Terms of Service

Cancellation and Refund Policy

  • Deposits refunded prior to an Application Interview Call will be deducted a 10% processing fee.

  • Deposits refunded after an Application Interview Call will be deducted a 15% administrative fee.

  • Cancel 61 days or more in advance – 50% refund minus $85 administrative fee or balance is credit for transfer to another workshop or person to use within one calendar year.

  • Cancel 31 – 60 days in advance 25% refund minus $150 administrative fee or balance is credit for transfer to another workshop or person to use within one calendar year. (Limit 1 transfer to future date within 1 calendar year)

  • Cancel 30 days or less before the event – no refund or transfer available.

  • Far and away the best option to protect your retreat from unseen circumstances is to have travel insurance.

 

WELCOME

The Buena Vida, LLC (“The Buena Vida”, “we”, “us” or “our”) welcomes You to its website www.thebuenavida.net and any other websites owned and operated by us now and in the future (the “Sites”).  Our Sites contain, among other things, information regarding our retreats and various related services. Use of our products, software, services and Sites (referred to collectively as the “Services”) by our visitors and members (collectively, “You” or “Your”) is subject to these terms and conditions (the “Terms of Use”) and form a binding agreement between You and us. Please review the following Terms of Use carefully. Each time You access the Sites or use the Services, You are agreeing to be bound by these Terms of Use. If You do not agree to all of these Terms of Use, The Buena Vida is unwilling to grant You access to the Sites or Services, and You must cease access to the Sites and Services immediately.

 

DATA AND INFORMATION PROTECTION WE COLLECT OR YOU PROVIDE US

Personal information is collected when a Visitor of the Sites provides such information knowingly through registration or a contact form, from third parties and referrals, and passively through technology such as cookies. Personal information includes personal data, contact information, company and business information, and interpersonal information.

  1. “Personal Data” means data that allows someone to identify or contact You, including, for example, Your name, address, telephone number, e-mail address, as well as any other non-public information about You that is associated with or linked to any of the foregoing data.

  2. We may collect Personal Data from You, such as Your first and last name, gender, e-mail and mailing addresses.

  3. If You order Services on the Sites, we will collect all information necessary to complete the transaction, including Your name, credit card information, billing information and shipping information.

  4. If You provide us feedback or contact us via e-mail, we will collect Your name and e-mail address, as well as any other content included in the e-mail, in order to send You a reply.

  5. To make the Sites and Services more useful to You, our servers (which may be hosted by a third party service provider) collect information from You, including Your browser type, operating system, Internet Protocol (IP) address (a number that is automatically assigned to Your computer when You use the Internet, which may vary from session to session), domain name, and/or a date/time stamp for Your visit.

  6. We also use cookies and URL information to gather information regarding the date and time of Your visit and the information for which You searched and which You viewed. “Cookies” are small pieces of information that a website sends to Your computer’s hard drive while You are viewing a website. We may use both session Cookies (which expire once You close Your web browser) and persistent Cookies (which stay on Your computer until You delete them) to provide You with a more personal and interactive experience on the Sites. Persistent Cookies can be removed by following Internet browser help file directions.

  7. Except as set forth below, the only people who have access to personal information collected on the Sites are our employees who have a need to know and who are bound by nondisclosure agreements and our privacy policy. We have physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards to protect the personal information that we store. The only information we would share (solely during introductions or referrals) would be Your name and email.

  8. Also, please note that the Sites may contain links to third party websites. These third party websites may send their own cookies to collect data and solicit personal information. Therefore, we cannot guarantee Your privacy when visiting such third party sites, nor the accuracy or acceptability of any services provided by such third parties.

  9. When users submit sensitive information via the Sites (such as credit card numbers or social security numbers), that information is encrypted and is protected with SSL encryption software.

 

USES OF YOUR INFORMATION

1. We use the Personal Data that we receive to operate the Sites, produce our Events, and in certain other ways, including:

  • to facilitate the creation of and secure Your Account on our network;

  • to identify You as a user in our system;

  • provide improved administration of the Sites and Services;

  • provide the Services You request;

  • improve the quality of experience when You interact with the Sites and Services;

  • send You a welcome e-mail to verify ownership of the e-mail address provided when Your Account was created;

  • send You administrative e-mail notifications, such as security or support and maintenance advisories;

  • respond to Your inquiries related to employment opportunities or other requests;

  • to make telephone calls to You, from time to time, as a part of secondary fraud protection or to solicit Your feedback; and

  • to send newsletters, surveys, offers, and other promotional materials related to our Services and for our other marketing purposes .

2. We do not rent, sell, or share Your personal information with any other entity, except when:

  • We have Your permission; or

  • We respond to subpoenas, court orders, or other legal process; or when we must exercise our legal rights, protect our property, defend against legal claims, or otherwise comply with the law, or

  • We believe it is appropriate in order to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding suspected illegal activities, fraud, threats to personal safety, or violation of these Terms of Use.

  • You book a retreat and other products or services online at the Sites, and Your order is processed in collaboration with a third party company, which are instructed to not share or sell Your information.

  • In the unlikely event that The Buena Vida is acquired or transferred, or changes entity status through any type of transaction (including an asset sale, merger or bankruptcy), the personal information will be among the transferred assets.

 

OUR LIMITS ON LIABILITY: RETREATS, DURING USE OF THE SITE, OTHER SERVICES

The Buena Vida disclaims liability arising out of use of the Sites, attendance at a retreat, or any other Buena Vida affiliated service or activity. In no event will we or our officers, employees, directors, parents, subsidiaries, affiliates, agents or licensors be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or exemplary damages, including but not limited to, damages for loss of income, lost booking fees, goodwill, use, data, or travel interruptions or other intangible losses (even if such parties were advised of, knew of or should have known of the possibility of such damages, and notwithstanding the failure of essential purpose of any limited remedy), arising out of or related to Your use of or access to, or the inability to use or to access, the Site or the services (including Your attendance at one of our retreats), regardless of whether such damages are based on contract, tort (including negligence and strict liability), warranty, statute or otherwise. We will not be liable for any damages arising from the transactions between You and any third party merchants or service providers or for any information appearing on third party merchant or service provider sites or any other site linked to our Sites.

Without limiting the foregoing, we do not accept any liability for damage to Your computer system or loss of data that results from Your use of the Sites and We cannot guarantee that any files that You download are free from viruses, contamination or destructive features. While we use all reasonable endeavors to correct any errors or omissions as soon as practicable once they have been brought to our attention, we do not warrant that the information on the Sites itself will be free from errors or omissions. We do not warrant that the Website will be available uninterrupted and in a fully operating condition.

Access to the Sites may be suspended temporarily and without notice in the case of system failure, maintenance or repair or for reasons reasonably beyond our control. All content and services on the Sites are provided on an ‘as is’ and ‘as available’ basis. We do not make any representation or give any warranty, and hereby disclaim all express or implied warranties, in respect of the Sites or its content, including, without limitation, any advice given (on a personal or general basis) and statements made by advertisers on or via the Sites, including without limitation the implied warranties of non-infringement, merchantability, data accuracy, fitness for a particular purpose and quiet enjoyment. Any decisions or action taken by You on the basis of information provided on or via the Sites are at Your sole discretion and risk and You should obtain individual professional advice where necessary.

 

ATTENDEE CONDUCT AT RETREATS and MEDICAL INFORMATION

We reserve the right to remove attendees who do not comply with the proper registration, security procedures or requirements of attendee conduct outlined below at any point during a retreat without a refund.

  1. The Buena Vida reserves the right to remove anyone who disobeys any requirements, procedures, policies or regulations of a retreat.

  2. You must not defame, abuse, harass, harm or threaten others, make any bigoted, hateful, or racially offensive statements.

  3. You may not advocate illegal activity or discuss illegal activities with the intent to commit them or cause injury or property damage to any person. You may not post or distribute any material that infringes and/or violates any right of a third party or any law or post or distribute any vulgar, obscene, discourteous, or indecent language or images.

  4. If we deem any online, social networking, or other media reference post, article, photo or video regarding a retreat inappropriate, the offender is required to take down the material immediately upon our request for removal. If the posting is made during a retreat, this may be grounds for dismissal from the retreat, removal and preclusion from the Sites and future involvement in The Buena Vida.

  5. Without limitation of the foregoing, The Buena Vida may, in its sole and absolute discretion, remove You or any other attendee from a retreat, without explanation, either before or during a retreat, if such attendee engages in any unlawful, unauthorized, prohibited, improper, or unethical activities, or any other acts or omissions that we deem worthy of Your removal from a retreat.

SSRI:

For SSRI’s, we recommend taking the lowest possible dose that your doctor recommends. If you can be off for the retreat and about 2-3 week prior this is best. However, we are not a medical staff and can’t make those requirements. Guests who have a long history of SSRI use may need more psilocybin and more time than others because this medicine is trying to work on the same receptors in the brain and after years of SSRI use, the receptors become overwhelmed and need a bit of time to balance out in order to receive the psilocybin. Again, we are not a medical staff and cannot make these recommendations, however, we know through past guests that its better to be off of these medications in order to feel the full effects of the medicine and therefore cannot guarantee any feeling, result, healing, or response to the psilocybin.

LINKS:

https://www.synthesisretreat.com/psilocybin-and-ssri-snri-interactions

https://www.essence.nl/drug-interaction/

Benzodiazepines:

  1. Psychedelics and benzodiazepines while not dangerous to combine, you will need to taper and discontinue chronic benzo use as it will optimize therapeutic potential of experience. Continued use will significantly lessen the effects of the psilocybin.

  2. Due to the serious potential risks of withdrawal with benzodiazepines, the risks of discontinuation in chronic users may outweigh benefits of a psychedelic experience in certain situations

  3. Intermittent and sparing use of benzodiazepines in the week after PAP sessions may be helpful in managing anxiety or insomnia, especially in persons with previous benzodiazepine exposure

LINKS:

https://psychedelictimes.com/the-dangerous-side-effects-of-benzodiazepine-using-psychedelics-as-an-alternative-anxiety-treatment/

https://www.spiritpharmacist.com/blog/2019/7/8/psychedelic-healing-amp-benzodiazepines-are-chill-pills-cool-to-combine

 

UNAUTHORIZED USES OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

You may not copy, reproduce, republish, download, post, broadcast, record, transmit, commercially exploit, edit, communicate to the public or distribute in any way the content of the Sites or our materials provided or displayed at an Event, other than for Your own personal use. Subject to the above, You may download insubstantial excerpts of the Sites’ content to Your hard drive for the purpose of viewing it provided that no more than one copy of any information is made.

We retain the rights to all staff photography and video footage during an Event.

Any use other than that permitted under this clause may only be undertaken with our prior express authorization.

 

PAYMENTS AND CANCELLATION POLICY

“Cancellation” is defined as not attending your scheduled retreat, including postponing or rescheduling. All monies received from customers are non-refundable with no exceptions regardless of the reason for cancellation. The Buena Vida cannot make any exceptions to this payments and cancellation policy even if the cancellation is due to illness or medical issues; family or personal matters; revocation, cancellation, or expiration of Your visa; travel bans; deportation; any laws, regulations, orders, or policies concerning immigration and refugee status that may impact Your ability to travel; change in Your immigration status; scheduling conflicts; travel delays; a force majeure event (including, but not limited to, an act of God, war, terrorist activity, labor dispute, civil unrest, utility outage, etc.); or any other reason whatsoever.

For protection, we require attendees to purchase travel medical and trip cancellation insurance. For example, some of the most popular travel insurance providers are Allianz, GeoBlue and Travel Guard. Your credit card or employer may also provide certain coverage.

We furthermore permit customers to transfer retreat reservations and other service reservations to third parties in the event they are unable to attend a booked retreat.

The Buena Vida reserves the right to make any changes deemed necessary to our retreats. In the rare event of a cancellation on the part of The Buena Vida, we will offer a transfer to another retreat or a refund. The Buena Vida is not responsible for any injury, loss, expenses or damages, either direct or consequential, or for any loss of time or inconvenience which You may incur as a result of trip cancellation including visas, passports, travel documents, vaccination charges, preparation costs, gear purchases, airline tickets, airline taxes, airport fees (including but not limited to visa, passport and vaccination charges, or departure, gear purchases, airport and airline taxes).

You acknowledge that The Buena Vida reserves the right to offer sales or discounts on the the full retail price of their products and services without compensation if you paid a higher price.

Payment plans must be paid in full before attending the retreat. If a payment is not made 2 weeks past the due date, The Buena Vida reserves the right to cancel the reservation linked to the payment plan and the monies paid are not eligible for a refund.  

 

ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF RISKS AND ASSUMPTION OF RESPONSIBILITY

Although The Buena Vida has taken reasonable steps to ensure safety, You acknowledge that activities You agree to take part in have risks, including certain risks which cannot be eliminated without destroying the unique character of the activities. The same elements that contribute to the unique character of the activities can cause loss or damage to You including accidental injury, illness or in extreme cases, permanent trauma, disability or death and also can cause damage to or loss of property. 

Activities may vary from trip to trip and may include but are not limited to: yoga, swimming, snorkeling, surfing, hiking, boating, using zip-wires and rope swings, kayaking and being physically active in a variety natural environments with a wide range of surface and atmospheric conditions as well as wildlife.

The Buena Vida can involve travel to remote places, oftentimes many hours from medical facilities. Transportation, evacuations and medical care can be significantly delayed; communication can be delayed, limited or not available. Environmental risks and hazards include rapidly moving, deep or cold water; insects, snakes and predators, including large animals; falling and rolling rock; lightning, flash floods and unpredictable forces of nature, including weather which may change to extreme conditions without warning. Possible injuries and illnesses include hypothermia, frostbite, high altitude illnesses, sunburn, heatstroke, dehydration and other mild or serious conditions.

Throughout the trip, participants are responsible for their own safety.

With your booking of a retreat, You acknowledge and understand that The Buena Vida activities include risks of injury or death to participants. You understand the description above of these risks is not complete and that other unknown or unanticipated risks may result in property loss, injury or death. You agree to assume responsibility for the inherent risks identified herein and those inherent risks not specifically identified. You acknowledge that participation in activities is purely voluntary, no one is forcing participation and participation is elected with full knowledge of the inherent risks. You therefore assume and accept full responsibility for any injury, death, loss of personal property, and expenses suffered as a result of those inherent risks and dangers identified above, and those inherent risks and dangers not specifically identified and as a result of my negligence in participating in this activity.

We are not medical doctors, so all guests must consult their medical practitioner to ensure they in are appropriate physically and mental condition to participate in the retreat activities and any additional activities guests choose to purchase.

We can not guarantee that all services, amenities or activities will be available at all times of year. The Buena Vida is not responsible for any losses or damages incurred due to unavailability of services, amenities or activities.

The Buena Vida is a retreat facilitator, we work with retreat leaders to create retreats. We do not design the content of the leader’s classes. The beliefs or attitude of the retreat leader do not reflect the beliefs or attitudes of The Buena Vida. The Buena Vida holds no responsibility for the actions or omissions of third parties or independent contractors, including in the event that they modify the nature of a service on a retreat as compared with the advertised nature of the service.

 

RELEASE AND WAIVER OF LIABILITY

By booking with The Buena Vida, You represent that You have no physical conditions or medical precautions which would adversely affect your ability to take part in the retreat program or other physical or cultural activities offered by The Buena Vida. You fully understand that Your participation in the retreat or other activities could be injurious to your health and you voluntarily assume all risks related to such activities.

By agreeing to the terms outlined here and elsewhere on the The Buena Vida website, You hereby release and discharge Your rights and claims for damages or liabilities that may occur as a result of participation on a The Buena Vida retreat, including but not limited to damages as a result of unexpected occurrences including those from weather, local political situations, wildlife or uncontrollable acts of God, including the risk of death. You release The Buena Vida including its owners, directors, employees, guides, retreat leaders and partners from liability for personal injury, illness, emotional damage, incurred travel expenses or property damage You may incur as a result of participation in a retreat.

For the benefit of everyone on Your trip, The Buena Vida reserves the right to accept or reject any participant at any time without liability, and in the event it determines, in its sole and exclusive discretion, that a participant is disruptive to the harmony of the retreat, it may without any obligation to pay a refund or any other amount whatsoever, expel such participant from the retreat. The Buena Vida will carry no responsibility or liability for any participant who leaves the trip prior to its conclusion or for any activity undertaken by any participant which is not included on the trip itinerary.

 

COMPLAINTS

If you have a problems with services offered by The Buena Vida, please inform a member of our team immediately, who will endeavor to put things right. If your complaint cannot be resolved locally, you must advise us in writing on your return within 28 days giving your booking reference number and other relevant information. If you do not follow this simple procedure we will have been deprived of the opportunity to investigate and rectify your complaint whilst you were on holiday and this may affect your rights in bringing a claim against us. Please note that we cannot be responsible for the individual behavior of any group member or other guest at your accommodation or circumstances outside of our control.

 

CHANGES TO THESE TERMS OF USE

We reserve the right to amend these Terms of Use at any time. All such changes will take effect once they have been posted on the Sites and You will be deemed to have accepted any such changes by Your use of the Sites after such time.

To contact Buena Vida, please email us at [email protected]