You know those movies that take place in 1970’s Miami or California? Long-haired hippies cruising along the coast, smoking blunts, having fun, and just all around loving life? The 70’s are probably the time period that I romanticize the most. Not sure why, it just seemed like that was the peak of society. Acid trips by the ocean with your friends, and not a care in the world.
After a few days in Mazunte, a magical coastal village on the Oaxacan Coast of Mexico, we decided it was time. We’d stocked up on goodies from San Cristobal’s “candy store”, and the perfect moment was absolutely right freakin’ now. Our cabin had a small terrace with an incredible view of the Pacific Ocean. It only felt right to spice things up a bit. A couple of hours before sunset, I slipped a tab into my mouth and waited for the magic to happen. The come-up was slow, but evident. I typed away on my laptop, as inspiration flowed to my brain from every angle. I could write forever, I thought to myself.
My friends came in, popped their respective tabs, and I decided to top myself up with another quarter of a tab. Golden hour rolled around, and they wanted to leave for sunset at my favorite spot in Mexico, Punta Cometa. I hesitated at first, telling them I’d stay behind to finish up some writing. As the sky continued turning orange, I decided to chase them down.
It’s about a 15-minute hike to the end of Punta Cometa, and each one of those minutes felt like its own lifetime. With the wind blowing the tall grass basked in golden rays, I felt like I was walking through the Elysian Fields, like Maximus in Gladiator. A humpback whale jumped out of the water as we were approaching the final ascent, and life honestly didn’t seem real. It was the night of the full moon, and the normally crowded Punta Cometa was even more packed than usual.
The sunset was absolutely fiery, and the vibes were nothing short of immaculate. A lot of people despise crowded sunset spots. For me, it is amazing watching the world drop what they’re doing and come together. Nothing matters but the sunset. And on a night where a gorgeous sunset would be followed by a magnificent full moon, the vibes at Punta Cometa were much more electric than usual.
The cliffside overlooking the ocean and the sun was packed with people sitting nearly shoulder to shoulder. Blunts were being passed around and new friends were being made all around. People started applauding as the sun dipped below the horizon, another thing that I feel like should be normalized. Why don’t we clap more? Like, our planet just traveled 1.6 million miles through space. Hell yeah, we should clap. But that’s a rant for another time.
I looked behind and the moon was lit up in a solid, deep gold. The crowds had moved from one cliff to the other, and I nudged to my friends to turn around. One by one, each one let out a loud “whoaaaa” before we started working our way towards the other cliff. We never did make it to the rest of the crowd. As soon as we stood up, the music playing from our speaker had us grooving and swaying to the melodic, electronic tunes. It felt like the soundtrack to a 70’s movie, or like, a romance scene from Stranger Things. On acid, I wasn’t just hearing the music, I was living it. And it felt like I was in the 70’s, along a rugged cliffside overlooking the ocean, fiery sunset behind, and a full moon ahead.
The world was still, and everyone was happy. At that moment, Punta Cometa felt like a haven from the outside world. Out here, just 15 minutes from Mazunte town, nothing else mattered but the now. I wanted to ride that high forever. The sun had fully set, but the shades of purple and orange strayed behind, allowing for just enough light to make out dancing silhouettes of happy hippies. I was in the stars, situated between the sun and the moon, dancing away on a cliff literally known as Comet Point.
The rising moon started to lose its initial burning gold color, and returned to its luminous white. At that point, the four of us made our way down to the dark beach below. I’ll admit, I’m a bit scared of the ocean during the day, but at night, it ignites an ominous feeling of dread inside me. For now, though, the crashing waves brought nothing but peace. We roamed around the small beach, which felt much, much larger than it actually looked. With just moonlight to guide us and the entire strip of sand to ourselves, the world was ours.
Those last few hours of the acid trip flew by. We left for sunset at around 5:30 PM. We didn’t leave the sunset point until 1:30 AM. The only evidence of our existence there were three random logs that we planted into the ground. At the time, it felt like creating a flash art installment. When I returned to the beach the next evening for sunset, it was still there, but it was also anything but an art installment.
We made it back to our magical cabin with the moonlight guiding us along the jagged cliffs and sinewy forests. The shadows played tricks on our feet, though I’m sure the residuals of the psychedelics likely didn’t help.
Punta Cometa had already solidified itself as my favorite sunset spot in Mexico before the acid trip, but now, I think it might be one of my favorite in the world.
