I just got back from two weeks at the Sanctuary, and boy am I glad to be home. While the Sanctuary…read morehas so much going for it, it really did not deliver on the many expectations set by its marketing materials, and my hope is to help save you from the headache and heartache that I, and several others experienced during our stay.
The building and grounds, themselves, are amazing. The house seems to be built for this purpose, and it is truly a gem, especially for being plopped right in the impoverished side roads of Puerto Escondido.
The quality of the yoga was very unreliable. I am not exaggerating when I say the I literally had the worst yoga class of my life. The other classes ranged from decent to good, but on average, they weren't worth going back for, unless you knew in advance who was teaching it and could be sure to pick that class alone.
Then, the food. I was looking forward to doing a sort of detox by eating a plant-based diet for the couple of weeks that I was there. First of all, all that is offered for breakfast is a "smoothie." What was offered really can't be called a smoothie, but green-colored water - absent of flavor, protein or carbohydrates. I was disappointed to find that I had to buy my own breakfast every day outside of the sanctuary.
Moving onto lunch and dinner - all I can say is that the food looks better than it tastes. Most of the dishes were bland, and in another disappointing twist, they offered little protein and carbohydrates. Almost everything on the table would either be a thin soup broth, vegetables, or salad, which very little legumes, rice, or anything that the body can actually turn into energy.
One big concern shared dealt with overall cleanliness and well-being of the members. Pete has some ideas about health and wellness that run contrary to what we know about transmission of bacteria and viruses, and overall human health. And nearly everyone in the community got sick with some version of intestinal health problems at one point or another, including myself. It's impossible to know the source, yet I wonder how much was due to the lackluster focus on sanitation at the Sanctuary. One woman was surprised that when she asked where the soap was to wash dishes, Pete said soap wasn't necessary. He also advised a woman against using sunscreen, and suggested that those taking anti-depressants or other medication probably wouldn't need to continue taking them at the Sancturary. Another woman reported that when the colema board was provided to her, it was covered in someone else's shit. Pete did clean this himself on the spot. But to what degree of cleanliness? Did he use soap? Disinfectant? Given his comments otherwise the answer is "maybe," or "maybe not."
Another area of disregard is the use of MMS - or "Miracle Mineral Solution," which has a similar chemical structure as bleach. MMS was touted by Pete as an important component of total body health, because when ingested it kills internal parasites and is crucial for cleaning out the body of almost any disease, including cancer. As instructed by Pete, MMS is to be drunk diluted in water, in small increments throughout the day. I wasn't sure about it so I declined to take it when offered. But the two women who arrived at the sanctuary who did start an MMS cleanse both instantly came down with nausea, diarrhea and intestinal cramping. The response to their concerns about it was that, "It was the body detoxing or purifying itself - proof that MMS was working!" But my intuition, and the intuition of probably any reasonable person thinking from a grounded place of healthy skepticism, would suggest that when you drink poison your body tries to rid itself from it through nausea, diarrhea and intestinal cramping. The two women taking it stopped after three days or so, and their condition improved considerably. For Pete, it is a good thing that the Sanctuary is in Mexico, because if it were operating in the US he would likely be vulnerable to legal action as a result of putting peoples' health at risk from advising them to take MMS.
