The origin
About
Lunita.
A family-built jungle retreat center in Puerto Morelos, on Mexico's Riviera Maya. An Italian mother and son built it on Maya land, forty minutes from Cancún, for groups of up to twenty.
It started with
one person's idea
of Mexico.
Nico arrived in Mexico in April 2015 and fell in love, not only with the land, but with its people. They were so warm and welcoming that for the first time in his life he felt at home.
A year later, during his first ceremony in Mexico, the vision arrived fully formed: a place to support healing. A safe container built on love, respect, and no judgment, where people could meet the older, quieter Mexico beneath the all-inclusive version.
He carried that vision for five years. His mother Lorenza, after thirty-five years between building businesses in Italy and roles in large multinationals, believed him. She left what she'd built and came to build this with him instead.
We asked the land
before we built on it.
Four months before a single foundation was poured, a Mexica shaman came to the property and led a permission ceremony. Not a groundbreaking photo op, a real one. Offerings of copal, fruits, flowers, and cacao were placed for the four directions and four elements, asking the land whether it would hold what we hoped to build.
The same day, we built a kahtal alux, a small spirit house in the Maya tradition, and consecrated it for the Aluxes, the guardian spirits of this jungle. It still stands.
Then construction began. We made one promise to the land and kept it: not a single tree was cut. The cabanas were placed in the spaces between the trees, not where trees used to be. And as we built, we planted, more than five thousand new trees, a living return on what the jungle was lending us.
How it happened.
April 2015
Nico arrives in Mexico and falls in love, not only with the land, but with its people. For the first time, he felt at home.
February 2016
During his first ceremony in Mexico, Nico sees the project clearly: a place to support healing, a safe container built on love, respect, and no judgment.
March 1, 2021
Lorenza calls Nico to ask if he's still serious about the dream. She's finally in a position to help make it real. He was already out looking at land.
April 2021
After seeing what felt like a thousand plots, the right one appears. Deep in the jungle, no neighbors, forty minutes from Cancún. From the first moment, it's the one.
May 1, 2021
A Mexica shaman leads the permission ceremony. The kahtal alux is built for the Aluxes. The land says yes.
September 2021
The first foundations are laid. Lunita begins to rise between the trees, never through them.
November 2022
Lunita opens.
March 2023
The first retreat arrives. The same week, two dogs walk out of the jungle and decide to stay. We name them Sol and Luna.
Today
More than 120 retreats hosted, 660+ retreat days, 16 leaders who keep coming back. The jungle kept its side of the deal.
What Lunita
has become.
In a little over three years, Lunita has hosted more than 120 retreats, over 660 days of people gathering in this jungle to do real work. In 2025 alone, the property held retreats on more than 225 days.
The number we pay attention to most isn't any of those. It's sixteen, the number of retreat leaders who came, hosted, left, and chose to come back and do it again. Returning leaders are the clearest signal we know that what happens here is worth repeating.
The reviews say it too: 4.9 stars on Google, 4.9 on Tripadvisor, and a Travelers' Choice award in 2024.
The family.
Lunita is run by a family, by blood and by choice.
Nico Rossi
He carried the vision for five years. A photographer for more than twenty years, he's behind the camera for every retreat's photoshoot, and he's spent his life drawn to the question of how people heal, with medicine and without it.
Lorenza Rossi
Nico's mother. She left thirty-five years between building businesses in Italy and roles in large multinationals to build Lunita with her son. She runs the side of Lunita that keeps it standing, and she created the Hug Ceremony that closes so many retreats here.
Jhony Araña
Here since the first foundations were laid in 2021. He manages the property, though that word undersells it. He built much of what you'll see, and he's the reason it all keeps working.
Lesvia, Kiki & Sol and Luna
Jhony's wife Lesvia keeps Lunita cared for. Their daughter Kiki, born the same month Lunita opened, has grown up in this jungle. She's Lunita's princess. Sol and Luna are the two dogs who arrived from the jungle the week of the first retreat and never left.
The facilitators.
The healers, teachers, and guides who lead the work itself. Each carries their own lineage and practice.
Esperanza
Born into the Mayan tradition, in a lineage of healers and midwives. A Moon Mother and holistic psychologist who leads women's circles, womb healing, and temazcal.
Edgar
A Zapotec descendant who carries one of the most respected plant-medicine lineages in Mexico. He guides the plant-medicine ceremonies at Lunita.
Gerald
Founder of The Inner Mirror. He works with QHHT, water-based Janzu, and the men's circle, holding a grounded, compassionate space.
Kierra
A Reiki master and energy worker, founder of Sacred Ascension Academy, guiding quantum healing and energy alignment.
Faby
A Mexican artist and facilitator working with cacao, clay, and sound, including the sound baths held in the pool.
Three ways in.
One jungle.
Lunita was born as a retreat center: a place where retreat leaders could bring their vision and have it become real, with a team beside them who knew how to hold it. That's still the heart of it.
But the jungle kept asking for more. By the end of 2024 we began offering personal retreats, custom journeys for individuals, couples, or small groups, and corporate programs designed around what teams actually need.
The Lab.
For three years, Lunita has been a place where other people bring their retreats. The Lab is where that starts to change: our move from hosting retreats to co-designing them, with facilitators whose work we love. We just launched it, and five pilot concepts are taking shape.
How we live
with the land.
We didn't build Lunita on the jungle. We built it inside the jungle, and the difference is the whole point. Not a single tree was cut during construction. The cabanas sit in the gaps the forest already left.
We've planted more than five thousand trees since. The power is 100% solar, stored in five batteries on site. The water comes up from an underground cenote. What we can't use, a biodigester returns to the soil.
Some who come to Lunita work with sacred medicine, guided by facilitators who carry real lineage. Others never touch it and heal just as deeply through breath, water, sound, movement, and rest. Both are real. Neither is required.
What guests say
“I came from Guadalajara to live this Lunita experience. Lunita has become a family, a gathering where you can gradually rediscover your whole self from the moment you arrive. It's like reconnecting with your inner child. From the organizers, to the owners of the space, to the staff who live there, everyone welcomes you as if you were family. I recommend you live the Lunita experience: you won't forget it.”
A few things
people ask.
Who owns and runs Lunita?
When was Lunita founded?
Is Lunita really family-built?
How many retreats has Lunita hosted?
Whenever you're ready.
Three paths. One jungle. The next move is yours.