What Happened + What I Learned: My Psilocybin Mushroom Journey in San José Del Pacifico, Mexico
While I’ve microdosed with mushrooms (“psilocybin”) in the past, this experience would mark my first real “journey” with mushrooms. In the past, I’ve microdosed anywhere from 50-150mg for mood support and at times played with doses of 500mg combined with breathwork and once, 1 gram before a David Guetta concert (do not recommend unless you want to feel hyper conscious of everyone’s energy at the concert LOL).
My Draw to Psilocybin (“Magic Mushrooms”)
I’ve felt the strong call to do a psilocybin journey since January 2020. As I write that, I’m realizing I feel most drawn to this plant medicine during transitional times in my life. In January 2020, I was leaving my 9-5 to work full-time in my business. Fast forward to now (3 years later), while I’m still working for myself, I’m in the midst of building out new programs and offerings as I transitioned from being an Intuitive Eating + Body Image Coach last year to being a Mindset Coach last year. There have been times in between when I had been curious about doing a journey, but was held back by my own fear. But, I trusted in the timing of my life and the timing of which the medicine would present itself to me.
Then, just two weeks ago, I was hanging out with some old and new friends, one of which was telling me about this tiny town in Mexico called San José del Pacifico in between Puerto Escondido and Oaxaca City that is described as the “mushroom capital of Mexico”. To get there, you must take a 3-4.5 hour bus ride on a windy road that people often get sick on. Immediately, my ego wrote it off, “screw that”. But, my intuition went “I want to go there …”
What Was Happening In My Life Before I Decided To Do a Mushroom Journey
As I was hearing this, I was navigating a particularly difficult time. My physical health had taken a rapid decline, which I’m still not sure if it was due to an incredible, but intense chiropractic adjustment I received or from a case of food poisoning, but in short, I was dizzy, vomiting and felt weak for days straight. Once my physical health goes, my mental health often follows, too.
As an entrepreneur, losing a grip on your health can feel scary if your business relies on your presence and vitality (this is something I’m working on building into my business to allow for sick days without guilt). Prior to, I had also just announced my newest Masterclass “Unstoppable: YOU”, which was all meant to be around supporting yourself mentally, physically and emotionally so you can do the damn thing, and yet, I was feeling far from any sort of vibrancy or desiring to do the damn thing.
I had to have a real honest heart-to-heart with myself in the moment and make a big decision whether I would persevere with the launch I had planned, or whether I would hit the pause button. I decided on the latter. Not only was it important to honour my health & well-being, but I felt if people were taking the time out of their busy lives to show up to something I was putting on, they deserve my whole heart and energy and I didn’t have that in me to give at the time.
While scary, I did the damn thing
– and I’m so glad I did.
Once I realized I had freed up about 10-12 days for myself, I turned on my trip planning mind. I recalled San José del Pacifico, and my desire to do a psilocybin journey, but wasn’t sure if I wanted a full-on secluded mountain escape. I had heard amazing things about Puerto Escondido, an ocean-side beach town along the Pacific Coast of Mexico in the state of Oaxaca, but I wasn’t sure if I wanted all-beach-all-the-time.
So, in true Manifesting Generator fashion (where my human design peeps at?!), I combined it all; starting in Puerto Escondido for 4 days, taking the 4.5 hour bus up to San José del Pacifico for 3 days and finishing it off by taking a 3 hour bus out of there to Oaxaca City for 2 days for some integration time and gastronomical indulgences before heading home to Mexico City (the magical city of where of which I currently live).
Puerto Escondido, Mexico
San José del Pacifico, Mexico
Oaxaca City, Mexico
Planning My Mushroom Journey
Finding a Guide
I was really hung up on having a guide, or shaman of some kind to guide me through a mushroom journey, but wasn’t having any luck in my research prior to. I decided to go to San José del Pacifico anyway and just trusted that everything would work out.
While San José del Pacifico is considered the mushroom capital of Mexico, when I went, it was off season so it was a bit quieter, the mushrooms are dried, rather than fresh, and there weren’t many guides around.
I expressed my concern around my nerves about not having a guide to a guy I met when he said to me,
“You’re your own guide”.
Whoooooosh. Exactly what I needed to hear.
Getting the Mushrooms
Finding mushrooms in San José del Pacifico is almost easier than finding water (it, being the mushroom capital of the country, once again). It is legal to pick wild psychedelic mushrooms here, but illegal for tourists to consume them. That said, the town is independent enough where the locals make their own rules and police presence is slim to none, so [mostly] anything goes.
I got my mushrooms from where I was staying at Cabañas La Cumbre. I was literally taking a #2 in the reception washroom (lol) when I heard an English speaking man and a Spanish speaking man inquiring about mushrooms and asking the same questions I had. I made a point to hurry up so I could be part of the conversation while a translator could be present (haha). He helped me get clear on how much to get, as I wasn’t entirely sure and wasn’t sure if Google Translate was ready for that conversation.
I ended up buying 3 grams of mushrooms (which, turned out to being 2.2-2.4 grams after I weighed them) that were described to be “Golden Teacher” mushrooms. I put them in my bag, with the intention of doing them the next day, and definitely felt like a sneaky teenager lying to her parents about the alcohol that’s in her bag while she heads out to the bush party (LOL).
In the reception area, I also met a man, Ricardo (57) from the UK and Gucci (27) from Belgium. These are very important people to remember, as they ended up being key players in my time in San José del Pacifico and in my journey. They, too, were planning on taking mushrooms, but were much more experienced than I was.
We had roughly talked about maybe doing it together, but it wasn’t a hell yes for me at the time, so we didn’t make any plans. But, the Universe had other plans in store, as it kept bringing us together several times over the next 12 hours as we would continuously bump into each other on the streets. Actually, as I write this from Oaxaca City, just hours before this, I was walking down the street when I heard “Raquel! Raquel!”. It was GUCCI (!!!!) We had left San José del Pacifico on different days and didn’t even talk about our plans for Oaxaca City, and yet, here we were. Magnets.
The Prep for my Mushroom Ceremony
I had previously done some reading that suggested to eliminate alcohol, sex, masturbation and meat for 48-72 hours prior to your ceremony. This is suggested to keep your vessel and “channel” as clear as possible to allow for the insights to come through even stronger. I decided to follow this for 48 hours before my ceremony.
While I didn’t plan it (because the Universe did), I also ended up doing a Temazcal ceremony (a Mexican sweat lodge) the night prior to, which I found to be really helpful to clear my system and channel. In fact, I felt the insights started to come through even then. I’ve heard this is common as well; that, the minute you decide you’re doing a mushroom ceremony, the medicine begins to work its magic.
In addition to the prep mentioned above, I also made a playlist with some of my favourite songs that I thought I would want to hear during the ceremony and made a list of mantras that I could turn to to anchor in if I felt scared or lost. Each of the songs are highly personable to me, but I think it’s a pretty epic line up of tracks. You can snag it here.
The Day of the Mushroom Journey
Mushroom day was finally here! Everyday in San José del Pacifico is beautiful in its own way, even when it’s cloudy. The town sits at 8000ft high, so even on a cloudy day, it’s beautiful because you’re literally in the clouds. But, this day, the clouds had cleared for me to see the INCREDIBLE view of all of the trees surrounding the area.
Despite the beautiful scene before me, I was VERY nervous on the day of my mushroom journey. But, I also felt like I had done so much to prepare for this moment – from deciding to come to San José del Pacifico, to getting the mushrooms, avoiding stimulants prior to – that it felt like there was no turning back now.
The main reasons I was nervous was because I was afraid of having a really bad, dark trip. While I know I would be better for it on the other side, I was scared to go through it. I also wanted to do it at my cabin where I had all my things and a private bathroom, but this also made me nervous as it was away from everything and I had no cell reception.
But, I anchored back into what the friendly stranger said to me:
“You are your own guide”.
I pre-decided to start the journey at around 11:30-12pm (knowing that the journey typically lasts around 4-5 hours) so I had a relaxed morning walking into town for some food for my journey in case I got hungry (Pineapple Tamales, anyone?!) and for a “Chocolate de Agua” (Mexican hot chocolate) and an energy ball. I deliberately was trying not to eat too much, as the mushrooms can upset your digestion and cause you to vomit, so an empty stomach is more ideal. But, the intuitive eater in me was hungry so body got what body wanted LOL.
I was seeing signs everywhere that I was, both on the right track, and what would come of this journey for me. Messages like “it takes time” and then more poetic messages like this in a cafe I visited:
As I was beginning the nerve-wracking walk back to my place, as the Universe would have it, I bump into Ricardo and Gucci (of COURSE). I told them I wanted to be alone for the beginning of my journey, but that I might be open to meeting up at some point. I gave them directions to my cabin in the middle of no where and we left it off at “Maybe see you?!?” That said, I highly doubted it because to find my place with even written instructions was challenging.
The Actual Journey
Once I got back to my place, I set everything up – my journal, palo santo, my speaker, playlist, snacks and of course, my mushrooms. As I wrote my intention, I began crying. Again, it’s like the medicine was already running through me.
I had pre-decided to take half of the mushrooms in the first hour (1.2 grams), see how I feel and then take the other half (1.2 grams). I took a deep breath, and began to eat my mushrooms. I was nervous about this too, because people have warned about how awful they taste, but to my surprise, I actually really liked them haha!
Once I finished them, I wrote down the time of which I took them in my journal, set up some pillows on the floor and listened to “Wait” by M83 about 5-8 times and sobbed. Whether I’m happy or sad, that song always seems to get me right in the feels. I even plan to walk down the aisle to it one day!
The effects of the mushrooms began to settle in quite quickly (maybe within 20 minutes) as I felt a tingling begin in my body and all of my senses becoming heightened. At that point I knew, this was going to be a really, really beautiful journey.
1 Hour In
The first hour of my journey was INCREDIBLE. I was flooded with SO much joy, love and gratitude. Downloads started to pour on in and I scribbled away in my journal. Music sounded out of this WORLD. I didn’t want it to end. As each song came on from my playlist, I would gasp and rejoice. It was like the perfect song would play at the perfect time (my friend and I refer to this as “Spotify God” haha). I laid on my bench outside and watched the leaves of the trees dance in such playful ways – this was SO magical and I felt so connected to nature.
I was having SO much fun all by myself. At that moment, it became clear why I got the cabin I did. I had resisted it the whole time, wronging it for being so far away from the main street and not having cell reception – deeming it unsafe for a woman traveling on her own – but, at that moment, I was so happy it was just me and me. I remember thinking at that moment “I love you Ricardo and Gucci, but I hope you intuitively know I’m okay and don’t show up” HAHA.
I also began to get very turned on. As I closed my eyes, I felt the energy of my soul mate. I saw him, I felt him. He was playing guitar to the tune of my body. I felt so in my feminine and surrendered to him. That turned into a beautiful self-love session, which, despite my oversharing-nature, I’ll cap the details there :)
At that point, I decided to take the rest of my mushrooms. I was enjoying just BEING so much – laying on my bed, listening to each note of the music that played, dancing. I also got a bit hungry at one point and remembered I had bought Pineapple Tamales. Try to NOT CRY eating beautifully handmade Pineapple Tamales while on mushrooms – wow. What a beautiful experience.
About an hour later (2 hours into my journey), I started to feel more comfortable and desiring to go outside and be in nature. That is, when I heard a faint knock on my door. As I opened my door, I see the most hilarious scene before my eyes that I hope I soon don’t forget – Ricardo, wearing a rainbow hat, and Gucci, sitting on my bench outside – just smiling, saying nothing. That’s when I just BURST out laughing. The mushrooms might have had something to do with it, but there was something SO hilarious about that visual.
They were so sweet and coming to check on me, but also wanted to be mindful if I wanted to be alone. At that point, I was ready to get outside and be around people though.
We sat on my porch for a bit, and while Ricardo was rummaging through his bag, he pulled out tarot cards. Turns out he reads tarot (of course?!). I drew a card that my intuition immediately pulled me to.
First, Ricardo intuitively interpreted it and was spot on. Actually, everything he was saying was SO spot on to the point where I asked him “Have you been saying shit like this all along? I feel like you’re saying everything that I need to hear right now” to which he said “I say shit like this all the time – you’re just more relaxed so you can hear it now”. Touché! As a Mindset Coach, I know this to be 100% true. Then, I read the description for the card and it brought me to tears; mainly because of the intention I had written just hours prior.
The Nitty Gritty Details You May Not Care About, but I’m Documenting Anyway (For The Memories)
This is the moment where our day began to feel like a movie At this point, we decided to journey out and look for this swing that Gucci had found a few days ago. It was meant to be a 20 minute walk, but turned into a 4 hour journey. When I say we lived a life in a span of 4 hours, I’m not kidding. I’ll spare all the nitty gritty details, but we navigated high highs and then some lows and conflict when we realized we didn’t know where we were going.
Gucci separated from Ricardo at that point to be alone (they were also doing mushrooms and on their own journey). What I found most interesting is that while I was on mushrooms, I didn’t feel the aches that come with conflict. I could notice there was conflict between the two guys, but in my mind, I was like “What is there to be upset about right now?”.
It’s like I could see everything for what it was and not make it mean anything more.
As my high began to wear off, I noticed the controlling part of me start to come back online. I had been so trusting and a “yes woman” while I was floating on mushrooms, but as it wore off, I noticed my concerns like “Where are we?” and “We need to get home before sunset” appear. That said, we still had about 2 hours of daylight and while I was tempted to journey on home on my own, I took it as an opportunity to continue to surrender (also because, I truly had no idea where we were and it wasn’t worth it to me to attempt it and potentially get lost).
Thank goodness I chose to stay, as shortly after, we heard Gucci yelling our names from a distance. He had found the swing we were looking for, but once he realized it wasn’t as enjoyable on his own, he came back (and traveled a great distance) to find us so we could enjoy it together.
At this point, everyone was apologizing for where they went wrong, meeting each other with love again and even laughing about the miscommunications we had. It was about 30 minutes until sunset and the pink glow across the sky could be seen from a distance, almost to imitate the turning point [for the better] in our story. This is what I mean when I say our day felt like a movie.
Just then, we happened upon the most beautiful scene – a long wooden swing hanging from a tree overlooking the entire town and landscape of San José del Pacifico. I’ve seen many beautiful sights to date in my life and my travels, but not many truly take my breath away. This one, however, did.
I don’t think I’ll ever forget the sounds of our joy and laughter as we took turns swinging on the swing like we were little kids. At one point, in true Rach fashion, I even took my clothes off and swung in the nude. Ricardo, the most youthful 57 year old man I’ve ever met, inspired by the liberation he was witnessing, followed suit.
The walk to find the swing should’ve only been 15-20 minutes from my place, but instead it took 4 hours. But upon reflecting on it together, the joy, gratitude and reward we felt in that moment wouldn’t have been as sweet as it truly was had we NOT gone on the unexpected journey that we did. It made me reflect on how true this is for all aspects of life as well.
The Integration Period
While I was preparing for my mushroom journey, I read up about how important it is to prepare accordingly for your journey, but also to plan for your integration period after. My high wore off at around 6pm just as the sun was about to set. I knew I wanted to go eat a nice comforting dinner (which, I most definitely did), have a hot shower and go to bed. I was really tired at that point.
A few friends and family members knew I was journeying that day, so I felt tempted to find WiFi to check in with them to let them know I was okay, but I decided not to – and I’m glad I did. It felt important to stay in the bubble that I was in and to protect my energy. I felt so connected to my truest self and wanted to preserve that feeling and allow for any last insights or downloads to pour in.
The Lessons
My journey, and the lessons I learned, can be summed up with one word: LOVE. From the moment I took the mushrooms, all throughout the day, I was just overwhelmed with love and gratitude for every little thing. I’ll never forget how delicious music sounded and how I never wanted it to stop. Or, how amazing it felt to release laughter in moments of joy and discomfort. I didn’t realize how much I was withholding LOVE and JOY to come into my life. Everything feels better when we approach life from this lens and perspective.
These are a few of the other downloads and insights I wrote down towards the beginning of my journey:
Stop deciding what your journey (your life) should look like. Let your journey be your journey
Take the next step then let life happen
“I’VE got ME”
And then some rambles …
“This is all love. Love has been here all along. The gifts have been here all along, but we’ve all been too busy trying to turn things – THINGS – into love that just aren’t. LOVE HAS BEEN HERE ALL ALONG. It’s always here. Goodness is always here. But, what keeps the world spinning is the idea that it’s not. So we continue to package up things as the solution, which keeps people chasing and keeps the world turning. If people knew love has been here all along – that we already have everything we desire – they would rest; they would surrender; they wouldn’t try so hard. But, because we don’t know that, we’re all stuck running. But it’s HERE. Love is HERE. In me. In you. The medicine – it’s here. Love is the medicine in us all to give”
“We are ALL love, but we are dimming our love and light. People act afraid or weirded out when someone is too nice. We’re normalized disconnection, which keeps us yearning for connection, which leaves us feeling disappointed and chasing and yearning and chasing and yearning. It seems so insane when it’s so clear that it’s all here right now. I am here exploding with love with nothing but myself, water, music and tamales and I feel I have everything I could possibly need”
My Advice For Anyone Considering a Mushroom Journey
While I can’t say I’m a pro when it comes to plant medicine after doing one proper mushroom journey, 1 gram at the David Guetta concert (lol, still not over the randomness of that) and a couple of other micro-dosing moments, what I can share with you on the other side of this experience is this:
The mushrooms will give you what you need. It’s helpful to have an intention, but I would be weary of going in with really specific questions with the expectation that your journey is going to “save you” and solve all of your problems. Admittedly, my initial intention I was noodling on was along those lines, but when it came to writing it down in my journal before I took the mushrooms, it was much more simple and you can trust what comes up for you, is for you.
I also think mushrooms are a very personal experience, in that, in all of the times I’ve taken mushrooms, I’ve desired to be alone – at least for the first bit. And in hindsight, I’m glad I didn’t have a sitter / guide for my experience. I felt like I was able to be my 1000% fully expressed self, and I think I would’ve held parts of that back if someone else was present. That said, I think if I was with someone I completely trust who I can be my 1000% weirdo self with, I would feel differently and may actually want a sitter / guide, especially if I was doing a larger dose.
All in all, if you feel the call and draw to mushrooms, you can trust it. They are such a beautiful plant medicine and I look forward to continue learning more about them and how they can support myself and others in healing parts of themselves that may be holding them back.
Please note, all of the above is my personal experience and I am not an expert or a professional in the field of psychedelics. Please consult a professional before considering use of psychedelics, especially if you are prone to mental health challenges.