Like the turtle, Casa Tortuga invites you to go within — to cross between Earth and Spirit, and remember who you are and why you came.
Casa Tortuga is an intimate healing sanctuary in Añasco, Puerto Rico for facilitators, healers, educators, and community leaders creating meaningful experiences rooted in connection, restoration, and transformation.
5.5 acres of tropical sanctuary
11–16 guest capacity
45 minutes from Aguadilla airport
Saltwater pool + open-air gathering spaces
Optional support: local chefs, healers & facilitators
Why Casa Tortuga?
The name Casa Tortuga did not come simply from the image of a turtle, nor simply from the octagonal shape of the home. It came from recognizing that the two were already speaking the same language.
When Chemay (land steward) looked upon the wooden octagonal main house, she saw the form of a turtle’s shell: grounded, protective, enduring, and designed for passage. As a Boricua woman, the turtle holds meaning through the ancestral currents that have shaped Puerto Rican identity.
In Taíno understanding, the turtle is connected to life, Mother Earth, fertility, origin, and the movement between the earthly and spiritual realms. In Yoruba tradition, another ancestral root carried within Boricua culture, the tortoise is a figure of wisdom, strategic patience, discernment, and the layered nature of the human journey.
These meanings do not sit apart from one another at Casa Tortuga. They meet in the octagonal home itself—a shape understood spiritually as a bridge between earth and spirit, between the physical world and the infinite, between who we have been and who we are becoming.
That convergence is also carried in Casa Tortuga’s turtle symbol, marked with an X in reverence for Taíno petroglyph imagery and Chemay’s ancestral understanding of cosmic harmony, the four directions, the four winds, and the invocation of ancestral protection and guidance.
For Chemay, the X is also an affirmation: this is the place. This is the land where the ancestors have guided her home—a place where body and spirit, earth and cosmos, memory and healing meet.
Casa Tortuga is held as a sanctuary for those navigating their own passages of transformation: a place to return to the body and spirit, reconnect with the land, listen inwardly, and remember who they are.
More than a venue.
Boricua -Led In Reciprocity
with Community
Most retreat venues provide beautiful backdrops. Casa Tortuga offers something deeper.
Boriké (Puerto Rico) is living through real pressures of displacement, rising housing costs, and outside investment that often leaves local communities carrying the weight of change. In that context, it matters that this land remain Boricua-held and rooted in a model of stewardship that gives back.
A portion of retreat pricing is intentionally reinvested into local community, including reduced-rate access for local healers, facilitators, and community members. When you book here, your investment helps keep this sanctuary community-rooted, cared for, and in right relationship with the land.
If that matters to you too, there is a good chance we are aligned.
Created for intentional hosts.
Casa Tortuga is designed for facilitators, healers, educators, coaches, and community leaders creating experiences rooted in connection, transformation, restoration, and meaningful human gathering.
This is not a high-volume event venue.
Casa Tortuga is for intimate retreats where depth matters more than performance.
Rather than a manufactured resort experience, it offers hosts and facilitators an immersive connection to the beauty and energy of the land, with the freedom to shape meaningful offerings independently or with support from our retreat coordinator.
Healing Retreats
restoration, nervous system care, embodiment
Leadership Gatherings
visioning, team retreats, aligned collaboration
Spiritual & Transformational Experiences
ritual, reflection, ancestral connection
Creative or Community Retreats
artist residencies, intentional gatherings, collective care
What people are saying
“Teaching and sharing my gifts in such a welcoming and dynamic space allowed me to witness an incredible amplifying effect. The experience was both nurturing and transformative, fostering growth that feels organic and alive.”
— Aitabé Fornes | Retreat Host“I found the location and PR itself to be a facilitator in our collective transformation. It wasn’t just about being out in nature. It was like I could feel the land and the ancestral wisdom of the land super charging our growth. It was a facilitator of an experience.”
— Julia Cordero | Retreat Guest“I was never hungry. If I could give 5 million stars about the food, I would. The food was so delicious and abundant. I ate new foods I don’t normally consume and I felt nourished. The cacao was ritual and exquisite.”
— Dominique Dje Dje | Retreat Guest
Host a Retreat
Bring your own experience here.
Support the Vision
Help steward this sanctuary’s future.
Meet Chemay
The woman behind Casa Tortuga.