ama Llulla: Live truthfully with myself and others, be honest, and do not deceive myself.
“These are the principles that guide my personal, community, and professional life,” she explained.
Regarding Isaías’s connection to ancestral culture, he told us that he is a bearer of ancestral knowledge from both Venezuela and Ecuador. His path has been one of learning, integrating, and sharing his knowledge—not only through ritual but also in daily life—while fostering good relationships with people, with nature, and with each individual’s personal journey.
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Isaías Ramos grew up surrounded by tradition. His parents explored various spiritual paths, and the home they built was, from the very beginning, one of spiritual seeking. But it was an ayahuasca ceremony experienced with his family at a young age that marked a turning point in his life.
He received instruction in yagé medicine from Taita José Eliecer Silva of the Yanacona community in Colombia. Since that encounter, his learning has never stopped. He received teachings from the Piaroa tribe in Venezuela and from the Nation of the Sacred Fire of Itzachilatlán. He has led vision quests in Ecuador and Venezuela, founded centers and altars dedicated to well-being and the continuity of life. He is a dancer of the sun and the star in Mexico and Ecuador, and he tends altars of the Aguacolla—also known as San Pedro—Psilocybin or Children of Light, the Temazcal, and traditional Ayahuasca ceremonies.
It was this journey of traveling between Mexico and Ecuador, carrying altars and accompanying processes, that led him away from Venezuela. “As I moved forward, I also took on responsibilities within the tradition,” he said. Over time, Ecuador ended up being much more than just a stopover.
Today, his background is as broad as it is deep: he is an Andean healer, a physical therapist, a specialist in Bach flower remedies, and a scholar of the rituals of nutrition and food in relation to the elemental realm. All of this knowledge comes together at the center he runs with his partner, where ceremony is inseparable from daily life.
In the mountains, an encounter that changed everything
During one of those vision quests, while Isaías was setting up camp at the base, a woman began climbing the mountain. Her name was Gopali Samay. “Over time, we kept crossing paths in different settings: in the mountains, at dances, and our relationship grew.”
Gopali and Isaías have been together for 13 years. Thirteen years of personal and spiritual growth, and of leading ceremonies in different places and countries. It is a union that makes no distinction between life and ritual, between love and service: both blend together, sustain one another, and nourish each other.
Today, at events like Costa Rica’s Cultura Ancestral, Gopali and Isaías not only shared their story: they erected altars, teaching and opening doors for those seeking to connect with the traditions that, in their view, preserve the memory of who we are.
Roots That Cannot Be Compromised
At a time when ancestral heritage has become a trend or mere decoration, Gopali and Isaías insist on something more demanding: consistency.
We asked Gopali how she defines the culture of indigenous peoples today. Her answer was not romantic. It was urgent.
“Today, the culture and pure knowledge of our traditions are on a fine line that must be carefully maintained with deep roots and knowledge,” she said. she noted that since the conquest of the Incas—long before the European conquest—a chain of interpretations began that gradually distorted the understanding of community life: that architecture built from the individual toward the collective, and not the other way around.
What is at stake, according to Gopali, is not folklore. It is medicine. It is diagnosis.
“The essence hidden within ancestral knowledge is undoubtedly the remedy and the answer to the human and social distortion we are experiencing,”she added.
But she cautions that this is not about “indigenism”—that romanticization that freezes the living into a museum piece. It is about serving as a bridge. It is about ensuring that these remedies are accompanied by guidance and context, not treated as a product or a fad.
There is something Gopali mentioned that is hard to let pass without pausing to consider: in the original semantics of their traditions, certain words simply did not exist.
Not because life was perfect, but because the structure was different. Each member of the community bore responsibility for themselves and for others, without needing to fragment that unity into concepts that already imply rupture.
We asked Isaías: What has the ancestral meant in your life? His answer was brief yet complete. “The impact has been absolute.”
Recognizing himself as part of the earth, water, air, and fire was not, for him, an external epiphany but a return. “More than an external change, it was remembering and returning to that origin to hold it up as a banner,” Ramos emphasized.
A phrase that, in its simplicity, sums up what both Gopali and he seem to embody: it is not about discovering something new. It is about not forgetting what has always been there.
His participation in Cultura Ancestral 2026
Amid the event that brought together the knowledge of various indigenous peoples of the Americas, two voices from the South arrived with ancient rituals, seeds of purpose, and a message that transcends borders: life, when cared for in community, always finds its way.
Gopali and Isaías, also known as Jatuntaki, represented the Andean tradition at the gathering where ancestral knowledge was not the subject of a lecture but a living practice, a vibrant ceremony, a body in motion.
From the moment they arrived at the event, Gopali and Isaías dedicated their energy and passion to serving the community. They led an Andean Temazcal, known in Ecuador as Shopo-Ka, a space for purification within a collective womb where, as Isaías described it, “we come together again to recover our communal memory.”
They also led a ceremony and instruction on Chakana, the Andean symbol that connects the cosmos with daily life, and performed a ritual of Pagamento, Siembra, and Alianza de la Chicha—a practice that, as they explain, reveals something powerful: even though peoples come from different territories, there are roots that unite them.
“The Chicha gathering is a ritual where you see that, even though we come from different places, there are many things that unite us and can become a reality for the greater good of the greatest number of people,” explained Isaías.
At Cultura Ancestral, the couple didn’t just bring rituals. They brought a vision: the alliance between the eagle of the north, the quetzal of the center, and the condor of the south—a living metaphor for continental unity that took shape at the altar of the chakana, where representatives of indigenous peoples from Costa Rica, Mexico, and Ecuador came together to sow a common purpose. “We were able to show that it is still possible to come together for a common purpose without competition or differences, and to make the utopia of returning to the circle a reality.”
For Gopali, the experience was a confirmation of something they already know but that needs to be lived again and again: “Having been part of Cultura Ancestral reaffirms our hope of living in communal trust. Pooling seeds, prayers, and efforts with those who share our common purposes is the ancestral way of sustaining peace on earth. War is about focusing on differences; these alliances are about neutralizing that war to make way for the victory of life and good agreements.”
The Framework as a Contribution
One of the most concrete contributions of their visit was the framework they presented to the Ancestral Culture team and the Alianza Soberana Foundation with a view to its implementation in educational and community processes.
In Ecuador, Gopali and Isaías support processes where people transition from being patients to taking an active role in their lives, committing not only to individual dreams but also to collective ones. “Our traditions are the pedagogy that allows us to reclaim healthy social structures,” Gopali emphasized.
The proposal is to bring that same approach to Costa Rica and other regions, within a mutual support network where each project is sustained by reciprocity.
What do they mean by a vision quest?
Among the insights they shared, they also highlighted the vision quest, an ancestral ritual that Gopali describes as a process of deep listening.
“It takes place in nature, while abstaining from water, food, and physical contact, supported by an entire community. Throughout the process, a fire burns, sustaining everyone’s prayers.” More than a physical experience, it is a space to receive clarity, purpose, and guidance, connecting with the four elements: earth, water, air, and fire.
It is also a communal space where each person comes together to uphold a shared purpose and remember the good ways of living.
Finally, the couple shared a special message for all readers regarding what they would like today’s society to understand about the value of ancestral culture:
“Feel well, think well, and act well—with truth, freedom, and integrity. Caring for the life around us is caring for our own nature. In this way, we will be fulfilling the request of our elders: to return to purpose and balance, as a legacy for our children and the continuity of life and peace.”
Gopali Samay and Isaías Ramos are bearers of the Ecuadorian Andean tradition. Their work integrates ceremony, community support, and ancestral teachings as paths toward a more balanced and mindful life.
Stay up to date on every step Gopali and Isaías take in Ecuador and around the world—follow them on social media: Instagram @elarboldelavidaev. We also invite you to follow the sovereignty.alliance account to learn about more events like Cultura Ancestral.
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