At about noon, the bus pulled to the side of the road, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. There was nothing in eyeshot except jungle and the two-lane road. The bus driver announced “ENBISIO’N!” The passengers looked around confused for a second, “Here?” We all disembarked to discover entrances to the parking lot of the festival about 100m away.
I found my way to a line for those who were not volunteers arriving for early entry. The gates were supposed to open at 1pm, but didn’t actually open until about 3pm. I spent the time sitting in the shade talking with Yoni (yes, that is his real name… It gets better, last name Man. Yoni Man. LOL) from Israel and Alexa from New York. We were all first-timers at Envision and elated with anticipation.
Once the gates finally opened, I checked in, got my wristband, and picked up my tent, losing Yoni and Alexa in the process. I moseyed to the campgrounds solo, saddled with all my gear in tow. Being an early entrant I had the chance to pick a nice, shaded camping spot—important for sleeping after sunrise in the hot Costa Rican sun. I set up my tent under a tree. In the process, I met Bryce (28, BC, Canada), Rachel (20, Tennessee), and Wendy (50, Dallas) who had met while waiting in line and were camping in a circular formation nearby. They invited me to join their pow-wow and I obliged, moving my tent near theirs.
After getting set up, the four of us wandered the festival grounds. At about 5pm, we all had mud applied to us by the enchanting ‘Mud Fairies’. It was like a mud bath and felt super good on the skin, especially since it cooled us down dramatically. Totally covered in mud except for our eyes, we walked to the beach to enjoy the sunset and sunset festivities, which usually include drum and music circles and various fire-performers and -dancers getting down. We all went in the ocean to wash the mud off as the sun dipped low. When the sun was about halfway below the horizon and fading fast, the entire beach population (maybe 1000 people) let out a roar of whoops, whistles, and Indian cries until the sun disappeared.
The four of us returned to camp to change into dry clothes, and then we had dinner together. We spent a few hours sitting in a circle conversing and really getting to know each other. We walked around the grounds in the moonlight until turning in early and mostly sober at about midnight.
The next morning, we all had breakfast and chilled together in the shade of the food court. We perused the festival schedule and planned our day. I ran into Yoni and met a new friend, Goldie (34, NY). We all headed towards the beach and got mudded up again before having a dip in the ocean. Afterwards, Rachel and I headed to a couple yoga classes, and the ‘Opening Ceremony,’ at the yoga pavilion.
After lunch, I met a group of sailors whom had all sailed to Costa Rica together. A group of them were promoting their project, SAILCARGO, to build a huge 100+ foot cargo sailboat, old-school style—made completely of wood. I had an interesting time hanging out with these people. Sailors are a unique, slightly wacky bunch.
I went to an ‘Opening Earth Ceremony,’ hosted by Indian shamans which consisted of lighting the sacred fire which would be maintained for the duration of the festival, and blessing and singing to the four cardinal directions, Father Sky and Mother Earth, and ended with a traditional Indian group dance circle.
In the evening, I cooled down at our camp site, and rendezvoused with the group. We all went out to dinner together. After dinner, the partying commenced. We all went out to various stages for dancing to mostly electronic and trance type music.
The scenes at these stages was something to behold. Huge stages with elaborate visual animations projected onto the stages and dazzling lightshows. The main stage is surrounded by towers that blast off bursts of fire into the sky at various points throughout the musicians’ acts. The whole thing was quite a trip.
In between and during musical artists, there’d be some type of performance onstage—whether it was fire dancers, a contortionist, acroyoga, or Cirque du Soliel-like aerial performances. Amaaazzing!
Then there was the festival folk. People adorned in exotic garb and costumes. The entire atmosphere was completely surreal—designed to make one trip, using drugs or not.
At the rear of the main stage is an art gallery. Surrounding the art gallery were about a dozen artists commissioned by Envision to paint new works during the course of the festival. I spent a couple hours looking at the mesmerizing art in the gallery and observing the various artists ply their craft, noting their technique. It was super fucken cool to watch amazing, psychedelic art being created and come to life from idea to sketch to a mind blowing completed painting over the course of the festival.
After several hours of shaking and moving, many ginger beers, and generally having my mind blown, I left the remaining team members to hit the hay at about 2am.
Early the next morning at 7:30am, I headed to a Psychic Development Level I workshop. The class ran for about two hours and was quite interesting. It involved a guided seated meditation to internally find and access the third eye. The meditation planted a ‘seed’, a mental image, in that space so that by envisioning the image you immediately access the third eye. The workshop then went through physical movements to open the energy channels and create energetic flow into the third eye. One of the exercises was basically rising from a modified Child’s Pose (yoga) to upright seated position nine times and on the 10th time into a Camel pose. It can create a lightheaded effect on the move into Camel, similar to standing up too fast after prolonged sitting, and cause people to pass out. We did the exercise with a partner to spot each other, but a nearby girl fainted and fell. Hher partner didn’t catch her, and I leapt in to catch her just as she was about to hit the floor headfirst. She then twitched or seized in my arms momentarily. Slightly perturbing, but she came to was fine after a few minutes. There were a couple more exercises we performed, one of which was psychic self-defense against those who might try to steal your energy (Celestine Prophecy style). Overall, an interesting workshop if a little out there, but, hell, who am I kidding, I’m into ‘out there’.
After breakfast, I headed over to the yoga grounds for a couple yoga classes, followed by a talk on Tantra. After that I was wandering around when I came upon a talk on Ayurveda. Another super interesting subject, with millennia of development behind it, like yoga. I laid down in a nearby rest area and dozed while intermittently listening to another talk titled Cannabis as Medicine. After a nap, I went to a guided group meditation titled Unlocking the Primary Chakras. Lots of workshops and talks on day two.
As the sun was setting I made my way to the beach for an ocean bath and the sunset festivities. There must’ve been 3000 people on the beach as the roar as the sun dipped below the horizon was epic.
After changing, I waited at the campsite to rendezvous with the crew, but nobody appeared by 7:30pm. I made my way to the food court, and ran into Yoni. He had just scored some acid and was ready to go. We had dinner together, and then met a couple of his lady friends from Switzerland. We all went to the mainstage together, Yoni and I gobbling down a hit of LSD on the way.
After about an hour the acid was increasing in intensity, and I was really enjoying dancing amongst the infinite weirdness of the crowds of people and surroundings. I went over to watch the artists paint and it was magical, watching the brushstrokes join into the existing painting, the whole of it moving and swirling and leaping off the canvas into my being. I had a conversation for a while with one of the artists, Blake Drezet.
I was standing on a platform with Yoni, dancing, and Bryce showed up. “Holy shit you guys, you have go to come over to the other stage, NOW!”
“What? Does it really get better than this?” I asked as the pyrotechnics went off and the crowd cheered.
“COME NOW!”
He grabbed my arm and pulled me away to the Luna Stage where a Colombian band called Sistema Solar was performing.
“You’re going to love these Carribean vibes,” he explained on the way to the stage, “and you’re not going to fucking believe the crowd over here.”
As we approached the stage I could hear Rumba-like music and was already digging it. The entire band was wearing black and white Colombian stylized jumpsuits, and the stage was all black and white patterns. We made our way into the crowd, and the energy was overwhelming. Sistema Solar had whipped the crowd into some kind of primordial frenzy. I had never seen an entire group of people dance so hard.
“WhoooHooHOoooO!!” Bryce laughed as we made our way towards the front, “I told you, man!”
We were overtaken, and joined in the madness dancing balls-to-the-wall. The music was sexy, spicy, intense, and had an urgency to it that elevated me. I was tripping as well, and, in the midst of the music, the dancing, the band’s theatrics, the jungle, and the crowd, had visuals that were incredibly powerful—psychedelic rainbow wormholes shooting into and connecting to my third eye.
Sistema Solar tried to end the show about four times, but the crowd kept clamoring for more. At one point, a representative from the festival tried to come onstage to tell the crowd the show was over, they have a schedule, etc, but the crowd wasn’t having it and got Sistema Solar to play another song. At the end, the Envision staff pretty much had to drag the band off the stage. By the bands’ reaction to the crowd, I have to think it was one of if not the best shows they’ve ever put on (and they’re a band most well known for their live shows).
After Sistema Solar went off stage, Bryce hugged me, “I was here all alone and had to share this with someone… Thank you for coming!” “No, thank you, that was quite the experience.” We were both drained from the dancing. We walked back to the main stage with a couple of people from the show. We all discussed how amazing Sistema Solar was. It was like we all had to pick up the pieces and come to grips with what we’d just experienced. “Where do we go from here? Nothing is going to top that,” seemed to be the sentiment of the group.
At the main stage, I sat on a platform in the back resting and having a cigarette. I replayed the events that had just transpired, and exclaimed laughing to a girl seated next to me, “HOLY shit, I can’t fucken believe that shit!”
She looked at me weird, “What shit?”
“Sistema Solar! Did you happen to see that?!”
She had and was sitting there doing the same as me, trying to rest and process it all. We got to talking and I met Maria (24) from Schaumburg, IL(!).
Maria and I got some ginger beers and then went to see Papadosio on another stage.
During the show, I noticed an older hippy gentleman unsuccessfully trying to corral a shirtless young man acting erratically. I had seen the young man earlier as he was up on the stage in the middle of the Papadosio show trying to grab the microphone, and was unceremoniously kicked off the stage by concert staff.
I walked over to see what was going on, and recognized what was happening—the guy was in the midst of an epic trip, having a hard time, and his friends were nowhere to be found. Having read The Psychedelic Explorers Guide, I knew how to deal with the situation. I approached the old man. He asked me if I was part of the Zendo project. I explained that I was not, but could help. I approached the young man, and explained that the older hippy and I were going to help him out and convinced him to come with us. Together the older man and I led him to the Zendo tent, where he received the support and guidance he needed by the staff of therapists. Afterwards, the old man thanked me profusely, and I returned to the show. Psychedelics can be overwhelming, folks. Use them consciously and conscientiously. Set and Setting!
Maria and I spent the rest of the night hanging out and wandering the festival grounds. At one point, we encountered an art troupe with fluorescent lights traversing the concert and putting on shows. Maria and I joked that if the guy having the bad trip had seen this it would’ve seen this act it would’ve sent him into another dimension. Envision is a trip, man.
At about 2:30am I walked Maria back to her tent. We stopped to watch a folky artist, Elisa Rose, play a few songs on acoustic guitar at a side stage on the way.
After saying goodnight, I still had a bit of energy left, so went back to the concert grounds and danced to an electronica set for another hour before calling it a night.
After breakfast, I went to a functional movement class. Being a student of Becoming a Supple Leopard, it was a bit basic for me, however it was a good class, and I think all the people there, even accomplished yogis, got a lot out of it. I followed that class up with a ‘Shamanik Yoga’ class, which was really cool. It combined ‘normal’ Vinyasa & Hatha yoga with Kundalini yoga, Qui Gong, Martial Arts, and other Tantric and Shamanic style movements and dance, all set to live tribal music played by a 5-piece band. After that class, to really make sure my chi was flowing and my mind right, I stayed for a ‘Sacred Mantra’ meditation, which was basically a guided, laying meditation set to chants and ambient music.
I had lunch, then spent the afternoon resting, laying in a rest lounge near a stage hosting various talks. I listened to a few talks, while dozing in and out of consciousness: ‘Sacred Self Care’, ‘Rue, Resins, and Roses’, and ‘Plant Medicines of the Upper Amazon’.
In the evening, I tried to go to the beach for my daily bath and sunset activities, but unfortunately the beach was closed that day—someone’s child was lost, so they had the gates of the festival on lockdown. Instead, I returned to my tent for a proper nap, followed up by a hobo shower at the spigot for filling up water bottles.
Again, my campsite crew was nowhere to be found by 7:30pm, so I went over to Maria’s tent, but she too was not there. I ran into Alexa, and we caught up on our festival experiences on the way to the food court.
There, I ran into Maria and Josue, her Costa Rican friend who she was attending the festival with. We all had dinner together, and then the partying commenced.
Maria, Josue, and I headed to the main stage for beers and dancing. We spent most of the night around the main stage, dancing to various DJs, visiting the art gallery and resident artists, and generally enjoying the circus.
Maria and I went over to another stage to see a band she was looking forward to, Autograf. We went into the crowd and made it close to the stage. Maria was thrilled. They weren’t really my kind of music. Nevertheless, I got down dancing to the music, and they did put on a good, high energy show.
Afterwards, we wandered the concert grounds checking out the various acts, and settled on Opiuo at the main stage. There were various fire dancers performing on stage during the set. Maria and I watched the performers with wide eyes, intermittently exclaiming, “This is so awesome!” We called it a night relatively early at about 2am, deciding to save some energy for the final night.
The next morning, I swung by Maria’s tent and we hung out lazily for a while before going to breakfast. After breakfast, we went to a ‘Rejuvenate, Rest, and Digest’ yoga/meditation class at the yoga pavilion. Perfect.
We split up after the meditation, and I went to lunch and my daily ritual of resting while listening to talks. That day I listened to talks on: ‘Ginseng’, ‘In Search of the Common Shaman’, and ‘Activism, Capitalism, and Mysticism’.
In the evening, I made my way to the beach for my bath and the sunset festivities. I stomped around dancing to drumming provided by a huge 20-30 person drum circle. The hoots and hollers as the sun dipped below the horizon were again epic and gave me a chill down my spine as I anticipated the ultimate night’s events.
I had a meditation in my tent to get my mind right, then headed out for the night. I found Maria and Josue and we had dinner together. Then commenced the partying.
We started out by seeing a traditional Tico (Costa Rican) band with the whole lineup of steel drum, bongos, guitar, keyboards, percussion, etc. at Josue’s recommendation. He explained that at Costa Rican fiestas and celebrations, bands like this play on the back of a truck. This band killed it. It was on a small side stage, but they had the crowd grooving better than a lot of the bigger acts.
We headed to the main stage. At this point, I took 100ug of MDMA I had procured earlier in the week. The early act at the main stage, Dreamers Delight, was my favorite of the electronica artists all week. We went deep into the crowd to dance. The MDMA set in and I kept telling Maria how amazing everything was. I even got her to put her arms up (‘Bows UP!) and dance without inhibition. She loved it.
We spent some time watching the artists paint, and had another conversation with Blake Drezet and his partner Autumn Skye. We wandered the festival grounds, seeing the different bands and art performances taking place. One band we watched, the Envision Orchestra, something like a 20-piece band, was super cool. A guy in top hat and long sequin covered tuxedo jacket with a cane and small whiteboard strutted the stage, occasionally pointing at certain musicians or scribbling something on the whiteboard. He was the maestro leading the band, and the whole performance was an impromptu jam. It was cool to watch a new song develop out of a just a drum beat into a 10-minute epic jam with the entire band going to town. The band played remarkably well together and created some sick improvised music. Crunchy tunes, bra.
Maria and I spent more time at the main stage watching and dancing to a DJ called Pantyraid. After some time, Maria was ready for bed at about 2am. I walked her to her tent again and we said a long goodbye. I wasn’t tired yet, so went back to the main stage.
There, I met Margo, 20 from Vancouver, and we danced together for a bit. We then went and hung out with her group of friends. They were festival regulars. These people were crazy, hanging out on the side of the stage doing various drugs indiscriminately. I was amazed. These 21-year-old kids were doing casual DMT bong hits right there. Not my idea of a good Set and Setting or use of a tool like DMT. I reserved my judgments and refrained from giving fatherly advice as I watched them go from DMT to Nitrous to cocaine in the matter of 15 minutes like it was no big deal. I rolled a cigarette of organic tobacco and offered it to a guy I was talking to. “No, I don’t do that,” he said and I burst out laughing. Kids these days.
Margo and I hung out off to the side. We talked for a while before going back into the crowd to dance. Around 3:45am, I was all pooped out. Part of me wanted to go all night until sunrise, but the other part of me saw the crowd dwindling and the atmosphere deteriorating. Only the super hardcores remained. I listened to my body and said goodbye to Margo and team, and found the way back to my tent.
The next day I woke up to people rustling about, packing up at 7:30am. I tried to go back to sleep, but the morning sun was already uncomfortably heating my tent. I got up and took a hobo shower and chugged a litre of water before heading to the food court.
Along the way, I reveled in the aftermath. The mood was somber. It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue played in my head as I watched countless exhausted people taking down tents and clearing campsites. The food court was sparsely populated with only a few vendors open. Luckily, the café was open. Two cups of coffee and an omelet saved my life.
By the time I made it back to my campsite, more than half the campground was vacant. The festival grounds seemed deserted in stark contrast to the same time the previous morning. The team at my campsite that I began the festival with were already gone. I packed up and returned my tent, gathered my backpacks, and headed to the gates, mentally reliving the festival and saying goodbye along the way.
I had no plans or accommodations awaiting me, but fortunately Josue and Maria offered to give me a ride to San Jose. I got in contact with Josue and waited on the side of the highway near the front gates. After about an hour Josue, Maria, and another of their friends, Anjoli from Detroit, picked me up.
After about an hour ride north, Josue recommended we stop at a nearby waterfall. I was drained so wasn’t really in the mood, but everyone else wanted to go. We took a side road into the hills, and drove for about 20 minutes up a rocky dirt road.
We parked and then hiked for 20 minutes up a muddy jungle road to arrive at a rest stop where we viewed peacocks and monkeys.
After another 25 minutes uphill, we found the Nauyaca Waterfall. Beautiful. Glad I came.
We stayed at the waterfall for about an hour and a half. The water was cold, but invigorating. Just what I needed. Josue and I climbed the waterfall, and then cliff jumped about 35ft into the pool below. Whee! We laid in the sun and had a little picnic before packing up and hiking back.
On the way back, it started to drizzle. Josue informed us that a drizzle in the Costa Rican jungle usually turns into heavy rainfall, and we picked up the pace. Sure enough, about five minutes later we were caught in a downpour. The dirt road turned to mud, becoming slippery. Little streams of water trickled down the sides of the road. After about 30 minutes of hiking in the rain, we arrived at the car, soaked. Of course, right after we got in and cranked up the heat the rain subsided. A fresh jungle mist lingered just above the treetops meandering through the hills as we drove back to the highway.
During the car ride, I booked a hostel in San Jose. I tried to take a nap, but sleep wouldn’t come. We finally arrived in San Jose at about 7:30pm. Josue dropped Anjoli and I off the place I booked, Isha hostel. We said our goodbyes, and I thanked Josue profusely for the ride. Maria and I hugged for a long time.
I checked in at the hostel, and Anjoli tried to get a bed only to learn they were fully booked. The staff helped her find a hostel nearby, and, after dropping my bags and grabbing a jacket, I walked Anjoli to her hostel fifteen minutes away in the brisk San Jose night.
On the way home, I stopped at a supermarket and picked up a bunch of food. I returned to the hostel to gorge, before passing out at 9:30pm.
I woke the next day at 11am, and felt immeasurably rejuvenated compared to the prior day, though still not nearly back to 100% after five days at Envision. I spent most of the day lounging around, reading, and catching up on the happenings in the world. In the afternoon, I went to a nearby mall, and bought a cheap yoga mat to travel with. I did a bit of yoga and meditation at sunset in the backyard of the hostel. I made dinner, read, and then hit the hay early again.
I woke at 7:30am and practiced yoga and meditated in cool overcast morning, before making a giant breakfast. In the early afternoon, I walked 25-minutes to the center of San Jose. I did some standard tourist sightseeing there, visiting the Museo de Jade, Parque Central, El Teatro Nacional, and the Museo de Oro.
While sitting in the Central Park, a homeless man approached me and asked me for help in a mix of English and Spanish. “Si, puedo ayudarte (Yes, I can help you),” I responded looking into his eyes, but wasn’t forthcoming with money. The man looked at me knowingly, then began telling me his problems and how he arrived at his current state. It was shocking at first, as he related all this to me, but I knew what I was supposed to do. I showed him compassion and held the space for him. I offered empathy and advice, but mostly just let him purge. After about 10 minutes, the man had tears welling up in his eyes, but had come to a revelation. He thanked me for speaking with him and set off. He said he was going to call his daughter. I gave him $10 and wished him the best.
I walked home in the dusk that evening. By the time I made it back to the hostel, I was quite tired from tramping all about the historic center of the city. I had another home cooked dinner, before reading and an early bedtime.
The next morning, I made my way to the backyard of the hostel for morning yoga and meditation, only to discover my space was already taken by another gentleman doing yoga and tai chi. I found another part of the garden.
At breakfast, this man introduced himself, Angel, and his wife Gabriella from Guadalajara, Mexico. They invited me to join them for breakfast, and we chatted about yoga. They had a bag of exotic fruit that they had never seen before that they purchased from a street vendor the prior day. We sampled the different fruits together. They were lovely people. They ran a community center in Guadalajara that offered all types of wellness and eastern style classes. They had hosted prominent Babas and Gurus from India over the years, and loved to host foreign travelers at their home. We exchanged contact info, and they implored me to stay with them if I was ever in Guadalajara.
I spent the morning writing. In the early afternoon, I wandered out to explore San Jose further. I stopped at a vegetarian restaurant for lunch, and in the afternoon visited a charming Teteria (Tea shop).
In the late afternoon, I returned to the hostel, to find an older American couple watching CNN. I made a remark about how they should be avoiding the misery and propaganda while on vacation, and the gentleman took exception. I declined to talk politics with the guy, and headed to the garden to read.
After about 10 minutes, the man came out to engage me further after my remark. I guess it didn’t sit too well with him. See, Norm was a liberal and hardcore Blue team fan (Democrat), and preached to me about the need to ‘resist’ and the fate of the country.
Most of the time I avoid engaging people on politics because after a few rebuttals, most people are blue in the face and resort to ad hominem (if not physical) attacks. Since he followed me outside, I had little choice but to engage. Well, let’s just say that I did indeed engage him, and tore the entire corrupt political establishment apart in front of his eyes. The conversation lasted almost two hours. By the end, he had admitted the hard truth that his party and the entire status quo is corrupted beyond recovery.
People get so attached to a singular idea that they will repeatedly excuse failures. Excuse enough and you’ve lost your humanity. I like to help people remember they are human beings. Norm commended my perspective and ethos, and thanked me for speaking with him and went out to eat with his dinner.
I went out to dinner as well, finding a trendy gastropub in Barrio Escalante, a hip part of the city, and gorged on a burger, two orders of fries, and mojitos.
After dinner, I had the hostel call a cab for me, and I headed to the bus station.
A few days earlier, I saw a Tweet promoting the Pokerstars Championship Panama, a series of poker tournaments taking place over two weeks in Panama City starting the next week. Obviously, I had to take part in a big time international poker festival in the next country over.
To enter Costa Rica, you need to provide proof of ‘onward travel’—proof that you’re going to leave the country by the end of your visa. I had bought a bus ticket to Panama City in Nicaragua as my proof of onward travel. I didn’t intend to use it. I just bought it so that I could enter the country, and looked at the expense like an entry fee.
After finding out about the poker festival in Panama City, I dug the bus ticket out of my backpack, and saw that it was for an overnight bus two nights hence. Turns out I could use my bus ticket. Thus, I decided to forego another couple of weeks in Costa Rica and head to Panama.
I arrived at the bus station at 10:30pm, and waited an hour for my 11:30pm bus. The bus actually arrived early, boarded at 11:20pm and was on the road by 11:35pm. Such efficiency for Central America.
So, concluded my brief 17 days in Costa Rica. Some travelers complain that Costa Rica is by far the most expensive country in Central America and has been ‘spoiled’ by tourists inundating the country. But there’s a reason for that. Costa Rica is a country that is teeming with biological beauty, rich Tico culture, and tons of attractions. I feel that I did not fully give this amazing country its due, but I will be back. Until then, Pura Vida!
“People get so attached to a singular idea that they will repeatedly excuse failures. Excuse enough and you’ve lost your humanity. I like to help people remember they are human beings.”
Incredible adventure at Envision! If you’d ever consider going back another year, I may be inclined to join. The quote above gave me a chilling reminder of some of daily conversations!