Tuesday, 29 August
I am tired. I got some amazing pancakes in a camp nearby and feel a bit better but I need some rest. This morning, Niklas sang at Center Camp during an open mic. It was funny. His songs only talk about girls!
I tried to go to a camp where you could give and receive massage. I wanted to relax a bit but it was closed. So I tried contact improv again by taking a class. We were around 20, all ages and genders. We did most of our exercises eyes closed. I was surprised to feel so comfortable. I was able to let everything go and express myself. I have no idea how I looked. I don’t care actually.
I join Pauline at an Arabic theme camp close to our tents. People are beautiful there. All the girls are supermodels. There are impressive cars (Mad Max style) parked in front of the place. Funny enough, I don’t have as much fun as in other places. People seem less accessible. Everything is a bit less spontaneous. We plan to leave but are blocked but the most impressive sand storm I have ever seen. Winds are really strong and, for 15 minutes, we cannot see 5 meters ahead. I stay outside of the camp to feel its power. It is crazy! When it stops, my hair is totally blond because of the dust.
Back to our tents, we meet Gizem, a Turkish girl who lives in New York. She has just joined our part of the camp. She is great!
We decide to go the east of the Esplanade tonight to explore a new part of Black Rock City. We quickly find a great bar. We meet a really nice guy called Chucky. He explains to us that this camp is built by circus artists, climbers, and acrobats. They have pogo sticks and fire shows and a huge swing (at least 15 meters high) that you can climb. Of course, I climb it (I am a child)! There is no security but nobody cares. We all help each other here. But everybody is responsible for the risks he or she takes. Again, the view is amazing. I stay there for a while, watching the sunset.
Back to earth, we meet again a lot of people. One of them works for Le Cirque du Soleil. She is nice, interesting and beautiful. She tells us to hurry up because the fights will begin inside Thunderdome. Thunderdome is a crazy Mad Mad style dome where people fight while the crowd yells at them. It is a crazy show. I climb to the top of the dome and wait for the fights to begin. This place is mad. People (me included) become animals for a few minutes. It is a great outlet for all the wildness you keep inside and cannot express in “default world”. We stay here for few fights.
The first thing we find after this: a melted marshmallows distribution. In 2 minutes, we went from complete wildness to complete sweetness. I guess this is Burning Man. I cannot complain, the marshmallows are great. We find some music and dance a bit. We quickly realize that we don’t want the same thing tonight. I want to explore Black Rock City and Pauline wants to dance. We leave each other. Nobody is mad, all the contrary. We are happy for this great night together so far but also to be able to follow our own paths. I love this feeling! Thank you, Pauline.
I discovered a lot of cool camps. I found a huge Boeing (yep, really) in which you can leave notes about you current feelings, some cool parties and a grilled cheese distribution. So much variety in what you live here. I also got the most unexpected and beautiful hug of my life. Hugging people is usual in Black Rock City. And it feels great! We should do it more in “default world”. But some mean more than others. While leaving a camp, my eyes met some guy eyes. We both understood something and the next second we were giving each other a hug. Nothing sexual at all (I am heterosexual), just a hug. But a powerful, long and meaningful one. At the end, we looked at each other with a smile, thanked each other and walked our ways. It was deeply beautiful.
Wednesday, 30 August
I was hungry this morning. I took 3 breakfasts. We also have 2 new friends in our camp: Toru is from Japan and Marijn from the Netherlands. They already know each other. They tried to install a shaded area above all our tents but it failed.
I felt dirty so I went to a camp to clean my foot. As most of the things in Black Rock City, when you receive, you are encouraged to give. It feels great. However, I don’t feel as spontaneous as the days before. Tiredness maybe. When I go back, the shaded area is ready! These guys rock! It is really cool!! We spend some time to enjoy it.
After a few hours of rest, I join Marijn at a Shibari class (Japanese bondage). The others could not make it. It is surprisingly a lot less sexually charged than what I imagined. Girls keep their clothes on and there is a lot of respect. It is body art. After this, Marijn invites me to a foam party where an artist she likes is supposed to paint. I don’t know where I am going but well, it is Burning Man, so I follow. We wait in line at a non-binary camp and we enter a room with several hundred people, men and women, naked. Whaou, I was not exactly expecting that. Now that we are here, we get naked and climb some stairs to get our foam shower. It feels great! And the atmosphere is impressive too. Again, there is a ton of respect and kindness in the air. It is an amazing experience.
I come back to the camp alone. On my way, I find a bar. Well, not really. The barman keeps yelling at everybody “We are not a bar, don’t stop if you want a drink”. I stop and begin to play his game. So no, I definitely don’t want a drink, I don’t have my ID and my cup and actually, I don’t even drink alcohol. He gives me a drink and we have a lot of fun talking!
I join Pauline at the camp. We decide to join Marijn again to watch a Shibari performance in the middle of the Playa. It is close to a net structure that you can climb. Again, amazing view and sunset from there. I will never have enough. The show is quite beautiful but disturbing. The traditional Japanese music is amazing. But the performance is a bit brutal and shows women as victims. I don’t like this. Not my thing. I felt much more respect during the class.
While coming back to sleep, we stop by the Temple and the Man. In the Temple, there are a lot of pictures and notes for deceased people. It is a powerful and peaceful place. The Man is beautiful too. The theme this year is Radical Ritual so he is inside his own temple. We get some hot dogs on our way back and chill a bit at our camp before sleeping.
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