Every Full moon in Tortola, there is a huge party at the Bomba Shack. The shack itself is only about 500 square feet made of driftwood, but people come from surrounding islands and plan their vacations around this giant celebration held on the beach surrounding the shack.
I had been hearing about this amazing party and couldn’t wait until the next full moon here. I heard everyone trips on magic mushrooms at these parties. As a child, growing up in San Francisco and Morocco with alternative parents, I had heard about hallucinogenic magic mushrooms. Eddie told me that they grow from cow patties, but when we walked up to the pasture on the hill, we came up empty handed. Eddie explained that they grow in the same place, from the same patty, if the weather is moist. He showed me the poisonous mushroom that we should avoid.
I wasn’t in the mood for a wild party like in NYC, but I did not know what I was in for. People came from all walks of life – old, young, rich, bohemian, locals, travelers and the atmosphere couldn’t have been better! it happens every Full Moon – this felt special, as if it were a genuine happening that people speak of like Woodstock. I find it extraordinary that on this one night, at this one humble place, hundreds of people gather with no boundaries.
New friends we made, Andy and Theo had picked some of their own magic mushrooms and offered some to Eddie and I. Eddie decided to refrain and be our chaperone, but I decided to have an experience.
Eddie danced for hours to the steel drum orchestra – complete with 4 sopranos, 4 altos, 4 tenors, 4 baritones and 4 base steel drums. They also had congas and other drums in this enormous group that you would imagine sounding cacophonous, but was the most beautiful sounding ensemble! We all roared with laughter, finding it the most absurd image when the band packed up a small truck with all these drums. Knowing the steep hills this truck would climb with the instruments, we amused ourselves thinking of the sound they would make as they tumbled out of the truck down the hills of Tortola.
As I got higher from the mushrooms, the night felt like I was in Jack Kerouac novel. I felt connected to him in a way that my life was in actuality just like his. Everything in my life was a stream of consciousness and rambling perfection. I had long admired him, but now realized there it was simply a matter of perspective that the mushrooms were giving me.
Eddie and I took a walk alone down the beach and shared some very intimate moments. We laughed and just enjoyed the closeness. As we passed by Sebastians Hotel, He said, “ I am falling in love with you all over again. I knew what he meant because I feel the same way with him. Our relationship inhabits many realms and this one is this innocent, young love in which we fall in love all over again and again. We were hugging and loving eachother when we felt another presence with us. We looked down to see the sweetest old dog. This dog was really old and the wisdom and charisma of a guru. We spent so much time with him proclaiming our love for him.
We finished the night, which was now dawn with a swim. We giggled until we couldn’t breathe. As I went to sleep, I wished that the knowledge I experienced this night about love, magic and happiness would shine a light on the rest of my days. It was such a wonderful night, but I didn’t want to remember this simple as a happy trip. It was a great night!
The driftwood shack has signs painted by a man named “Bomba”. The signs are how to have a good time at the full moon. People leave personal belongings as momentos. It is thoroughly charming. People line the shack eating barbecue and the entire beach that surrounds it. Psychedelic mushrooms are only illegal when sold in Tortola, but vendors with trays of mushrooms calling out like a ballpark vendor, “mushrooms!” It is, however, not illegal to imbibe magic mushrooms!
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