What I Learned from Portugal’s Psychedelic Disneyland
I consider my life an experiment. Not the controlled-lab-coat kind – more like the “stick a fork in the outlet and see what happens to my aura” kind. So when my cannabis-and-mushroom grower, let’s call him Cas, a longtime festival whisperer, invited me to Boom, one of Europe’s largest psytrance festivals, I thought: “perfect.”
I’d never been to a psy-fest. I missed Woodstock (too young) and Coachella never appealed (too commercial, too curated). Boom felt different. This was the moment: the 14th “edition” with 40-thousand Boomers. Portugal. Summer. Psytrance. Heat. Dust. Naked people. The Ritual of Dance.
What could possibly go wrong?
Turns out: everything, and also nothing. Because this wasn’t just a festival. It was a planetary collision of weirdness, wellness, and woo.
PRE-PRE-GAME: The Hunger Games of RV Camping
I joined Cas a week before the Boom gates opened, camping with his trusty van among hundreds of other eager pilgrims. This was “pre-pre-camp,” a heat-baked purgatory in a dusty field outside Boomland, in central Portugal. People do this to win the holy grail: a lakeside RV spot – one of only 75 available, blessed with shade and marginally dignified compost-toilet proximity.
We lived like livestock for six days before the festival even started, moving from one scorched holding pen to another. I wasn’t sure it was worth it, but Cas assured me it was. He’s done this four times. He’s like a sunburned Gandalf with a long rosin vaporizer instead of a staff.
Thanks to his expert maneuvering, we landed about 45th in line and scored a spot equidistant from lake front, compost toilets, the 24/7 grocery store, showers, and recycling bins. That’s Boom luxury – five star accommodations, baby!
I slept in my little “2-second” pop-up tent with a fold-up mattress. It was my memory-foam chariot in the dust.
The Weed Whisperer and His Traveling Circus
Our lakeside camp became something of a pilgrimage site. Cas, my cannabis-savant guide, was the weed Dalai Lama. Boomers of all ages wandered into our camp, seeking guidance, connection, or just a good sativa. They’d sit cross-legged in the dirt, swap stories, make a purchase, and float off again – sweaty, sparkly, and very relaxed.
Despite the surrounding chemical buffet – LSD, mushrooms, changa, ketamine, MDMA, DMT – cannabis was the through line. Or as everyone there called it, reverently and universally: weed. It’s the spiritual hummus of Boom. It goes with everything.
An Emotions Therapist Wandering the Psychedelic Buffet
As someone who works with Earth medicines for emotional and trauma release, I watched all this unfold with fascination, horror, and maybe a little admiration. This wasn’t transpersonal healing. This was trauma roulette with a side of techno.
Some were clearly confronting deep inner terrain. Others were just licking God’s face for sport. The line between the two? Tricky. And hot.
An Israeli woman passed through our camp. One of many, since Israeli Boomers were everywhere (unsurprising, considering psytrance basically started there). I mentioned my work with microdosing, and she laughed. “I can’t do microdosing,” she said, casually ordering ten tabs of acid like she was stocking up on kale. “I need the full impact.”
“The full impact.” My spine tingled.
BOOM BABY: Initiation by Dust, Dance, and Daytime Nudity
Once the festival opened, it was like falling into a technicolor portal powered by rhythm and SPF 90. Boomland wraps around a clean, cool lake, a godsend as the temperature hovered between 90 and 100 degrees Fahrenheit, with scarce shade (unless, like us, you braved the pre-festival hustle worthy of its own survivalist reality show).
During the day, Boomers floated in the lake – topless (I tried it) or gloriously naked (also tried it) – as nature intended. When the sun dropped, the beat summoned us from the water like sequined swamp creatures to dance under stars, lasers, and whatever gods happened to be tuning in.
Boomers don’t sleep so much as oscillate. The psytrance beat never stops. It’s not “music” – it’s a pulsing presence that becomes your internal monologue. By day three, I was vibrating on a molecular level.
The theme this year was “The Ritual of Dance,” and yes, it delivered. The dance wasn’t just physical. It was spiritual. And also cardio.
Some of it felt deeply healing. Some of it felt like watching people try to fix a broken window with fireworks.
One night, we passed a tent where our neighbors were chopping mushrooms like onions. Cas asked, “What are you doing tonight?”
“Oh, we’ve got mushrooms, acid, ketamine, and MDMA,” someone replied casually. “We haven’t decided. Maybe a little of everything.”
Ah yes. The cocktail menu of the soul.
Boom Etiquette and the Rise of the Party Bros
Real Boomers (not the U.S. retired generation kind) care about respect, space, and shared energy. There’s a code: don’t take more than you give, don’t push, don’t pollute, and don’t kill the vibe.
But this year, long-timers were grumbling about a new invasion: coke bros and drunk disruptors showing up like reality show rejects, disrespecting the vibe and turning sacred dust into spring break.
Still, for every buzzkill, there were dozens of glitter-drenched humans offering hugs, fruit, insight, or the occasional shoulder to cry on.
Rituals, Roaches, and Regeneration
Boom takes its ethos seriously. You’re given a vial-shaped ashtray; the unspoken message being: please don’t light Boomland on fire with your roach or cigarette butt.
Compost toilets are everywhere, and drug testing stations (to assure you’re taking what you think you’re taking) help people stay alive while launching themselves into other dimensions. And yes, they even hand out his and hers condoms – because what’s peace and love without a little pragmatic preparation?
Art is everywhere – towering sculptures, interactive installations, and a psychedelic gallery that could double as either a spaceship bridge or a shaman’s dream chamber. Food stalls span every dietary trend your aunt warned you about. High end clothing vendors peddle pieces that blur the line between costume, ritual garb, and wardrobe malfunction.
And through it all, the Boom Ethos: Oneness, Peace, Art, Love, Culture, Music, and Environment. Lofty? Sure. But in the middle of all that dust, it actually works. There are no flags, no borders, no phones (for a minute), and no identities beyond your dance and your glitter.
Baby Boomer No More
As a first-timer, I was labeled a “Baby” Boomer, which made me cackle since, in the States, that term belongs to a whole different demographic. Here, it’s just a sweet euphemism for “Boom Virgin.”
But not anymore. I’ve been Boomified! I met two people who were attending their 8th Boom. If they’re Jedi, I was just an eager Padawan, sticky with sunscreen and staring at the stars.
I arrived to Boom as an observer, a therapist, a skeptic. I left… still all of those things. But also someone who knows how to sleep through trance music, pee in a compost toilet with grace (kind of), and watch people transform under the hot pink sky.
Will I be back? I don’t know.
But I do know this: I’ll never be a “Baby” Boomer again.
If you’ve been to Boom (I did meet 3 other Americans!) – or a similar fest, drop it in the comments. I’d love to hear what you saw, felt, danced through, or learned!
With Love,
Becca
Whew! Becca you are a brave soul! I attended the first Envision Festival in CR many years ago probably 15 or so years ago. I am thinking similar vibe but I could be wrong. I loved the stages, offering dance, trance, fire, etc. The smorgasboard of drugs was over the top in terms of viewing and partaking. Glad to hear you had drug testing stations…not offering such guideposts seems risky in this day for me! ❤️Mary
I concur, drug testing stations are a great idea!
I couldn’t agree more – harm reduction saves lives and lets people enjoy themselves with more awareness!
Mary, you’re a true festival trailblazer – back when “harm reduction” meant hoping for the best and dancing it off! 😳
The vibe’s still alive (and how!), but now, thank god, there\’s a full-blown harm reduction revolution with testing stations and actual guideposts. 💚
Wow, Becca what an article. I 😂😊😳 and 😂 again. Paul and I also attended two Envison Festivals in Costa Rica and we were 😳😊🙂. It was a great experience and it was on some of the hottest days. Lucky for us the festivals were always by the beach. Love your reading about your experience.
Thanks Ceasar! Sounds like you and Paul did the full Envision emotional rollercoaster too 😂😳😊 … beach proximity definitely saved us all from becoming human puddles. So glad this brought back those wild (and sweaty) memories! ❤️
Good for you and glad you could bring your healing energy to a vast spiritual playground.
Christina ❤️ It felt like I was just one little spark in a huge bonfire of connection, and somehow, we all lit each other up. I’m grateful to have shared that field of wild, beautiful frequencies with so many kind souls.
Great article and what a great experience🩷
Judy, thank you! 🤠 It really was one of those unforgettable experiences that stays with you – grateful I could share a glimpse of it. 👌🏼
Olá Becca. Thanks for writing about it. We were wondering how it was. Didn’t know there were so many people doing the experience with drugs.
It did bring back memories of our times at the Envision Festival in Costa Rica. Of course I loved the colors, lights, stages, and dance music.
The vibe was very nice, trippy hippie. The temperatures were very hot. There were yoga sessions and caring for the environment talks, body paintings, colored mud on faces, and the great feeling of focusing on the music and movement in a stress free environment. Of course being in the rainforest by a beautiful beach with toucans and monkeys around added to the enjoyment.
Were there any hotels or other accommodations nearby if one did not want to be in a tent?
We would definitely need to refresh to do more than one day there.
Olá! So glad this brought back your Envision memories. As for how many people were doing “the experience” with drugs… let’s just say, from my interactions, it felt like a significant portion of the population 🤓
Accommodation-wise, being a “Baby” Boomer, I went in with zero idea how people were handling that part. Turns out, if you wanted a premier lakeside spot, you HAD to join the RV queue days in advance – festival-level patience required!
On hindsight though, I’m thinking, once your RV was in line, one might cab back to the little town of Idanha-a-Nova for a real bed (and shower!) over those days. Then return when it was time to trundle on to the next dusty field. It’d be interesting to know how many do that 👌🏼