Unique, stunning, majestic. Ibiza has an unparalleled beauty and a special magnetism that attracts millions of people every year.
But it also has that not-so-pretty face, as everything in this life—call it the dark side for a more mystical debate. The only difference between the island and other places is that here it gets really hard to find a midpoint or a grey scale. You’re flying high, or you’re crawling down. You’re happy, social and enthusiastic; or you’re in a hermit mood and don’t get out of your house for a long time. It’s all about the contrasts.
Calm as the water surface in Talamanca, bright as the sunset in Benirras, and slow as the hedgehogs in the countryside. Or intense as the neon lights at the club, stimulating as the beats breaking through the speakers, and confusing as the last shot you shouldn’t have drunk last night. Ibiza has as many faces as you can imagine.
It goes from a desert-like dry heat in summer, to icy fields and heavy rains in winter. From events where the most guilt-free and bizarre excesses are socially accepted to secluded retreats for a total detox with no communication with the outside world. Even at each opposite pole, Ibiza is an extremist. Don’t expect an average sunset or a standard party: it’s going to be awesome, or super bad.
You can love it (or hate it, that is up to you), but it will always make you feel something deeply intense. We can’t ignore the aspects that we don’t like: how expensive it is, how hard it is to find a decent home or how superficial it gets sometimes, and how tired we are after each season…
But we neither can deny the reasons why we choose to live here: the dreamy landscapes wherever you look at, the kindness of its people, all the charming little aspects of its culture, and that profound sense of freedom that help us to discover who we really are.
The parties, the shamanic rituals, the luxury hotels, the idyllic beaches, the flowering fields, the electronic music, the silence, and the amazing culture and its traditions, everything is true. Ibiza is a magnifying mirror and sometimes, you might not like what you see, but it is in ourselves the capacity to change that. Create more, complain less.
Finding our inner balance among all the noise is, for sure, the best practice we can do. Being flexible is a plus to consider, and spreading love and compassion is the ultimate formula we can apply to tolerate what we don’t like, remembering that this duality is also an illusion.