An Experience Hunter Seeks Community — #myEsalen

If you see Manon Wilde on campus, ask about her travels and you’ll hear some great stories. 

There was that year she taught English in Thailand during monsoon season. “It was a little town called Phatthalung, near the Malaysian border, with a limestone mountain and water buffalo and there was so much flooding that guys were kayaking on the freeway!” This adventure naturally flows into her passion for sustainable housing and passive solar shelters. “They’re called Earthships, made out of recycled materials, started by the Earthship Biotech Academy,” she explains. “It was this volunteer project out in the Virgin Islands. Me and a crew of Haitian guys were laying out all these glass bottles to build one…” During the pandemic, she ran a hostel in Oaxaca.: “I’d roam the streets, drink mezcal, and listen to a good amigo play live music in cozy little bars.” 

Adventuring around the world may sound like a dreamy way of living, but Manon is also quick to caution: “I encountered a lot of misadventures too. But, I've always taken in the lessons that go along with it.” In that spirit, she resonates strongly with “The Fool” tarot archetype — infallibly on a quest. “The fool is always open to curiosity and, like, childlike wonder and play,” she adds. “I chose adventure over anything else. I like to be uncomfortable. I like to push the envelope. I’m basically an experience hunter—I want to be adaptable anywhere I go.”

With her cleverly named travel blog, Manonamous, she documented the interesting characters she encountered — from a local film director to the woman who believed she was a mermaid. “She would go to the beach and swim with this full mermaid tail!” Manon laughs. The list goes on, and she describes each lovingly: The homeschooled ukulele player raised on a sailboat, the polyglot ladies man, the Italian energy worker specializing in past-life regression and spirit animals. “Mine is a black panther!” she replies brightly, launching into another fun tale. “I was doing Kambo, the frog medicine. At first, it was more of a jaguar with piercing green eyes, and as it kept coming toward me."

Right before arriving at Esalen, Manon was hiking Spain’s famous El Camino De Santiago pilgrimage. “It was incredibly spiritual and tested my abilities. My feet hurt from walking up to eight hours a day and I was running out of money and I wanted to be someplace to foster my growth and my human potential. I was seeking a community.” With that, she received a tip from her biggest cheerleader: her mom.

“She sent a clipping of the baths at Esalen from a travel magazine. And now, that is my current role, working as a bath attendant in the Healing Arts Department.” After a whirlwind of travel, the proud nomad became one of Esalen’s beloved “bath fairies,” as our attendants self-identify.

These days, Manon finds herself “more at home” than ever before — thriving in a sacred container where “it’s not possible to fail because people are all so friendly and encouraging.” She refers to the landscape as “heaven on earth, complete with monarch butterflies fluttering about.” She throws staff parties, plays in a jam band, leads mala bead hula hoops classes, and has plans for a small zine publication: “My mind is constantly full of ideas brewing about, and I get to play them all out here, which is a lot of fun…it’s feeding my soul.”

Manon’s voice brims with that same enthusiasm she has for travel while describing co-workers, the “healing and purifying hot spring waters,” the cozy bonfires, and the healthy, nourishing food. “Shout out to the kitchen for all your hard work and keeping us fed on the daily! Y’all are the true heroes to me.” She raves that she gets to learn new things, meet new people, and discover new ideas right here at her home — which makes staying put much easier. 

“People from all over, these guest speakers coming far and wide, we get that right at our doorstep. Interesting people are always flooding in,” she says. “Instead of it being an outwards thing, where I'm like, ‘Oh, I'm seeking outward,” it's like, ‘The world's coming to where I'm living.’” 

It’s a profound change after years of itchy feet. “It’s not like that huge restlessness that I was living for so long. I'm always, always gonna have that traveler spirit. But this is the most planted that I've ever been. In the past, I had to leave everything behind to experience freedom, and now I have the freedom and acceptance to go…and I can return and come back. I feel like I can do that here,” she says. “I never felt like I could before. 

“In other places, I always felt like the black sheep, but here at Esalen, I feel connected, accepted, and valued,” she says. “Here, they just accept and love my crazy ass!”