Bruning Man
A must experience of a lifetime.
In 2017, my uncle took me to Burning Man.
For those that don't know what burning man is, it's a week long festival out in the middle of the Nevada desert. There are a ton of interactive art sculptures, crazy costumes, out of this world cars. It's like Mad Max and space travel combined.
Pulling up and getting your tickets scanned gets you straight into the dirt. If its your first time there they have you ring a bell and roll in the sand for welcome.
After that kind of initiation, one can forget about trying to stay dust free for a bit. We found a spot and set up camp. Its first come, first serve to a week long festival. We were there for three days. So we found a nice place, set up our tents, went and got our bike rentals and set out on the playa.
It was unlike anything I have ever experienced and I reveled in every second of it. Different groups of people set up camp and decorated it. It was like a different little community every 20 feet. And this was just in the camping areas. By the time we got camp set up it was starting to get dark, but it was time for us to set out to the playa. As we emerged from the camping grounds, everything is lit up with neon colors against the dark sky. All of the art sculptures were lit up, people were biking around with lit up bikes or wearing glow stick necklaces, riding on big elaborate busses (ship, shark, animal cracker bus and more). And in the distance you could see the Man in his temple.
We were only there for 3 days, but I do not believe one could see everything in one week that there is to see at burning man. There are so many little hidden things that people leave for other people to discover. It is truly an amazing experience. There are activities everywhere and events. And they are all free or you barter for.
My favorite part of burning man was the Temple. Here is where people come to pay tribute to loved ones lost, or pains of the past or present. People bring letters, trinkets, write on the wall to share something with the universe. I do not consider myself a very spiritual person, but it is very hard to not feel something spiritual here. Even with everyone partying around the playa, it was quiet here. People were sitting around with each other offering companionship to strangers. On the very last day of the festival the Temple is burned. It is a very symbolic feeling to watch as these art pieces burn.
At the very end of the festival, people will stay an extra week to clean up. Burning Man is a leave no trace festival. After having thousands of people attend for a week, there is no trace that the festival ever happened at the end of it.
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