So I was determined enough to get myself out to Black Rock City this summer and it was amazing. However, life moves pretty fast and i want to be sure and remember some of the highlights before they just blend into a mushy rainbow swamp in my brain that hints of joy and wonder, so just making little fragmented snippets here, enjoy :-) oh and notes to self about what to bring or do next year, mucho importante!
One of the most amazing experiences was on the plane there, i started thinking about where the desert was in relation to the plane and my destination and was just hoping and praying i was sitting on the right side of the aircraft. I heard a guy in front of me talking about burning man and describing exactly where it was out the window, yay! I saw it and it was crazy huge and amazing, kinda a smooshed half circle "U" shape, i wish i had taken a picture, you could see how it fit right in this valley of two sets of hills, there were giant dust devils spiraling up and around in it, and the crazy thing is that a collection of vehicles tents and people could create this giant black mass visible from thousands of feet. I also feel pretty lucky i went a few days late because anyone else would have to pay money to get the birds eye view like that, but it was just part of my journey, a happy little bonus :-)
The drive in was beautiful, the drive there and back were really also probably in my favorite memories box, just listening to good music contemplating and admiring a different kind of nature and beauty.
We waited in line listening to techno for about 4 hours, it didn't even feel that long, I didn't even notice, just watching all the modified trailers and buses and people walking about, people trying to change lanes and get in faster ha ha. Some dude gave us a crossword which i still haven't done. There was a line of SUV's driving fast in a circle with maybe five car lengths between them all around the perimeter of the event, the rangers, i never saw them again after that, but there must have been hundreds. Once we got in i was completely lost, disoriented, in the dark and localized lights only i saw fronts of trailers and bikes and people appearing out of the dark and dusty distance, we entered in the back side of suburbia so its definitely differnt then arriving straight into the esplande, i guess i naively had it in my mind we'd pull up to the man and then go find camp ha ha. Anyway carlos had some idea of where we were so we parked, threw all the stuff out of the back of the truck so we'd have somewhere to sleep.
I don't remember it being especially cold the first night. But here was my first impression, it's like waking up in a dark room, but more then a dark room, light a pitch black vortex, no idea how far or where the horizon is, i was just floating in the middle of black with bursts of neon and other floating bodies, getting there at night was the most disorienting expierience of my life. While i could understand the space i was in, three feet around me, anything out further was completely bizarre, that neon ship in the distance could be five feet or fifty tall, it could be 20 feet away or a half a mile away i had no idea. And there was a long string of balloons with lights in them floating in the sky that you could never quite tell if it they were stars or manmade, drifting into a different line of shape constantly and changing direction, the stars couldn't even guide me at this point is what I'm getting at ha ha.
we went to the bathrooms and while i was waiting for Carlos i was approached by my first burner, which didn't happen except one other time the whole trip, so interesting that something about my face said fresh meet. He was all red and painted and pointy beard, like a friendly devil, telling me he was going to see infected mushrooms play and did i want to go with him, welcome to burning man, gave me a hug, talked with an energy and excitement and vocabulary that i had never experienced before, probably really high, on what, it doesn't matter.
We climbed the man and i still couldn't make sense of anything, the first night was a blur of walking and dancing and i was really quiet and wide-eyed. We stopped at a flaming, well what looked like a flaming mini replica of a roller coaster but what we later found out was a model of the inner ear, looked nothing like the building in Seattle (EMP) so maybe no one really knows what it looks like in there :-\ Someone asked us if we would come watch the show and help keep the crowd back a safe distance. We stood and watched but didn't really need to do anything, an older man came and watched next to me and completely related to how i was feeling, when i told him it was my first few hours ever here. He gave me such a peace of mind and said oh yeah it can be so overwhelming and a lot to take in, you can't speak or even figure out what you want to do or should be doing, its okay, it happens to all of us. Phew so i wasn't some unprepared freak who really shouldn't be here, i wasn't having a bad time, just a brain overdrive and not feeling like i had someone i was comfortable enough with to express all of this. we watched for about half an hour as a spiral of metal shot a flame from its tip, nothing too fancy, we felt bad, the metal started turning red, the noises got louder, what was going to happen? was it not working? then they shot out about 5 huge green flames, and a few giant red flames too, the heat was so extreme it took care of backing people up.
I don't remember crawling into bed, but i do remember we didn't have pillows ha ha, and luckily and amazingly enough i had no trouble sleeping there at all. Ah.
The rest is not sequential, the rest of the days and nights are all blended in together.
*The bikes*
There was so much research and thought into this trip, but the only way to figure it out is to go. I think i came too mentally prepared for the physical aspects of the event and not mentally prepared for the well, mental part of it. I read a lot about bikes, about how you must have one, i was camped about 100 feet from the very edge of the esplanade, i woke up and saw the man in front of me, so in that situation, i didn't really feel like i needed a bike, sure it was hot durning the day, so walking can feel torturous, and you do sweat contrary to myth about a magical wind and dust that wicks away all moisture. I managed to borrow a community bike and loved going on long rides simply for riding, not to look or stop or get from "a" to "b". Bike troupes are also a popular method for groups that go "club hopping" at night. Maybe it's the replacement for cars since these people need their cars in the real world, but being as i don't drive and have a bike as my main means of travel, walking was the step down the chain for me, not biking ha ha. So while most people couldn't program out the need for speed, i felt riding a bike robbed me of stopping whenever i felt like it, from connecting, admiring the little things. Also i don't care if your bike seat is made of one thousand feather mattresses, your butt is going to get so sore from riding, even as little as i did, that you cannot sit without cringing ha ha. So bikes are nice if you get your hands on one, but not necessary.
My first time riding a bike at burning man was when carlos was helping friends set something up, i don't remember, but i wanted to go have some alone time at the Temple, so i walked the mile there and read, observed, everyone is quiet and in slow motion there, its the most spiritual place i've ever felt, even with all the church i've attended ha ha, surprise surprise. A lot of people wrote about someone close to them dying, I had a hard time finding a place to write, but i did, i sat in the dust and kind of wrote down what i knew i was capable of and what i was tired of acting like was my potential. On the inside there were people sitting, everyone meditating and i wanted to sit and have some peace, i found a spot behind a pillar, real cozy with someone on either side and eventually people in front of me practically sitting on my legs, jammed in like sardines. The temple was playing this series of bells and chimes and gongs, very sporadic and dissonant, a random note every thirty second, every two minutes, no real rhyme or reason. I sat there with my eyes closed and my hands in my lap focusing on the noises. And it happened so slowly, so subtly, the noises became a little more frequent a little more melodic. I was in the middle of a desert in a cheap wooden structure filled with 50,000 peoples sorrows and hopes and this cloud of introspect and spirituality made it hard to breath in there. Inevitably after about half an hour tears started streaming down my face at the thought of it all and i was just this speck here too, that is was possible and beautiful and when enough people believe in or want something, it can be. I ended up sobbing as quietly as i could and felt someone tap my shoulder, i opened my eyes barely and he asked if i was okay and i just nodded and said yeah and returned to my slumber. The music was a cacophony and overwhelming and never wanted to stop. Eventually i stood up and walked out, sobered up and tucked my exposed soul back into its safe little pocket in my chest cavity. i circled the temple several times scouring the bikes for a community bike, eventually i found one and was ready to ride for hours until the sunset. I weaved all throughout the playa seeing new art and at one point jumping my chain, in a badass moment of radical self reliance when i could see no one around me i laid the bike down and figured it out. Good thing because that happened about every 1/2 hour with this bike. I rode through the streets of the burbs till i hit the outer edge, i could see where cars were entering and i could see far in the distance a camp of people i later found out were the no sound no electricity camp, the hippies of burning man, that's extreme. I rode around the outer edge for about five to six hours length, we were at four o'clock and esplanade and i started on the edge five to six hours out, not time, times measure distance here, since there is no time, i never knew what time it was, i lost it, or just realized it doesn't exist. anyway rode my "found" bike forever and managed to find camp again :-)
More bike stories! The night before the man burned they burned this giant trojan horse and we parked our bikes somewhere among the circles of art cars surrounding it. It was taking forever for the event to go down, we had been wondering and talking and there were piles of bikes everywhere, but where were ours? ha ha we played a game, each person got a turn try to remember and lead the group to the locations of our bikes, we were so turned around and fuzzy minded it took about an hour, watching the horse burn was amazing, the way it was constructed it fell down like a horse kneeling back slowly, it looked so natural.
*Night Time*
There was always some giant wooden structure burning, some nights six or seven, and you would say oh i saw that sculpture the other day, didn't know they would burn it. The smoke and heat and embers were overwhelming. Everything was burnable or shot flames, one of the coolest things was this octopus that shot flames from each of its arms that wiggled up and down and everyone danced around, and on top of that it was a mobile art car, everything shot flames and was mobile!
After we watched the Man Burn, which was insane, mushroom cloud flame explosions, fireworks, that was such a sensory overload experience i don't even remember it, i have to see pictures, but i heard i was there, i gave away all my necklaces that night. Those necklaces were a huge hit. Anyway after the man we really wanted to ride an art car around at night, we couldn't find any, me and ellen chased a pirate ship and ran beside it for a good long while, i forgot i had a lower body and just kept to the side of it, green and blue neon pumping with the rhythm of their awesome music, they couldn't stop and let us on but we ran beside them and danced and had just as much fun, i felt like i could've ran indefinitely but we had to get back to the group.
We never found an art car at night but we did go on one of the other most amazing things i saw that year, some one made an exact replica of an old fishing dock, except it started at the ground and went up about 30 feet. It had the little hanging lanterns and a tackle shop (i.e. bar) it felt like donkey kong 2 on the pirate levels. At the end there were fishing poles and i don't know what happened but all the sudden paul had a pole and was like lets go fishing. At that point i was in total fantasy land, and thats what so great about this place, its a playground and your imagination is reality. In that moment i was going to catch fish, sit and wait patiently for them. We had no line so we all took apart bracelets, strips of chord, whatever we had on our person and tied them together to fish for hippies at the end of the dock. Me and carlos went pee and when we returned paul was still patiently fishing and i bit the end of the line and put up a good fight before i let go, i put bracelets and burning men on the end of the others fishing poles and then we all headed out again, that was one of my favorite places and memories, i truly just did whatever my mind drifted to. once you were on the dock everything else was water, a sea of possibilities bwa ha ha
Besides peeing behind random trailers near center camp and lounging in a circular room with canvas walls made of amazing paintings and Christmas lights overhead those are my best night memories. There was a lot of walking around and man was it freezing, biggest regret not dressing warm enough. The music was okay but not reliable and no one danced as much as i would have hoped or wanted but the DJ stages were incredible.
*The Days*
Days were spent eating pickles and loaves of bread, having communal sandwich time, chips and salsa time with the neighbors, Learning and partially experiencing dunkaroos (dip head in ice cold cooler water, get slapped across the face, chug a beer), very refreshing. We walked around and explored the camps, got free drinks, sparkle camp, arctic camp, giant croquet game camp, Charlie the unicorn art car of wonder. Art cars are the best way to have public transportation, mobile party with great music and no destination.
I didn't meet a lot of people or go to many scheduled events, i had a hard time finding the right headspace to just put myself out there and go for it, my instinct was to be hard and cold and protective like i was in a big scary city, but quite the opposite would be better. I also didn't really know the person i went with, i mean you can know about a person but not know what their inherant attitude and level of adventure and willingness to be ridiculous enough to just be yourself is. I am a very strong independent person and it was hard for me to be watched and questioned and worried after so much i got extremely frustrated not feeling like i could be comfortable saying or doing what felt natural, the event itself was amazing but there was a lot of awkwardness with my travel companion that tainted a lot of the trip. So i am just saying make sure you know who you are going with or go alone.
I did a lot of research prior about what kind of shoes to wear, and tennis shoes are fine, really, nothing fancy required, they do get pretty trashed so cheap is good. i didnt changed socks three times a day like i thought i would from all i had read, my skin didn't turn into a cracking peeling dry mess, i didn't get sunburnt, I didn't keep track of how much water i drank but i never got dehydrated. I only showered once, the weather was extremely mild that year and baby wipes were fine. People did litter and pour liquid on the playa and the bathrooms are the most disgusting thing i have ever encountered, you can smell the cleaning trucks coming a mile away, go in the morning after they are cleaned, at night is hard because it's dark, but since its not baking in the sun they don't smell as bad.
Things i didn't bring i wish i had:
Knife
Granola bars
pillows
hats (no shower, no hair worth showing off)
warms clothes (leggings, fur coats)
a rug for the ground or tent
camping chairs
But really other then that we were pretty prepared and i made do quite well :-)
So overall burning man is amazing, you will have some great times the first time, but i think it is just really the year of learning and understanding, second time around will be the real experience :-)
:-)
