Just Back From…Careyes

Careyes, on the Pacific side of Mexico in Jalisco, is one of the most beautiful places I have been in my life. It is also one of the strangest. In a good way! It’s a private beach community originally founded by an Italian banker, Gian Franco Brignone, who in the late ‘60s flew over the Costalegre, as this rocky stretch of pristine golden coves is known, and decided to buy it. In the early years, it became a hub for Brignone’s friends—European nobility, celebrities, and assorted jet set—who built cheerful villas and brightly painted pleasure palaces along the steep cliffsides. Picture the Amalfi Coast in Frida Kahlo colors. Today, Careyes still feels like a semi-private village. (Brignone died last January at 96 and his sons, who live in fanciful castelli that face each other across a bay, still oversee the property). The social life revolves around house parties and many homeowners stay for weeks, especially during high season, which also happens to be polo season. At the same time, it also attracts the spiritual nomad-type crowd (it has its own Burning Man-style Ondalinda festival each November), as it is reputed to be an energy vortex, with the Copa del Sol—hemispherical bowl/alien transmitter in which meditations are held—as its center.