Burning man...
For ease of entry (blogger isn't easy to deal with pictures), I'll make this entry just a text blog, and put picts in no specific order in another.
People ask to recount what Burning Man is like, or what it is about. Well, first off, it is a remarkable place. It is a place that many people that have been there call "home". Many of the participants are life changed after going - calling them selves "Burners". It is an experiential place - non-linear, wide open parallel, everything at once, and you take in what you can in your little corner of the event. It is all about self expression, about being "what you need to be" - that might feel like slipping into an alter ego for the week, or like being the real you that you aren't the rest of the year.
Have you ever seen the Sci-Fi series Firefly? It has elements of Western, Science Future, Asian, Post-Apocalyptic, deeper meaning. Burning man has all of that. It is all about the experience, about the details, about each instant on top of each instant. Places different, and out of context, but feeling so appropriate. Things, morphed into a different thing - that is perfect for this strange and wonderful place. People out of their normal confines, rules and structures. Money is not used. Things are given freely - not even in exchange, just given. Booze is everywhere, and free (though usually cheap vodka and cranberry). Food many places. Odds and ends abound - stickers, badges, necklaces. One group brings bikes to share - pick them up at one street corner, and drop them off at another.
It is a place of extremes - during the days the sun glares hot (though not as hot as the deserts that we are used to here - mostly in the mid ninety's), and bright on the grey dust that is everywhere. The dust is like talcum powder, and there are basically no pebbles, rocks, plants - nothing but this fine dust. It is most pleasant to walk in for a while, but is so base that it makes your feet crack if you don't regularly soak them in vinegar water to neutralize. Even then, my feet are still recovering. It is hot enough that clothing is minimalist in general. A few percent of the folks go fully nude. Perhaps 20% is topless - or at least just tape covering critical points. The rest range from from club clothes, to funky lingerie, many men wearing skirts or dresses, funky hats, and colorful anythings. During the night, the temperatures drop into the 50s or below, so different outfits prevail - lots of faux fur in bright colors, boots, robes, parkas. Day and night, you need to keep goggles close at hand, in case a sand storm blows in. This year, we were bounded by storms - during our arrival, and just before we left.
It is arranged like a clock that is about 2 miles across. From 2 0'clock to 10 0'clock there are radial roads every "half hour". Then there are arc roads going from the inner most ring "Esplanade", then A through K. The area in the center they refer to as "the playa" is reserved for walking, art installations, the Burning Man in the very center, and other contraptions.
For the $300 pp ticket to get in, what do they provide? Well, lots of porta-potties, which usually have toilet paper. There is a fence around the camp, but it is really just a trash fence to catch rubbish that blows around. The periphery is patrolled by security - which is another big thing. Local and state police are there in force, as well as a sizable volunteer force called the "Black Rock Rangers" that act as an interface between "Burners" and the other agencies. They also have medical clinic there, and ambulances, and if your illness is fixable by their limited abilities (IV fluids for dehydration, minerals for balancing electrolytes, other stuff for alcohol poisoning, etc), then that is free as well. Remediation of the land is a big part of things - tyring to bring it back to virgin playa even after burns, etc.
So, you are responsible for everything else - food, water, shelter, medicines, taking your own trash back out. Used water (even from a shower) isn't supposed to hit the ground - you either need an evaporation pool, or haul it out. You are supposed to also spend some time volunteering, helping to clean and improve things.
Creations - many "art cars" or "mutant vehicles" ranging from a go cart shaped like a giant chickens head, land speeders, moving temples with room for 20 or more, a school bus converted into a paddle wheel boat, many space ship, some giant fish - all moving, blinking, some spitting flames, many with room for riders. A dragon made of scrap steel, blowing flame, and crawling along. A mechanical battle walker that must have weighed several tons, and ran on hydraulics.
Art - walls erected and painted with salient facts about life here. A silver and blue glowing thing in the distance, when you walk to it, you find it's like a willow tree with hundreds of strings of white and blue lights, with paper leaves on them; each leaf has someones dream written on it. "The Man" - a statue on top of a structure that you can climb up and see for miles. A step pyramid. Temples.
Places - Several diner type places, one with three people named Betty in cute uniforms - one of them a man. They serve pie and coffee several times a day. Another diner between midnight and 3 am has a menu of 10 items - all of which you later realize are grilled cheese sandwiches. A large array of tents called the "Ashram Galactica" in the "India Company" motif - a uniformed fellow dusts your shoulders off with a brush on entering, there are hookah pipes, a mahogany bar, and in another tent a dance floor. Mini golf "put put" another place 8 holes, all times day and night. Another place has classes in massage and yoga. Several have some form of people washing - one place "the human carcass wash", another a steam bath, another an "assisted shower". High tea several places. Presentations, talks, lectures. There is a huge "kids camp", as well as camps for most focuses in life.
Specific experiences - the camp that we were to stay with ended up being full, so when we made it in after 5 hours in line due to the dust storms, we were told there was no room in the camp. Fortunately, we ended up arriving at the same time as some other folks from San Diego who had a trailer, so we ended up migrating out to the outer ring, and set up a satellite camp there which worked really well after all. We docked our awnings together, made a nice space for us, and actually spent very little time in the main camp. In the future, we won't bother joining a "camp", and will just do our own thing, save the money, and have the flexibility. Another side advantage was that things are quite on the outer rings - so you can actually sleep...
Standing on the edge on the playa my last night, I felt like I was in a Hong Kong at night - lights flashing, people on bikes, on foot, strange vehicles. The only thing missing was chickens. Maybe next year, we'll bring rubber chickens... :)
We will certainly return, and bring Delilah with.
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