Burning Man 2013 - Exodus and Final Words

Time for my fourth and last post about Burning Man. After some introductions and some ranting, time has come to say goodbye.

Ready to leave our dusty existence and head back to a place with running water and showers

Last sunrise over the playa

No more shall we see that many bicycles in one place... at least till a visit to Denmark or The Netherlands

When all tens of thousands of burners try to leave Black Rock City around the same time on a small road, a huge traffic jam, aka the exodus, is created. Being all prepared for it can turn it to a happy final conclusion for the burn. I've had quite a lot of fun in the ~10 hours we were slowly passing the few miles back to the road. The one hour waiting periods between each 1 minute drive were used to meet new people, share experiences, play music and games and generally easing the way back to many burners who'd soon be back to their more mundane everyday life.

Musical time on one of the stops

Considering the US culture I've been exposed to during our months of road tripping around the country, I see burning man as an island of sanity in a culture which seems to be drifting away from it. That being a strong statement that shouldn't be appreciated on a much deeper level, I'll try to explain by examples.
People at burning man greet each other freely and are not afraid to strike random conversations with strangers. Many parts of the US don't have that and people treat strangers as a threat, even when smiling at them. Such an approach is very alienating and helps create a fragmented "dog-eat-dog" society.
Not being able to use money or promote products at the burn shows that not everything must always revolve around money. In a society where capitalism seems to be on steroids, I find it blissful to disconnect from its merits for a week. Where else would you go to a bar and be served without being expected anything in return?
Not being afraid to express oneself with different clothes, apparel and behavior creates very interesting costumes and attitudes. In a society that encourages conforming to strict rules, it enables people to see that these rules are not an axiom. If I had to choose only a single image, the naked guy on stilettos might be a good one.

Some of the experiences I've had were first-time ones for me. Yes, after years of travel, this can still happen. It didn't radically change my life in any way but I can surely see how it can turn lives of more closed people up side down and open them up to a whole world full of possibilities. Kind of a crash course in letting loose.

One BM slogan I made: "Burning Man - that's what happens when hippies have too much money". I came up with it considering the loads of different creations in the burn, showing both the ability to leave the social norms and the financial background to support it.

The sun has set, but we're still on the road

Making our way back to Reno, happy and enriched

Burning Man 2013 - Downsides

Following a post introducing Burning Man and another about our camp, I find it important to share some of the things that I personally disliked about the burn and why I'm not an excited follower of everything burn related. Altogether it was an amazing experience which I recommend any person to experience at least once but perhaps through some criticism, the bad things might improve. This is my personal blog and you're free to disagree or discuss. This might prove boring to people who have not attended so feel free to move on.

POLLUTION - environmentalism might be in the heart of some burners but the event itself is an ecological disaster by definition. Many things that could have been done to reduce pollution, perhaps at the expense of other principals such as radical self reliance or radical self expression, are blatantly and intentionally not done. Examples:

• Transportation - burners arrive in their own vehicles and no mode of public transportation is offered AFAIK. While the logistics behind trying to mobilize the whole community using buses rented for the event is obviously too complex, some positive planning in that direction could have saved enormous amounts of fuel.
• Drinking water - most burners buy one-time plastic containers to bring their own water. Centralizing the water supply would have spared a lot of waste.
• Trash recycling - only aluminum cans are collected for recycling. The other recyclables wouldn't make money so why would you care?
• One time products - a lot of burners purchase many items for use in the burn and then throw them away. There's no general awareness of reducing consumption but there's general awareness of adding fluff to everything. While on par with general attitude towards consumption in the US, I'd have personally preferred to see some elevated awareness there.
• One week city - the concept of creating Black Rock City for a week and then dismembering it is probably one of the biggest reasons for pollution. A permanent location hosting the big event once a year and perhaps other events throughout the year could reduce pollution and also attend to the needs of a community that's rapidly growing.

The Wikipedia article about burning man does touch some of these issues.

PRICE - with nearly $400US for the permission to be a part of an event where you have to bring EVERYTHING you need with you, many parts of society are shunned. There's a "low-income" plan allowing you to share your bank account print outs and if you're sufficiently poor, you'll get the ticket for only half the price. Altogether, the expensive permits and ever increasing levels of bureaucracy ensure that the "radical self inclusion" principle starts only after you've gathered enough money for the ticket and related expenses.

MUSIC - personally I'm not a big fan of dub-step or its kin and found it somewhat unfortunate that this was the main genre at the scene. Not really criticism here, just a personal preference. Luckily, some camps have put out venues with different genres.

PREPARATIONS - participating in the burn is something which often takes much planning and work. Some enjoy that, I don't as much. Not really criticism either, just something to mind if you've never attended.

OK, enough with the rants. By now, I certainly understand how the event developed into what it is today and why fixing some of the problems would prove an ever growing challenge. Just wanted to take that load off and if you've gotten this far, you probably should leave a comment :)

Burning Man 2013 - PP Camp and More

Continuing on my previous post about Burning Man, it's time to describe what our camp did. Almost all burners are a part of a camp and camps should at least try to offer something to others. Ours offered an uninvited porter potty red carpet experience.

Our camp's punny name and idea devised by that pink panty wearing girl

The simple explanation:
1/ We go next to the chemical toilets, aka porta potties and scout for a worthwhile absent minded burner.

The porter potties at Burning Man

2/ As that person goes in to adhere to nature's call, we put our red carpet in front of that person's door.

Red carpet in stand by mode

3/ We now quietly gather as many spectators as possible to join us for the official greeting.

The crowd awaits the new star

Different creative greetings were suggested by people of the crowd

4/ The happy burner, now relived of either a no.1 or no.2, opens the doors and is applauded by the new mob. A medal is then given and an interview follows. Just see the videos below. There were many more.

This activity has proven much fun and what I liked most was that most new stars enjoyed their role and played well with us.

Burning Man 2013 - Introduction

With all the buzz around Burning Man, it's sometimes hard for a person who has never been to understand what all the hype is about. In this short post, about two months after participating in Burning Man, I'll try to shed some light on why I think it's definitely worth it to experience the event or like-minded events if you can afford the time, money and energy for it.

Three people in a sedan packed full with all that we will need for an entire 8 days of camping in the desert.

The playa - an ancient lake bed which offers a huge plain and lots of dust

Billy - our fantastic Ford Focus that has well served us throughout our US road trip

The shortest explanation I can come up with is that Burning Man is a gathering of tons of people (~68,000 this year, it was said) who camp out in inhospitable weather for a week while trying to entertain and express themselves to the max. With the addition of some important principles such as participation, which means you should be a part rather than a spectator and gifting, which means you're supposed to give things to others the whole experience becomes very rich.

A burner who forgot to use sunscreen

The richness means that most participants (aka Burners) have completely different experiences from one another. Often asking other burners how their they enjoyed their burn, they'd answer it was amazing. Getting more specific and you realize the only experiences you both had in common were seeing The Man burn and seeing the giant fire-breathing octopus. You end up hearing and telling about really cool things that are quite different things all the time. My feeling was that a week was a really short time and altogether provided a taste of what the burn offers.

Jews are everywhere in the US. Burning man had a few Israeli camps as well.

Barbie death camp where all barbies go to the slaughter

Dana and I were gifting stuff animals we got at thrift shops around the country, only to loving adopting parents. That wouldn't prevent me from swimming in stuffed animals of another camp.

Big roosters or big cocks? English is so intricate

Many burners were concerned over the excessive police presence in the burn. Seems what they were doing most was giving citations for use of illegal drugs (that are legal in some US states). These two burners were trying to relax the others' attitude to the police presence. Did a fine job.

Mirror games at center camps. Lots of psychedelic artwork throughout the burn.

One of many mobile stages playing music throughout the day and night. Aka an art car.

Fire is a repeating well emphasized motive in the Burning Man, in case you didn't guess it so far.

FIRE!!! Much of the artwork never leaves the playa...

FIRE!!! Nightly great balls of fire are a common sight at the burn

THE omnipresent octopus - could be seen everywhere at all time

I do have more to say about the burn but as I often keep my posts short, I'll just do it in other posts :) Enjoy the pictures and videos.

Goodbye US, hola Mexico!

Almost 6 months of road tripping around the US are now over. They have been extremely interesting and rewarding. I admit that the US surprised me for the better. Nature, especially, but not only, in national parks has been exquisite and jaw dropping at times. Culture is quite diverse and luckily we've met tons of great people throughout. Well, perhaps not only by sheer luck but by using CouchSurfing and having friends all around. There have been many highlights, some on this blog, some in more private writings and some already forgotten. Here are some tributes to Billy, the Ford Focus that served us well for over 6,000 miles and nearly 3 months around the US.

Billy on a foggy morning

Billy on the way to the grand canyon

But hey, time for a change. Having the life of a traveler is a lot about change. So now it's Mexico. We've landed in Guadalajara yesterday and I'm happy to report that while Mexican-Spanish has quite a variety of words I don't know, I can still communicate pretty well with everyone. I'll probably pick up more of the local slang and phrases as I go.

Future? We'll be in Mexico for about 4 months, then head to the UK for ~10 days and then visit Israel in March. Later options may include Russia and then either eastern Europe and China before enjoying lovely Thailand again. All is open except for the flights already booked :)

Airports and 5-star hotels seem to look the same everywhere

As my blog isn't chronological, I'll probably write about different parts of the US trip later on. Especially the burning man posts are written and will be published soon. Trying to space things out to keep my few friends who actually read my blog well entertained.

Birds and Seals en Route 1

My last scenic road in the US, route 1 between San Francisco and Los Angeles didn't disappoint me. Beautiful nature on the coast and more in land. We actually did our most intense hike in the US here in Big Sur towards Sykes Hot Springs. It's 10 miles in each direction (so 20 miles return == 32km) to get to some nice hot springs near a river in the thick of woods. Got some pictures there that I wouldn't share online :) Anyway, enjoy the ultra zoom of my camera here below.

Napa and Wine Tasting

Visiting Napa twice at the end of September and then early October still didn't make me want to go wine tasting as most tourists seem to do there. Don't get me wrong, I do like the taste of a good wine, but wouldn't bother making an effort to get to a specific vineyard and pay more than I'd pay for a bottle for a mare taste. I've just read this interesting article saying wine tasting is junk science and it reminded me of Napa.

One could be a connoisseur of olive oil as well so as there's always room for bs if you got the money.

The wine we bought most in California was called Oak Leaf. We were first introduced to it in Arcata by fellow CouchSurfers. It wasn't too bad and so another day we found it at the store. The price was shocking, $1.87 a bottle for a reasonable wine. When we shared the wine later with other people, they always said they liked it. Guess it shouldn't be that hard to make a good fermented grape juice after all.

The salvation army in Napa collects free food from grocery shops and give it away. A great initiative that slightly lessens the excessive amount of waste created by modern consumption practices and a profit-oriented economy.

Dana near a 1080 pound / 490kg pumpkin. Treat or treat?

Napa was good to us because of the people who hosted us. I enjoyed seeing and experiencing the area from a more local perspective and later learn about different crime rates in different town and how they're a direct result of local government corruption. Oh well, I'm too lazy to really go into it all now.

Some prepare for Halloween over a month in advance... Go Pumpkins!

Griffith Observatory, Los Angeles

These pictures are from the second night in Los Angeles where I still am. Soon I'm heading to Mexico but there's no reason not to include random pictures from recent experiences. October 11th is when I met a cool girl whom I hosted in Israel over 3 years ago. She lives in LA and suggested the lovely Griffith Observatory. It's up a hill overlooking LA and the infamous HOLYWOOD sign. Really beautiful and interesting exhibits inside.

Apparently you can hike to the sign and try to vandalize it. Too far for me :)

After enjoying the reunion and amazing place I went on to a more touristy and boring place - Holywood Bvd where there are lots of stars on the pavement with names of movie stars. The only joy I imagine one could extract from it would be stepping on the names of hated celebrities. But hey, I get that other people do enjoy that. I went there to meet an even older friend I've met back in Thailand nearly 8 years ago. You know you're getting older when you can meet people you haven't met for many years. To longevity! Now read what's under the pictures and leave a comment if you please.

Griffith Observatory, Los Angeles at the palm of my hand

Some say NASA is planning to send teddy bears to outer space...

Downtown Los Angeles seen from the Griffith Observatory

Same, but when the camera moves :)

Home is where the heart is, but Israel has a special place in my heart still

Albert Einstein and me

Near the Chinese Cinema, Holywood Bvd, top tourist dull destination