It was just a couple of weeks ago that multiple media outlets reported that the 6th annual Festival Nudista Zipolite was still going to happen at Playa Zipolite, in Mexico.
Located on the Pacific coast in the state of Oaxaca, Playa Zipolite (which means “Beach of The Dead”) is Mexico’s first and only legal nudist beach. Federación Nudista de México (the Nudist Federation of Mexico) has hosted Festival Nudista Zipolite there since 2016.
The event, which attracts as many as 8,000 people, was scheduled to happen January 29th through February 1st, 2021. Annual activities usually include beach yoga lessons, volleyball, regional dances, night concerts, hikes, naked marine tour, bike tours, surf lessons and body paint, among others.
Not surprisingly, the organizers were receiving more and more flack for their plans to continue with the event, especially in light of the fact that Oaxaca, population 300,000, was “orange” or “high risk” on Mexico’s COVID map, with nearly 30,000 cases and over 2,000 deaths. However, the promoters said that the town’s general assembly voted on December 20 to allow it to happen, provided proper precautions were taken, both on and off the beach.
Until they canceled, the festival’s promotional brochure warned visitors that they needed to have reservations in a local hotel (read: no couchsurfing) and would be expected to observe sanitary guidelines. The promoters also suggested that people not attend if they had COVID-like symptoms.
As late as January 10, 2021, the event was still scheduled to happen. But then, on January 23rd, smarter heads apparently prevailed and the event was finally canceled:
I can’t find an adequate translation for this, save for Google Translate, which, unfortunately, doesn’t change sentence structure. In a nutshell, they’re canceling all of the events, but you’re welcome to go to the beach on your own. But do it safely, with hygiene and social distancing.
Also from their Facebook page (thanks to FB Translate):
Now, I realize there’s a lot lost in translation. Literally. But is it just me or did they sound like the organizers totally did not take COVID seriously? It’s not as if they had no precedence. I mean, think about it:
- Dozens tested positive after a “safe” swingers convention in New Orleans
- The Big Nude Boat was rescheduled to 2022 in the interest of safety
- 150 visitors to a nudist in France resort caught COVID
- The No Pants Subway Ride was cancelled for 2021
- The World Naked Bike Ride was not cancelled per se, but they did nothing organized in 2020 – they told participants to ride in their own town, as naked as could safely be done (not in numbers)
And up until 6 days before the event, the organizers of Festival Nudista Zipolite planned on going through with it.
Mexico has had close to 200,000 cases of COVID, with over 158,000 deaths, placing it as 13th in the world for cases and 5th highest for lives lost due to the virus. Good thing they canceled the nudist event, or they may have gotten themselves up to 12th and 3rd.
With nearly 105 million cases and 2.25 million dead, and now with variants that are even more contagious, I just don’t understand how anyone on planet Earth can still be so cavalier and not careful about coronavirus.
Feature Photo: pxhere
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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
