I spent $1,282 at a gay nudist resort in Mexico
Apocalypse spending (vol. 2)
A dear friend of mine recently asked me, “How are you doing lately? You know, with everything going on with trans rights right now.” We were at a bar, so I deflected and just changed the subject.
But what I really wanted to say was: I actually don’t know what to worry about first – the trans stuff, or the immigration stuff – both of my intersecting identities. On top of that, 2025 was a year of difficult conflict in my family of origin.
Sometimes, I get so overwhelmed with worry that I just say, “Fuck it,” and spend money on something so delicious, luxe, affirming – and tbh a little out of my price range. This is a phenomenon called apocalypse spending, which I introduced when I launched vol. 1 of this series.
Today’s entry is about a magical trip I took to a town called Zipolite, a small queer, hippie, nudist beach town in Oaxaca, Mexico. Hands down, it was the best trip I’d ever been on – and also, I 100% identify as a nudist now.
The night we arrived at this tiny town, I felt an immediate sense of ease. The whole beach is about a mile long, and there are 3 blocks of restaurants and hotels off the shore. Our hotel was right by the ocean, and the sound of the waves was intoxicating. My partner Melba and I dropped our bags off in our room, then immediately stripped naked and swam in the pool.
The food in Zipolite was incredible. There was a small beachside restaurant that served grilled octopus with mole negro that I still think about every night, even though this trip happened almost five months ago. One night, we went to an upscale restaurant that had tables on the sand.
I nom-nommed on delicious food while admiring the servers’ calves – they gotta be so strong to gracefully carry heavy trays of food from the kitchen to the table. There’s a delicious Thai restaurant that felt like a godsend when I, inevitably, started craving Asian food. In the morning, we ate breakfast naked while looking at the beach. We also visited a turtle sanctuary in Mazunte, a town about 20 minutes away from our resort. It was the sweetest time.
Even though our resort was marketed as a gay resort, I would say that only 30% of people actually staying at the hotel were gay (or queer and trans, because iykyk – queer and gay are very different things). The resort offered day passes, so queer people staying at cheaper hotels nearby could spend the day at the pool. The crowd was great. Melba and I made friends with two other lesbians from Guatemala who were on their honeymoon.
The beach itself is kind of rough. In Zapotec, the name of the town translates to “beach of the dead,” referring to the intense underwater currents. It’s no surprise to me that the gay beach happens to be the most difficult to swim in. Nonetheless, we had a great time laying out on day beds in the sand while the kind waitstaff brought us drinks and food.
What it cost:
Flights: $485.50
Resort: $400 per person – Melba and I shared a room and split the cost 50/50
Food: $236.85 – food was not included at our resort, but it was relatively cheap
A random hotel fee + the cost of all the Pringles I kept eating from the snack bar: $19.50
Souvenirs: $94.02
Car rental: $45.75 – split between 4 people. We traveled with Melba’s parents, and Melba’s dad very kindly drove us around. Don’t worry, y’all, my in-laws stayed at a non-nudist hotel nearby lol
Total: $1,281.62
Regret meter: 4/10
I don’t regret it at all, but I would have changed a few things:
I would have stayed for 3 months. Ok, that’s an exaggeration, haha. But I would have stayed at least a full week instead of Monday to Friday. We chose to stay at the resort during the week to avoid crowds, and because we wanted a more chill vacation instead of a party vibe.
I had a work commitment for about 3 hours during our stay. I wish I had canceled that and let myself have complete peace during our whole trip.
We would have flown into Puerto Escondido instead of Huatulco. There was hella construction between Huatulco and Zipolite, and the roads were only open during certain hours. This means we lost most of our day in Zipolite on Monday and Friday of our trip because we had to travel strategically to plan for road closures.
I would have invited all of my friends. See y’all in the group chat for Zipolite 2028.
Overall, if this is the last trip I get to take for a while because 1) trans people are getting their passports and IDs revoked, or 2) ICE agents are posted up at the airport, or 3) the price of flights is about to skyrocket because of our country’s attacks on Iran, I’m at peace with my decision.
In case you missed it:
There’s one week left to register for Budgeting for a World on Fire, our 12-week group coaching offering starting on April 20. Scholarship applications are now closed.
Full transparency: We need 12 people to sign up at full price to run the group. Our team of five (me + four awesome contractors) crunched the numbers, and running the group without this number of attendees would put us in the red for this offering. If you sign up, but we don’t meet our attendance goal, you’ll receive a full refund for your purchase.
Feel free to contact us at hello@queerandtranswealth.org if you have any questions.
Media I’m consuming right now:
🎭 Really excited to see the play Kim’s Convenience at the Ahmanson Theater tomorrow night. You might know Kim’s Convenience as a Canadian TV show about a Korean family that owns a convenience store in Toronto. The show held Chinese-Canadian actor Simu Liu’s breakout role, and it’s one of my favorite shows to play in the background while I work.
🗞️ 404 Media published a story last month about the role that Proton Mail played in the FBI’s arrest of a Stop Cop City protester, and I’m still shook about it. Many activists switched out of Google to Proton because Google is more likely to comply with police – now, I’m not so sure.
💿 It’s Blitz by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Soviet Kitsch by Regina Spektor, and Vampire Weekend’s self-titled album – all my favorites from high school because… why not?
🎶 Sexistential by Robyn because… duh! It’s Robyn!