This strange place is a large artificial hill, painted in bright colors, which lies between Niland and Calipatria, a sort of colony consists of vans and pickup trucks in which lives a community of outsiders and former hippies.

This is where Leonard Knight, a modest man, has spent the past three decades, painting and sculpting his mountain. The mountain has the height of a three levels building and the size of a football field and it is made of bricks made of earth and straw, and stained with tons of layers of colorful paint.

The intention of Leonard Knight, a man of deep religious convictions and with a very peculiar mood, was to honor God and convey a universal message that “God is love” and “love everybody”.

A staircase made of adobe, painted yellow, encircles the mountain and leads to the top, crowned by a large cross on a pedestal. The interior with a largely hollow, contains a series of rooms and a chapel and a museum, the compacted surface that forms the mountain is bathed in bright colors that draw hearts, flowers and trees, birds, geometric shapes and judgments made the Gospel. At the base is recreated the Sea of Galilee and its center is a big red heart painted with the inscription “Jesus, I’ma sinner, please come into my body and my heart.”

The mountain seen from the air stands out as one big blur of psychedelic colors. Nearly all paint used comes from donations from Californians paint manufacturers interested in the project.

Knight himself greets visitors and acts as guide, as well as donations of paintings, also accepts contributions from volunteers.

The hippies were part of the counterculture movement in the 60s. They adopted a nomadic lifestyle based on love and peace to all his actions every day, cursing of nationalism and the Vietnam War, taking aspects of religions like Buddhism, Hinduism, and religions of American Indians.

They disagreed with traditional values of American middle class.

The hippies sought to transform society to achieve a community where peace and love were as IMPORTANT. This made much of opposing doctrines, values and customs commonly accepted .Their principles have connection with some of the principles of anarchism.

Around 1980, much of the hippie style, but very little of the essence of the movement was absorbed into mainstream culture. However, communities continued to exist in various countries. Even today, many of them are at festivals and to celebrate life and love, and the Peace Festival.
The hippies are usually left his hair and beard longer than considered “smart”. Many people not associated with this long-haired counterculture considered an offense.

PD: “The hippie movement was the greatest dream of the
Humanity will never ever have.”

© “Make the love not the war”

© “Nature is my mother and my brother every man”
© “All you need is love” John lennon
© “Love is free”
© “Give a chance to the peace”
© “Stop the violence increase the peace”
© “No way to peace, peace is the way”
© “Peace begins with a smile”
© “There are two paths, one is killed and another is death, and if you live in death, then you must be dead. And if you live life, then you must live. The way your heart decides, make alive.” Bob Marley
© “The wars will continue while the color remains more important than eye color.” Bob Marley

Pop culture marked a different path in the fashion of those years with the use of patterns and materials like plastic. They take the big glasses pasta and wide belts.
But the most successful piece, which represented one of the key facts in the 60s, was the miniskirt.

Britain, moving to Italy and France, becomes the center of the cultural pulse. The rest of the world focuses on the British rock style that is imposed without resistance. The Mod look sweeps. Women eye makeup with thick black lines. The hair is short or geometric cuts. Also her hair is long with false colors by combining all.

Twiggy, a British singer falls squarely within the world of becoming a fashion icon of the 60s. Its extreme thinness leaves behind the sensuous curves that reigned in the 50s.

Do not forget the hippies, who in recent years of 60 make their appearance. They become the drivers of this change in worldview, which promulgated the peace and love, and the concept of fashion. They are the first to revolutionize the fashion and different styles to create what seen so far.

Mary Quant

(London, 1934) British Tailor. His name became an international star in the sixties, with the creation of the miniskirt. Representative of an informal fashion for young people, their models were made available on an industrial scale.

With her husband Alexander Plunket Green, opened his first boutique in Kings’ Road, called Bazaar. Then, during the 1960s, they opened over a hundred new stores in London, the most famous of them in Carnaby Street.

Its extremely simple and colorful style was identified by the symbol of the daisy, contrasted with the seriousness of the current fashion. She also promoted a new archetype of slim young woman, played to perfection by the skeletal model Twiggy.

Mary Quant launched the mini (although his paternity dispute Quant and the French couturier Courrèges), patterned stockings, high boots over the knees, flared trousers, tops drafts and brightly colored raincoats, plus various lines of perfumes and cosmetics. Thanks to its affordable prices and its style and rebellious youth, he managed an impressive commercial success.

Twiggy

British singer and actress whose real name is Leslie Hornby (also used the pseudonym Twiggy Lawson), born 19 September 1949 in Twickenham, Middlesex. Known for her figure free from bends, a radical departure from the ideals of previous generations became one of the top models, the icon of the 60s, at 17 years of age. In the pleasant film debuted in Ken Russell’s adaptation of Sandy Wilson’s musical, The Boy Friend (1971), appearing in productions then lower, as the thriller W (1974), opposite Michael Witney (with whom he later married ). More recently, she played an aspiring singer in SOUSATZKA MADAME (1988), with her second husband, Leigh Lawson.

They are called hippies of the new century and are characterized by the practice of yoga, healthy food, either organic or vegetarian.

They identify themselves with Buddhism, Hinduism, meditation and Taoism.

They love green tea, aromatherapy and reiki, as well as consulting oracles such as Tarot.

There are even those who come to pay yoga classes for their pets, it is called doga, it is a special yoga class for dogs that became popular in the U.S..

Apparently, Jolie and DiCaprio are also fans of the practice of Bikram Yoga, a type of yoga that is performed in a sealed room over 42 degrees Celsius to purify the body.

But surely the actor Richard Gere is the prototype spirituals number one for his affinity for Buddhism and the natural life, reaching personal interview with the Dalai Lama.

In spirituals homes can be found in miniature statues of Buddha and Ganesh, the elephant god, like feng shui arrangements miniature waterfalls and water, to bring positive vibes to the place of rest.

Another important aspect, it is the time and place to spend the holidays. India, Bali, Japan and Thailand are the preferred destinations of spirituals because the trips are real cultural pilgrimages where they learn Eastern philosophy and crafts bring some advantage

The Dragon Festival in Orgiva has become the largest hippy concentration in Europe.
The festival, which is not legalized, attracts over 20,000 people who want to welcome spring in peace, and live music in nature.

It has become the largest concentration hippy across Europe. The Feast of the Dragon, in the area of Los grasshoppers in Boards, Orgiva annexed, is the meeting point of young and not so young people coming from different European countries with a common goal, celebrating the arrival of spring with music , coexistence, and as they say “in harmony with nature.”

Nobody could believe that the illegal party, unauthorized, could concentrate more than 20,000 people as has happened in the last decade. A figure that surpasses the vast majority of music festivals, some of them very famous, celebrated in this country. ‘The Dragon’ is a parallel universe of stalls, music, caravans, meals, bonfires, youth and children, and as his followers say ‘The rule of good roll.

Born on 11 January 1906, Hoffman felt the effects of the hallucinogenic drug when, during an experiment in seeking medical utility components, a drop fell on his hand.
“In a dreamlike state, with eyes closed (because the light of day it was very annoying), I noticed a steady stream of fantastic pictures, extraordinary shapes with intense colors characteristic of a kaleidoscope. After two hours, the feeling disappeared. ” This researcher explained how as his first ‘trip’ on LSD at a conference in Switzerland in 2006 on the occasion of his 100th birthday.

Hoffman defended the usefulness of this hallucinogenic drug in the analysis of the functioning of the mind or psychoanalysis. And bet it could someday be used to treat psychiatric illnesses such as schizophrenia.

In his view, the substance was wrongly demonized because of the recreational use and dangerous to be introduced in those years, starring, among others, by the hippie movement of the time. It is no coincidence that the Beatles dedicated a song in 1967: ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds’.

“I believe that human evolution has never been a need for a substance like LSD. It is simply a tool that makes us what we are supposed to be, “Hoffman said once.

The hippie philosophy had an important impact on culture. It influenced the music, film, literature and art. Also some hippy values such as tolerance and celebration of cultural and ethnic diversity have been widely accepted by mainstream society. Also values of sexual freedom (free love) and his search for alternative forms of spirituality have been spread and acceptance.

On the other hand the hippies anticipated the New Age or New Age movements and the multiple reconstruction and maintenance of local cultures threatened by the globalization we are suffering nowadays. They anticipated the homogeneity of Western society, and in some ways, the environmental movement too.

The idea that drove around the company was to build an alternative society, an idea that had significant influence on subcultures and political movements and eco-socialism libertarian socialism later.

HEROINE: It is a white crystalline powder, odorless, fine, but their appearance may vary depending on the purification processes that it has had.

• · EFFECTS.
  The effects of heroin are the same as morphine but more serious, it eliminates the pain sensation and perception, and it is a central nervous system depressant.

• · DEPENDENCY.
  I t is like morphine, but more aggravated, creating strong physical and psychological dependency.

Magic mushrooms: The mushroom grown in Mexico, contains two alkaloids, the psilocin and psilocybin, both have hallucinogenic properties similar to LSD and mescaline.

• · EFFECTS.
  The effects go from the excitement and euphoria to the distortion of shapes, colors and hallucinations, with higher consumption. Also cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and stomach cramps.

• DANGERS.
  There may be “bad trips” but usually do not last long. The biggest danger is the “Flash-Back” of the original experience. Major problems are unknown, such as dependence or withdrawal syndrome. Tolerance develops quickly, which discourages the continued use of these mushrooms.

Little research has been on long-term effects of magic mushrooms, and they are now perfect strangers. A real danger is the collection and consumption of poisonous mushrooms by mistake.

Coca leaf: Coca leaf is the only member of the tree containing cocaine. This usually arranged in groups of 7 on each stem. Its shape is slightly oval, ranging in size from 4 to 8 cm long by 2 to 4 cm wide.

• · Pharmacological effects.
  The cocaine was initially used as a painkiller, but it was replaced by new analgesics with less risk.
  Cocaine, primarily is an stimulant and the effects it produces in are, euphoria, excitement, talkativeness, feeling of great physical strength and mental acuity.

THE CRACK: Crack is a derivative of cocaine hydrochloride, mixed with sodium carbonate and water its name is due to crack sound created by the formation of crystals. Normally it is smoked through water pipes or spread over a marijuana cigarette. The process of smoking cocaine base and crack is called “freebasing.”

• · EFFECTS.
  Are qualitatively similar to those of cocaine, but are more intense.
  State of intense euphoria (4-6 seconds), but transient (3-10 minutes) and it increases the risk of depression.
  Phenomenon of dependence after very few doses.

Alcohol: Alcohol has undoubtedly been the drug of the Mediterranean people. Today is an accepted drug it takes part in our lifestyle.

• · Pharmacological effects.
  Alcohol is a depressant, although in small doses it has stimulating and inhibitory effect. The symptoms experienced after its ingestion depending on the amount ingested, and the assimilative capacity of the human body, as well as tolerance to the drug (it is not the same as a man of 100 pounds drink a liter of beer, a 60-kg), these symptoms can range from minor alteration of behavior to coma and death from respiratory center depression (it is estimated that this could occur with a rate of 5 grams of alcohol per liter of blood.

CANNABIS SATIVA: Hemp is an herbaceous plant, it has male and female flowers on separate feet. Its crop is annual.
It is a very hardy plant, it can measure from 1 to 7 meters.
The flowers are green and yellow in color and can be male or female. The female flowers are nearly invisible and are grouped in spikes.

Stimulants: Stimulants are psychoactive substances that accelerate the operation of the Central Nervous System. Currently have some acceptance by the sense of energy and strength that they create.

There are many mild stimulant and socially accepted that are not considered drugs. Beverages such as tea, coffee or Coca-Cola contain caffeine the most widely used stimulant in the west.

Stimulants produce euphoria, excitement and increased activity, help the consumer to stay awake and spend long periods of time without sleep. But with a regular use the body develops a natural tolerance, and even though they don’t create a physical dependence, they may produce a psychological dependence with ease.
Stimulants:
* Extasis
* Methylxanthines (caffeine, theobromine, etc.).
* Amphetamines
* Ephedrine

LSD: The L.S.D. or LSD-25 is a psychotropic synthetic hallucinogen it is the most widely used and distributed worldwide. Named after the initials of Lysergide SAURE DIETYLAMID. Commonly known among consumers as “acid” or “Tripi” (the English trip, trip).

LSD is colorless, odorless, tasteless and makes it crystallizes in the form of prisms with pointed ends. Their usual form of presentation (although there are others) is on blotting paper (usually lead acid such as drawings, Popeye, the comic book heroes, or one similar), which is placed in a facility with a rich blood supply (for example placing it under the palate), but also can be injected or administered in tablet form.

• · Psychic effects.
  Inability to concentrate.
  Despersonalizacion and absence of reality.
  Autism and isolation.
  Important disorders of body image, which gives the impression of watching from outside it.

  It does not create physical dependence or tolerance breeds.
  One of the dangers of its use, is the possibility of re-experiencing their effects without taking a new dose, a phenomenon known as flashback or turning back, with cases in which have elapsed between 6 years Take 1 st and repetition of sensations.

  Their fabrication is relatively easy, proceeding to the division in doses by dissolving in distilled water.

In reference to fashion, men used to wear his hair and beard very long, while the women adopted the custom of not using “bra” or shave their armpits and legs. On one occasion former U.S. president Ronald Reagan, then governor of California, defined a hippie as “a guy wi

th hair like Tarzan, walks like Jane and smells like Cheetah.”

It is also characterized by their extravagant costumes and striking (dyed shirts or Hindu inspiration with the presence of strong colors). He also became famous for drawing up their own clothes (in protest against the consumer culture).

The hippies fashion was part of the culture since it was another way to express them. The hippies fashion was embraced by many people.

Probably when we look at pictures of the hippie’s fashion, many would find that they did not care about their appearance very much. It was as if anything went with what they wore, but the reason to this is that the fashion was a way to express their individualism.

Nowadays this fashion has converted popular again but most people now dress presentable, especially in public. In the 1960’s it was also known as the flower children, because the women wore flowers in their hair. Many people painted their bodies, too. It was an expression of the youth at that time and many of the older people did not understand it, nor appreciate it.