In this episode of the Collaborators Unite Podcast, Chuck Anderson talks with retreat expert Laura Diaz about why destination retreats create deeper breakthroughs, stronger client relationships, and unforgettable shared experiences. Laura shares how her team handles nearly every logistical detail, allowing coaches and thought leaders to focus entirely on serving their participants while creating meaningful transformation through culture, connection, and adventure.

GUEST BIO

Laura Diaz is the co-owner of a retreat company in Peru that helps coaches, speakers, and thought leaders host transformational destination retreats without the stress of managing logistics. Drawing on years of experience and deep local partnerships, she creates immersive experiences that combine the culture, history, and energy of Peru's Sacred Valley with seamless planning and world-class hospitality. Laura is passionate about helping leaders create meaningful, life-changing experiences for their communities while showcasing the beauty and transformative power of Peru.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Introduction to Transformative Retreats

02:46 Laura's Journey to Peru and Retreat Hosting

05:35 The Unique Appeal of Hosting Retreats in Peru

08:27 Creating Transformational Experiences through Shared Firsts

11:13 Planning and Logistics of a Successful Retreat

13:56 Building Trust and Flexibility in Retreat Hosting

16:55 The Benefits of In-Person Retreats for Thought Leaders

19:36 Exploring Authentic Cultural Experiences in Peru

22:21 Next Steps for Aspiring Retreat Hosts

LINKS:

Retreat Peru - https://retreatperu.com

Machu Picchu - https://www.peru.travel/en/what-to-do/machu-picchu

Sacred Valley - https://peru.travel/en/where-to-go/sacred-valley

Inca History and Culture - https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-americas/incas

Shared Firsts TED Talk - https://www.ted.com/talks

Laura Diaz's Contact - https://retreatperu.com/contact

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Until next time, keep moving forward!

Chuck Anderson,

Affiliate Management Expert + Investor + Mentor

https://AffiliateManagementExpert.com/

Hello everybody and welcome back to the show.

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This is the Collaborators Unite to Podcast.

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Chuck Anderson here, your host.

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And this is the show where we serve big impact experts.

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And that's you if you are on a mission to make a big positive impact in the lives of your

clients, possibly even the community or the world.

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And it really depends on the size and scope of your mission.

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And what we know about you is that you are passionate about your work.

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and the difference that you can make in people's lives.

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And along those lines, we're going to talk about a really powerful way to do that.

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And that's with retreats, not just any kind of retreat, but how about a retreat in Peru?

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That sounds amazing.

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And uh today I have an expert in that and the owner of a retreat facility in Peru.

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So I have Laura Diaz with me here today.

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Laura, welcome to the show.

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Thank you, glad to be here.

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Yeah, I'm excited to hear about this.

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I really enjoyed our first conversation.

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I think it's fascinating what you've put together.

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I think a great place to start, Laura, is tell everybody your story.

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How did it come to be that you're running a retreat center in?

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Well, I was traveling in South America.

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I was selling jewelry, just anything to support my travel habits.

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And I came across Alpaca products.

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So I said, well, let me go to the Mecca of Alpaca, Cusco, Peru, and see what I can find.

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And I hired a guy to be my translator for business.

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And he said, hey, I've got this group of, he's also a guide.

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So he said, hey, I've got this group of 17 people going on a 40-hike to Machu Picchu.

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You should come along.

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So I went along.

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And I'd never traveled anywhere where I needed a guide before.

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And I was so impressed.

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I mean, he was knowledgeable.

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Everybody felt safe.

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He was fun.

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He was organized.

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And I asked him, said, what do you get for a four day hike through the jungle with 17

people?

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How much do you make?

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And he said, oh, about 100 bucks because the tour companies keep the money.

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And out of my mouth came, well, we should start a company and change that because you're

worth more, way more than that.

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So that's what we did.

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Amazing.

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uh so, well, what a beautiful place.

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I've actually never been there, but, you know, of course you see pictures and, you know,

it's such a beautiful spot.

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And I think, you know, my first question is why, you know, what's special about, you know,

hosting a retreat in Peru?

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And, you know, we, anyone thinking about hosting a retreat to make a deeper impact and

we'll talk more about why retreats, but why Peru?

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Like why, why?

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because it's such a cool destination.

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um Why should people consider having a retreat in Peru?

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Yeah, well there's so many reasons.

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One reason is that people, a lot of people have Machu Picchu on their bucket list.

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It's one of the seven wonders of the world.

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So when you're filling your retreat, it's much easier because people are like, hey, I get

to be with this great thought leader that I love and I get to visit Machu Picchu.

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uh Many people are nervous about traveling overseas, so they love to have the retreat uh

system where everything is taken care of for you.

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Someone's going to meet you at the airport.

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You're going to be with all kinds of people that you love and you know or will love by the

end of the week.

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um So yeah, so that's one thing.

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Another thing is that a lot of people understand that there's an energy in the Sacred

Valley.

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And so when they come to the retreat, come with the mindset that something great is going

to happen.

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And so if you're a thought leader, that's amazing to have everybody coming just ready for

transformation to take place because they know there's an energy here and there is an

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energy here in the Sacred Valley.

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I always say the Sacred Valley has something for you and you need to come and find out

what it is.

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Yeah, it's, uh you know, honestly, I didn't know that much about it until you and I talked

the first time.

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And it's just fascinating.

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um And uh one of the things that I'd love to ask you about in terms of the people who are

hosting retreats, or at least reaching out to you about hosting a retreat, what are their

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questions?

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are they thinking about?

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Why do they want to run a retreat?

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And maybe what are some of the challenges?

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You know, that's kind of a multi-part question and I'll kind of dive into whatever you say

here, but what are you hearing from people when they reach out to you in terms of what

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they want?

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You know, I just had someone reach out to me the other day and she said, I've wanted to go

to Peru for a long time, but the logistics was always just too much.

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Trying to, trying to work all that out.

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And you know, you have people that do these retreats at all different places.

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And I just wonder how it's possible that they do that unless you

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like rent a four-star hotel and you stay there the whole time.

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But otherwise, you know, and people have asked me, can you do a retreat for me somewhere

else?

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And I say, no, I know Peru.

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That's the place I know.

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I don't know anything about anywhere else that I could really do an amazing retreat for

you.

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So if you like to do retreats where you stay in a five-star hotel and you don't really get

out and you don't, you know what I mean?

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Like that, that's one thing.

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But if you want to do a retreat where you are immersed in the culture,

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immersed in the food, immersed in the history.

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In Peru, there's the modern Peruvians, there's the um Quechua people who are the

indigenous people here, and then there's the whole history of the Incas.

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So there's a lot going on.

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I think that, um for me, I think that the thing that really causes transformation in

someone is a change of perspective.

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Here you get you know one thing we do is we go to a Ketchwa village and they show you how

the men and the women work together to plant things and their belief is that if they don't

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work happy Their crops won't grow so they don't go out to the field angry with each other

They don't go out to the you know, they really believe that so they have to have the

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relationship that they're happy together or their crops aren't gonna grow

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So that's an amazing new perspective to get on.

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do I look at that in my life?

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Do I really, really get along with people?

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Do I really, really want to?

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Be happy with people.

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Am I some doing some kind of fake thing?

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You know what I mean?

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You really look at those things when you have the change of perspective that comes here

You know, there's the ink and history and we go to these places and you have an amazing

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guide who I always say without a without a good guide It's just a rock because he's gonna

tell you the stories of what it was like when the people were there and what they did

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there and what their life was like and what they believed and So I think that change of

perspective is a huge part of it and I don't remember the rest of the question.

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Sorry

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Yeah, but I'm going to just follow up and just say that the energy of what you just

described sounds amazing.

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And I love that idea.

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Because again, a lot of the thought leaders that I work with, you know, believe that, you

know, the energy that we bring to anything uh is is is if not the biggest part of it, a

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big part of the results that we get in life.

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And what I just heard you say is that that's

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ingrained into the culture of how they are approaching their life and their growing their

food and all of that and that.

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I love that.

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uh And so I'm just thinking now about how that is a powerful lesson and an example for the

retreat participants to experience so that they can take that on.

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Is that kind of what ends up happening?

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Yeah, there's a, I can't remember her name right now, but there was a lady who did a Ted

talk and she talked about shared firsts and how when you're with a group of people, the

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reason people bond so much on a retreat is because they're having shared firsts and how

it's, don't know if she had some scientific information about it, but how when you do

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things with other people and it's the first time for both of you, you make this bond.

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And there's so much of that that happens here.

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People having shared firsts, where they're having such an amazing time together, and they

just make these friendships that last forever.

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And it also really helps with the intimacy of the group.

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we're having shared firsts, we're feeling close to each other, and we're able to be more

open.

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to whatever the teacher's teaching, whatever we're trying to learn, you know, people are

much more, what's the word I'm thinking of when you're, when you open up, you know,

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because they get so close to each other.

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Mm-hmm.

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Yeah, and you know, I've been on retreats before and that you get what you mean about

having that shared first or even just that shared experience.

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And it is something that bonds you ah to the other people that you're there with.

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And, you know, it'd be very hard to explain to the people back home when you get home

exactly what you experienced.

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But you were there with these people.

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And I love that.

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And so

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So do you find that the people who are hosting the retreat or facilitating the retreat are

really using that as a tool when they're sort of guiding the transformational experience

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for their participants?

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Yeah, I don't know if you necessarily uh use it as a tool, but it's definitely a perfect

storm for transformation.

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If you're any good at what you do, we're going to make it really easy for that to happen.

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Yeah, well, let's talk about that a little bit.

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Like, are the questions or concerns that people have when they're hosting the retreat?

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mean, do they have to have the retreat all scripted out and dialed in?

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I mean, I love how you're sort of that all-inclusive destination where they don't really

have to think about anything between the airport and when they arrive and when they go

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home.

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but what about the everything in between, right?

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And so how much is this taking off their plate?

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And what's your guidance to someone who is thinking about hosting their own retreat?

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Yeah, I would say we probably take about 98 % of that off their plate or if not more.

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um So the way we work it is I will have a, send someone a sample itinerary.

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It has all the options on it that they want to do.

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They can make changes.

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So we decide on an itinerary.

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The itinerary is basically going to set the price.

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They add their price to that.

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That's the price of the retreat.

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And then we, that's, that's their part right there.

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You know, they just have to show up.

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We let them come a couple days early to get acclimated, get comfortable so they're really

into the, in the zone when the people show up and we take care of everything.

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Yeah.

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All the food, all the lodging, all the rides, all the transportation.

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amazing and you work with them to figure out what the entire schedule, know, the sort of

the day by day schedule is going to be.

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And, you know, if there's parts they want to bring to it or, you know, their own content

or whatever.

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you consult with them and help them figure out that entire schedule.

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Right, exactly.

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Usually we have teaching in the morning and the evening so that we have the daylight time

free for excursion.

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So we have teaching in the morning and the evening and then an excursion each day.

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The only exception to that is the day of Machu Picchu.

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That's a long day so they don't do teaching that day.

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That whole day is spent on going to Machu Picchu.

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But other than that, there's teaching each day.

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And like I said, we just arrange it how they want.

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But I've been doing it long enough that I can really make recommendations.

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I can think of who their group is and what their group wants and kind of really tailor it

to them.

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Well, I'm sure that you've seen retreats that have gone a little bit better than others um

or were planned better or whatever.

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Are there uh any lessons that other uh retreat hosts have learned that can help future

retreat hosts to host a better retreat?

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Well, I would say, you know, there's and this is why we meet with people first.

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We, you know, I want to talk to you before I ever agree to do a retreat with you because

there has to be that element of trust there.

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Like for the people that come, I always say when we say, your shoes on, get your shoes on,

come like a child.

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It's going to be fun.

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And it's going to be, you know what mean?

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We've done this.

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We know what we're doing.

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And I think the most difficult thing is when you have retreat leaders that just want to

hold on so it's

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Well, is this included?

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Well, are we going that?

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Well, what time is it?

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You know, and it's just relax.

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We got this.

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We've done it and we're going to have an amazing time.

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um So that's one thing is when people just try to hold on to control too tightly and they

need to know every minute of every, you know what I mean?

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Mmm.

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And one of the things that we do is we don't publish our itineraries publicly.

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So if I worked with you to do a retreat, you see the itinerary, but we ask that you don't

share that anywhere or with any of your people.

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One of the reasons is because time is just different here in Peru.

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It's not boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, for one thing.

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And we don't want you to be thinking that way.

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And we don't want your people to be thinking that way.

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We want them to...

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loosen that up as much as possible even though that's not easy.

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And another thing is things go wrong and we have to make adjustments and then this way

nobody knows that we're making adjustments.

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Here's the things we're going to do on the retreat, but we don't give them the minute by

minute playbook because we want them just to, like I said, be like a child.

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When we say, your shoes on, it's time to go.

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I mean, we're going to give them more information than that, but that's kind of the

attitude that we like people to have.

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And there's really an element of trust that has to be there for that to happen.

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So I think that the best retreats are when the retreat leaders and the people trust us.

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We have what we call a meet your guide Zoom call.

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So anyone that's coming to the retreat gets to come on a Zoom call and meet Carlos, their

amazing guide.

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And um once they meet him, they feel more comfortable.

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They're absolutely, he's just incredible.

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So it's nice to have people meet him before they get here, feel comfortable and really

have that trust factor that you need to be able to fully relax and let us do our job so

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you can do yours.

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I really love that, you you do your job so that they can do theirs and vice versa.

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And I really love, it sounds like a very kind of hands-off uh experience for a lot for the

person who is headlining or hosting the retreat because you take care of so many of the

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details.

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They get to really focus on their people.

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that, am I hearing that correctly?

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Yeah.

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That's the that's the goal.

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Yeah, and I can tell you as someone who has hosted, I've hosted my own events, countless

events over the last 25 years, mostly in hotels and conference centers and all of that

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kind of stuff where they do handle some of the stuff for you, but not all of it.

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I've definitely been the person speaking in front of the room, but I've been under the

table plugging in, know, stuff or, know, doing too much, we'll put it that way.

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uh So I really love this idea of.

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Like, you know, hosting a retreat that, you know, so many of those details are already

handled for you, so you don't really have to think about it.

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Well, that all sounds really amazing.

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Who should be planning their next retreat?

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Why should they plan an event in Peru?

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And, you know, how many people should?

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You know, they'd be thinking about bringing to their event.

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You know, I was just reading an article about the growth of the retreat industry.

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That it's, I think it's like 30 billion dollars in the next several years or something

like that.

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Because people want to be in person.

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People want an event.

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People want that, uh you know, everything that a retreat offers.

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That like we talked about the group being together and we talked about, you know, getting

out of your normal everyday.

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and seeing something so different, getting a whole new perspective.

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All these elements of a retreat are the reason to do a retreat.

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Another reason is that once you get with your people, um

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You know a lot of people realize they can sell another high ticket at the offer at the

other end of it because now your people trust you more they've got this ah You know this

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love they want to be in something else that's connected with these other people that they

were there with theirs so there's a lot of things that can happen after the retreat that

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are a benefit to any coach or Thought leader that wants to come

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You really get to shine at a retreat.

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I read a statistic that said 98 % of people that order an online course don't finish it.

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People are done with that.

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We have so much time on our phones and on our computers, and everybody now is just craving

these in-person events.

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So it's just such a great way to give your people what they want.

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Time with you in an amazing place with the

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chance to really, really have some deep and true transformation.

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And it's amazing what I see happen for people in a week.

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It's just so great.

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Yeah, are you seeing act like so when you say that, are you seeing actual like shifts in

their their their behavior or what?

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What are you seeing?

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Yeah, people can arrive maybe trepidatious, maybe people are worried about being overseas.

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We had a retreat and a guy came and he did a review for us and he said, you know, I was so

terrified of coming, but my daughter wanted to go and I wanted to go with my daughter.

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And he said, you know, I answered probably 50 questions with him through email back and

forth.

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And that's great.

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That's fine.

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That's fine.

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That's what I'm here for.

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But he said, then he felt more comfortable coming.

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And then when he got here and he said it, and then by the time he left, my gosh, he was

dancing.

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was so, you know what mean?

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All of those fears were gone.

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And he had a great time.

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And him and his daughter had some super special time together.

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People come, so they come trepidatious.

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Maybe they come angry.

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Maybe they come, you know, there's all these things that people are

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going through and it shows up in another way when you're in that situation.

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When you're traveling you can't kind of fake get along with people.

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Things are gonna bug you and who you are is gonna come out and then you're gonna see that

and then you're...

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I don't know it's just impossible to explain transformation.

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That word's tough because you...

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uh

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and the after.

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You see how they arrive and you see how they leave.

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you feel the before and the after.

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You feel how they come and you're like, okay, know, and then by the time they leave,

they're hugging you and loving you and so thankful that they got to have this experience,

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you know.

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You know, we do want to teach you, but we do all these other locations that uh are, you

know, kind of our pride is that we get you off the beaten path because Carlos...

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My business partner and your guide has been guiding for over 20 years.

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He grew up in Cusco.

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He's half Quechua.

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He speaks Quechua.

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He knows this land like nobody else.

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And so we go to places where we go.

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There's a place we go called Napa Church.

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We go there often.

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And of all the times I've been there, there's only been one other guy there once.

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No one else goes there.

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I don't know why.

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It's a cool place.

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And he was playing the guitar.

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So we were like, perfect.

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Keep playing, you know.

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uh So yeah, we'll take you.

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We'll do things that

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no other company does.

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We'll take you places that are not going to be thronged with other...

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I was here during the pandemic and I was hiking with some locals and they were like, oh

yes, the energy is coming back after all the tourists have been here.

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So while everyone loves to go to Machu Picchu and I get that, it's not the most energetic

place.

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It's overrun with selfie taking, you know, people that, you know, and it's still amazing,

but it's not the most energetic place here.

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And we're going to take you to those places and we're going to let you meet the locals and

you're going to love the food.

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Peruvian food is right up there.

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I think they've surpassed French food now

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top cuisine in the world.

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That sounds amazing and I love how you have, because of the experience of the local area,

you're able to go to these amazing places with amazing energy that people probably have

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never heard of.

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so, mm-hmm.

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Yeah, I love that.

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How far?

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No, no, go ahead, finish what you were gonna say.

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Well, I said usually with every retreat we do a Ketchwa village.

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And there's a wide range.

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I mean, you can go to a place that's all tourists.

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I mean, it's authentic, but it's set up to show you that Ketchwa life.

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Or we've gone to a village where no other foreigners have ever been in.

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You know, so we judge the Ketchewa Village we go to by the group that we have, but we

bring the kids toys and stuff.

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They cook us this big lunch and they show you how they dance and they, you know, all these

things, to me that's the best excursion that we do is the Ketchewa Village with the kids.

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And it's just, yeah, you can't help but be changed.

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You know, I think true transformation happens when you're having fun.

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You know, you need the teaching, you need the learning, and then you go out and you're in

this new environment.

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That's why, like when you're talking about having an event at a hotel, you know, you got

the lights, you got the corp, you know, that atmosphere.

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How much creativity comes out of that?

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How much change?

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How much true adventure is there in that?

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You know, so, yeah, I don't believe in those kind of retreats.

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universe.

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And I've been on destination retreats before and it's just, can't even compare that to

doing events in a hotel, not even close.

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uh Big question I have for you is how far in advance should someone be planning their

retreat?

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Yeah, it kind of depends on how good you are at filling retreats.

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We recommend eight months so that you have time.

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We get the retreats together.

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We do your landing page for you.

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We give you what we call a media kit, which has uh social media posts and emails and links

to absolutely everything we're going to do and a link to the landing page.

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So you can start to get the word out, some people don't have a passport.

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They need time to do that before they can come.

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But if you're someone who's done retreats and you have, I mean, I had a lady once that she

wanted to do it in 30 days.

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And I said, are you going to get through people together that quick?

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She goes, everywhere I go, they go.

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No problem.

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So if you've got that, we can do it for you as quickly as you want.

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Normally, the process is that, um

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Once we get everything ready and then 60 days before the retreat date, we close

registration.

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So everybody makes their deposits.

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They pay in full 60 in advance.

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We pay the thought leader or the coach who's ever coming, make all the arrangements, and

then 60 days later the retreat happens.

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But that's not set in stone by any means.

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If you want to come, maybe not next week, but next month for sure.

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that sounds great.

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uh So what's the next step for somebody who wants to explore hosting a retreat?

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Yeah, can shoot me an email.

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We can have a Zoom call.

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You can check out our website.

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Like I said, once you contact me, we can either have a Zoom call or I'll send you a sample

itinerary.

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we make it very, very simple.

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um Yeah.

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I have a information sheet that I send you exactly how this is how it's going to work.

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This is it generally works.

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We'll change anything you want.

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But.

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um

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But we kind of have a flow figured out at this point.

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Yeah, I'm sure you do.

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Well, that sounds amazing.

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And I just want to tell all of our listeners that if you would like to connect with Laura

and even have the conversation about the possibility of hosting Retreat in Peru, and this

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all sounds amazing.

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uh All of her links are right beneath this video.

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The website and her contact information is all there.

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And if you're listening to this on an audio podcast, just open up your phone and whatever

you're listening to this on could be Spotify or Apple or whatever it is.

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uh All the links are right there as well.

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ah Laura, thank you for telling us uh all about this.

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Is there anything that I didn't ask you that you really want people to know about hosting

a retreat with you?

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I don't think so.

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think we pretty much covered it.

365

So I was perfect in all of my interviewing skills today.

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uh

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at this as I am about doing retreats and through.

368

Oh, thank you.

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um So, well, as we bring this episode to a close, I just want to ask you if there's any oh

piece of advice or words of wisdom that you want to leave our audience here with today.

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um I would say, know, whatever's holding you back from doing what you think you should be

doing, um if it happens to be coming to Peru, don't hold back because we can help you, we

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can work through it, it's going to be okay, it's going to be great.

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And you know, the world is an amazing place, so get out there and see it.

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Get out there and enjoy it.

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And bring your people, a retreat.

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That sounds amazing.

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Laura, thank you.

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And to our audience, thank you as well.

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And I want you to remember, I know that you're on a mission to make a big positive impact

in the lives of your clients and possibly in the communities or the world.

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And perhaps hosting a retreat is the thing that can help you to make that deep lasting and

meaningful impact in the lives of the people that you work with.

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uh If you don't have to have it all figured out, it could be your one collaboration away.

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And in this case, talk to Laura.

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She's gonna help you to figure it all out.

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So in the meantime, uh keep moving forward and we will see you on the next one.

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Thank you.

385

Thank you.

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Bye everybody.

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See you in Peru.