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Playa Zipolite is a small beach community which lies on the Pacific coast of the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, about three kilometers west of the village of Puerto Angel. It, along with Puerto Angel, San Agustinillo, and Mazunte are known as the "Riviera Oaxaquena" or the "Costa Chica".

The name Zipolite, sometimes spelled Sipolite or Cipolite, may have come from the Nahuatl word sipolitlan or zipotli, meaning "bumpy place" or "place of continuous bumps or hills". [1] Another possible origin of the name is from the Zapotec language, meaning "beach of the dead", so-called for its dangerous ocean currents and riptides, which have taken numerous lives.[2]

Due to rugged mountains to the north and a series of river deltas to the east and west, the coastal Zapotec indigenous people of the area (referred to as Costenos) were largely isolated from the rest of Mexico until the 1970s. During that time the primary means of communication with the rest of the world were the ships that would stop in Puerto Angel to pick up coffee brought down from the plantations in the hills by burro. The area also had a productive fishing industry, and exported sea turtle shells.

In the late 1970s a group of hippies famously came to Playa Zipolite to camp and watch a solar eclipse. Enchanted by the beach's beauty and isolation, they stayed, and a small permanent community began. Locals living nearby quickly reacted to this new source of income, and gravitated towards the beach where they offered simple lodgings and services and developed a small colony. More recently, an British traveller has also made Zipolite his home who has legally changed his name to Crazy Horse Invincible. About an hour's walk from the town of Puerto Angel, the beach's isolation, complete lack of law enforcement, and fiercely independent and tolerant nature of the locals created an ideal location for traveling hippies seeking a simple lifestyle free of modern social conventions. Nudity was common and accepted, and marijuana was cheap and prevalent. Zipolite's signature beach, the Playa del Amor (Beach of Love)[3], generated a certain amount of fame in Mexico and among foreign travelers as a free-love paradise.[1]

Over the 80's and early 90's, Zipolite's population grew. The use of hard drugs became more prevalent, and the town began to develop more of a reputation for wild behavior and party vacations with no rules. Crime and violence began to be a problem, and the government responded by sending in military patrols, which drove out the more dangerous elements and kept drug traffic under control. Then by the late 90s, a fundamental demographic change began, as rising prices essentially drove out the predominantly low-budget, long-term hippie residents, who discovered that their money went a lot further on the beaches of Asia and Central America. This may have also been precipitated by the near complete destruction of the town in 1997 by Hurricane Paulina, after which many of the simple beach huts were rebuilt as larger cement guest houses.

Throughout the early 2000s, tourism in Zipolite decreased and the town struggled to adapt to a changing clientele, one still interested in rustic adventure travel, but more inclined to simplicity and a beach lifestyle than wild behavior. By 2007, lack of demand, stepped up law enforcement, and political infighting between drug cartels had effectively forced most of the hard drugs out of Zipolite, with marijuana dropping back to near baseline levels. While not predominant, nudity remains common and Zipolite continues to be one of Mexico's only established and accepted nude beaches. Zipolite still retains its historical distrust for authority and live-and-let-live attitude, and continues to have an eclectic and liberal community. However, the reputation of being a scandalous, drug-infested, and dangerous community is often happily (and falsely) reinforced by hotels and businesses in neighboring towns desperate for a bigger slice of the Costa Chica's tiny tourist industry.

Still a popular destination for backpackers, Zipolite caters to a younger crowd, including young couples and families, predominantly from Europe and Canada. It also a resting spot for many gay backpackers and tourists who enjoy its laid-back lifestyle. The beach is beautiful but dangerous for swimming, and once claimed as many as 40 lives a year, although since the establishment of a professionally trained and highly effective life guard program deaths are now infrequent. Nevertheless, extreme caution is advised when swimming; flags are routinely posted indicating when it is safe.

Sea World
San Diego
California USA 2007