Burning Man
Where were we...
This year at burning man I joined the recycle camp with Melvin and
Alize (my brother and sister). We collected and crushed aluminum cans
(which are later sold per weight and the money donated to local
school). It was a nice little camp with a fun group of people. Its so
hard to take it all in, even in a week. There is so much. Our camp
had an art car, a BIG army truck which we would all pill into at the
back. It even had a mast and little turret at the top (pirate ship
style) which you could climb up to and view "the playa" (name given to
the wide expanse of desert in the middle of the semi circle encampment
area. This area is also the arena for a myriad of artwork, for The Man
and The Temple - both buildings are destroyed by fire at the end of the
festival). I managed to find 2 friends whom I know were attending this
year. One past-couchsurfer and another who lives in San Marcos village
on Lake Atitlan Guatemala. Its quite miraculous when you think there
were approx. 42,000 people attending this year! Why go? Its a very
harsh environment (we're talking high altitude desert here!) and
recurring sand storms that reduce visibility to less than a few meters,
high heat during the day and pretty cold at night. Well part of the
fun IS surviving. Drinking lots of fluids (not just alcoholic ones!).
Prepping fun foods - actually our camp had a proper kitchen and 2
dedicated volunteer cooks that made nice foods for us throughout the
week! The festival is really an alternative reality. It lasts long
enough to "believe" in it and become immersed into a new culture. The
art is just so creative - I mean there is just so much of it
everywhere. Usually it is aligned to the theme of the year (this
year's theme was Evolution) - but not necessarily. One of the
highlights was taking our can collection bike (a twin bicycle with a
trailer into which we would collect cans) with a campmate Milana, and
going from camp to camp to collect their unwanted aluminium. Of
course, most camps require a compulsory pit stop for a beer or a
cocktail mix of some sort. Needless to say that the end of that
afternoon became a little fuzzzzzzzzy! 
The music
Its everywhere! It usually revolves around Trance, House, something
with a beat. Even art cars have it and they usually choose different
music. They all blast it out....but its fun and pleasing. some play
beegees, others heavy rock, and some even classical. However there are
quite a few "clubs" around the playa with some amazing choices. The
connoisseurs will recognise many DJ names on the line ups and stay up
till the late hours of the morning to dance away to their mixes. One
style which I opened myself to was DJ BaseNectar. Its a Beat heavy in
Base. One of the fun parts is watching him bounce around his DJ booth
so energetically! I stood in front of the speakers - my body was being
pushed back and forth a few inches by the speaker vibration! My
ears.....well should not think too much about them in those
circumstance.
The burn
Yes....its all about the burn at the end. Saturday night, sand
storm and winds delayed the burn by a few hours (like last year). No
worries because we were all on our Art Car (affectionately called the
"hooker cooker" - not sure entirely why....but part of the story is
because it has a huge barbecue on board!). I was jointly appointed to
cook our steaks... that means that amidst the crazyness of the playa
that night and the cold the reigned, we had our own central heating
aboard! So we eat gournet steak and potatoes, drank Frank's home
brewed beer, chatted and laughed, watched the rainbow of neon,
glowsticks, flame throwing, sound making array of vehicles, people,
art, and odds and ends which were just happening around us
until.......the firework display that precedes the burn, started. The
burn was spectacular - such a huge blaze, and the visual effect of the
structure around the man was very intense....looked like an inferno! I
returned to the place where the man was a few hours later and all the
cinders were still there of course, red hot. People could meander
through gaps on the outer circle of cinders and make their way on the
inside....I did just that. I was now surrounded by red hot glowing
cinders around me.....it was awesome.
Melving and Alize left
early the next morning (like 5:30AM). I had gone to bed @ 4AM. AFter
a push and a shove I was REALLY trying hard to get up. I finally made
it so say my goodbyes. Goodbye. So thats them gone. Well since I'm
up I should stay up. I decided to ride out to the temple (burning
tonight - Sunday night) and watch the sunrise. It was rather special
and serene! Then something happened. I was sitting contemplating, and
Blue (she's a professional photographer) asked if she could take pics
of me. She started snapping away with her digital SLR....I took my
shirt off and started doing yoga on the playa for her to the pace of
the sun-lined horizon. Thank you Blue - that was a new experience for
me!
Burning Man officially ends on Sunday night after the temple
burn. I stayed on till Tuesday morning - to not have to contend with
the exodus of traffic all leaving at the same time.
California
A few days in Lake Tahoe catching up with Erin and Marisa, our
friends from when we lived there last year. I then drove to Surfside
(a beach community near Long Beach, south of Los Angeles) to spend the
week-end with Pat, Sue, Eddie and Diva - giant poodle (Pat is my
ex-father-in-law......but that's a mouthful; so I refer to them as just
my "Outlaws"). Had a very nice time with them, and was refreshed to start my journey down.
Border Crossing and Baja California
DAY 1:
Border Crossing....done in 30mins, got all my stamps,
all my visas (mine and Rupert's - Rupert is my car!) and was on my
way. My first objective was to get Rupert's windows tinted, get some
privacy to limit onlookers from peering into my car-full-of-stuff. I
made it so Ensenada within 90mins, but after driving around for about
1hour and not really finding what I wanted I carried on. I noticed a
place of interest on the coast called "La Bufadora". There I met a
very nice couple (from California I believe, although they have lived
in a lot of places). Larry and Cheryl were so interesting and from the
time we said hi, a few hours had passed in conversation until I
realised I wanted to see La Bufadora - a tidewater blowhole that sends
water 30m into the air. After my walk down there I came back and we
hung out. They offered for me to pitch my tent and stay the night. I
did. They shared their frijoles and nachos. I shared my dried fruit.
We all shared conversation, music and thoughts.
DAY 2: I leave
after some yoga, more conversation and tea. I find a place to get my
windows tinted (nice job!.....Rupert you look sooo cool now!). I just
had to supplement that by putting a few stickers on him (burning man,
morocco & bagel barn for now). I drove a few hours and stopped to
set up camp on a pacific beach 1 hour prior to sunset. The beach was
deserted. The wind was wisp away sand and form small dunes all along.
I camped in between dunes. I was my first change to get out my gas
stove and make tea and Ramen noodles for dinner. The stars were so
bright tonight. The tent is sooooo big! Its a four man tent all for
myself!
DAY 3: After a hot tea on my gas stove (yes very
excited to be using it...still!) I set off. I was not sure how far I
would drive today. The landscape is just amazing. Valleys full of
cactus for miles and miles. The "typical" ones (the ones that seem to
have arms and a head) and many other varieties. I stopped in Guerrero
Negro which had interesting salt marches and beautiful sand dunes
formed in the middle of the sea. This town did not seem to be very
touristy so I carried on. My drive today took my 650km all the way to
Mulege. This town was recommended to me by Larry and Cheryl (and other
Mexicans I have met on the way) as the starting point of a string of
very beautiful beaches. I am now on the inside of Baja California - on
the Sea of Cortez. I am not far from the tip of Baja either...its only
another 300km to the tip.
DAY 4: Whats been interesting so far is that I
have not met that many foreigners. And all those I have met seem to be
retired US. They all have fascinating stories - and more than half a
lifetime of experiences to talk about so this makes for insightful
conversation. I had heard there was a large hurricane in southern Baja
about 10 days ago. Mulege suffered terribly from it! I am talking
right now to a retired (semi!) woman from the states (yup!) - they had
just bought a house (cash) in the last year here. There were on the
river bank, and there the water rose 19ft (thats 6m!) only a few days
ago, because of all the rain from the hurricane. They are sitting at
the table next to me sipping coffee. They are in good spirits. They
already have a plan of whats next. I wish them the best. Hardly anyone
died, despite the disastrous going-ons. Many houses have been damaged,
some destroyed. The streets have a lot of rubble here and there - but
it does not look too chaotic. A lot of businesses are closed probably
stilling getting to grips with what has just happened. The hurricane
is over now, the sun is shinning and people are going about what they
do.....life goes on.
