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Part 1 -- Introduction and The Camps |
Part 2 -- The Art |
Part 3 -- The People |
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Part 4 -- Events and the Desert |
Part 5 -- The Man and the Burn |
Part 6 -- Exodus |
Events are always being staged around the city. Often (ideally) they involve fire and explosions and other things you can do in the desert but not in urban areas.
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One group had been firing a simple statue up in the air on a jet pack made from water bottle rockets. At the end of the festival they decided to fill the bottles with real fuel (the camp stove type) and light him off. They attracted a very good crowd, all at a safe distance. When they lit him off, however, as you see he just blew up right on the pad. But everybody still had a good time.
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There's a lot of nudity at burning man, and even more women going topless. While I doubt any of the males object or don't look, it soon becomes pretty commonplace, and the women are not harassed for it, as they would be in ordinary society, which is great. To emphasize the point, one group organized a "critical tits" ride to get together hundreds of topless women on bicycles and ride around the camp, so those who were shy could feel the safety in numbers.
There are still some people who go to Burning Man because they think it would be oh so astounding to see topless women, just as men go to the beaches of Europe with their tongues hanging out for a while. But most are cured of any boorishness surprisingly quickly, though one group of men Sunday night who kept shouting "Free beer for topless women" couldn't seem to figure out why all the topless women going by were not taking them up on their offer.
These are just a few of many events that took place. Many take place at night and were thus hard to photograph.
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The desert plays a central role in BM. It's hot, and dry, and makes survival a basic challenge. It also bites back some times with nasty and windy dust storms which drive pea-soup rivers of dust down the alleyways of the Black Rock City. A dust mask is advised for when these blow through. The wind is strong enough to pull down tents and other structures not well built and well tied down.
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As you can also see, BM is the sort of place where if you want a giant sign saying "FUCK" in front of your camp, you put it up, and nobody even thinks it's at all shocking.
It also can rain quite a bit. On Saturday night, a rain came which turned the playa into the most annoyingly cloying mud. Wheeled travel was impossible, and even on foot, just a few steps would cause your sandals to quickly accumulate several inches of lumpy mud, making it difficult to walk.
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And the heat is of course overwhelming in the day. But still, this desert has a beauty of its own, especially at sunset, not to be missed.
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| Panorama ZOOM view |
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Part 1 -- Introduction and The Camps |
Part 2 -- The Art |
Part 3 -- The People |
|
Part 4 -- Events and the Desert |
Part 5 -- The Man and the Burn |
Part 6 -- Exodus |
