A Clay Beach, a Singing Whale and a Sweat Lodge in the Dark

The blanket door closed and the darkness was total. I could not see my own hand in front of my face, let alone Katharina beside me. Somewhere in the middle of the hut, water hit hot stones and the steam came at us in a wave. A drum started, and a voice began to chant. An hour earlier this had sounded like a relaxing idea.

That is the moment to start with, because it explains the rest: two people who had been in Mexico long enough to trust a local's suggestion, sitting in a homemade sweat lodge with twenty strangers and no idea how long it would last.

How we ended up there

We are Allan and Katharina. We met for the first time in a hostel in Mexico City during the pandemic. As lockdowns tightened, a small group of slightly lunatic travellers decided to stay rather than leave, and we were part of it. It was the best decision of our lives. Three years later we are still on the road together, and we never returned to our home countries. We spent two years in Mexico, volunteering through Workaway to keep costs down.

Our favourite host was Juan, a local from San Pancho, a little beach town on the west coast. We helped with construction, cleaning, cooking, marketing and whatever odd jobs he needed around the house. What made the stay, though, was where he took us.

The beach made of clay

One day he drove us to Clay Beach, a deserted stretch of sand where you cover your body in clay to cleanse your skin. While we were in the water he told Katharina to put her head under. Whales were singing.

She did, and heard them: faint and strange, like beautiful music. Everyone came out of the water to talk about it. Then an enormous whale swam past about 20 metres from the shore. It was one of the most impressive displays of nature we have seen, and it happened because we were with someone who knew to stop and listen.

The invitation we misread

Juan described the Temazcal as a kind of homemade sauna. A sweat lodge used by indigenous groups across North and Central America for centuries, it sounded relaxing. We were in.

We drove down a long, bumpy dirt road and arrived at a house. Beside it stood a small hut made of blankets, a bonfire and a group of people. We were told to put on swimwear and get inside. No introduction, no explanation. Get in.

Inside, the roof was just above our heads. We sat in the dirt, jammed together like sardines. There were about twenty people we had never met, including families with children. It was far from comfortable.

Inside the lodge

After a while, hot stones were brought in and placed in the middle. The blanket doors were closed. In the dark we could not see our hands. Our Spanish was not good enough to follow what was happening.

Then the leader began to chant and beat a drum, and water was poured onto the stones. The heat from the steam was unbelievable. It felt as if our skin might peel off.

We were frightened. The chanting was loud, we could not see, we could barely breathe, and our skin was pressed against the person next to us under a waterfall of sweat. Juan had not said how long it would last. Five minutes? Twenty? Forever?

Three times longer

After a while the children in the families began crying and asking, in Spanish, to leave. We both wondered whether we could go with them. The chanting and the heat continued, so we stayed a little longer. Eventually the doors opened and fresh air rushed in.

We jumped at the chance to escape. Outside, the cool air felt like being reborn. Juan happily stayed inside. Katharina decided she had had enough when we learned that the session would last three times longer than the part we had just survived. I went back in and finished the whole thing, which I was proud of.

It was deeply uncomfortable, and we will never forget it. It is also the kind of experience we would never have found without a local like Juan.

What those weeks gave us

We volunteered with Juan for five weeks, one of the most memorable weeks of our two years in Mexico. We became friends, and we are grateful for everything he showed us. We are planning another trip to Mexico and will stop by his place.

This story is part of the Travellers' Tales series, where we invite travellers and storytellers to share journeys of their own. If you have one, get in touch.

We are Allan and Katharina, a travel- and fitness-loving couple from New Zealand and Austria. We write budget travel guides at happyhealthynomads.com, with mindful travel tips for backpackers and digital nomads. For more Mexican adventures and ideas for your next trip, see Happy Healthy Nomads, or follow us on Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest.