Playa del Fuego
So, and I didn't even know about these until
drspookyand
talldeansuggested it to
dellamortaand I, but apparently there are regional smaller events connected to BurningMan. Playa del Fuego takes place in some small fields in Delaware. It was a whole lot of fun. This definitely motivates me to be more adamant about going to BurningMan (which has so far been out of my budget).
I was not quite prepared for the August weather in October and have come back resembling a lobster and hating anything that goes on my shoulders. However, it was a really good time. I really liked the atmosphere. There's a good distribution of 'party responsibility' there, where there is little centralization, and each theme camp has something different to offer. I was trying to describe to
dellamortawhat it was I liked about the atmosphere, the lack of a feel of elitism. I thought and realized, no one ever in my earshot, said anything negative about anyone else's camp. I could easily imagine this theme camp thing getting competitive, with people wanting to outdo each other. However, I heard nothing even vaguely similar to a "meh. that camp was better last year." or "this camp is better than that camp." or even any nostalgia to some "it was better back in the day." all of these sorts of sentiments were completely missing, at least from what I witnessed. (I understand that I'm a new person there, and maybe I just didn't see this part of these groups, yet.) This was very refreshing.
The idea of a 'gift economy' was also amazingly refreshing. I was notified in advance, that it was not a barter-economy here, but a gift-economy. Things, and services are freely given away, with no recompense expected. This works really nicely. People were making and doing things, just to do them. There was the Iced-Coffee guy, who made the most amazing iced coffee I've ever tasted. "Jamaican Jerk" camp made the most amazing chicken ever. (
dellamorta, I think this one may actually compete with the random stand we found in the middle of nowhere Ohio on the way back from origins that time. You think?) I tried to give books away, but generally failed to take them with me while out wandering around and our camp was a bit out of the way and low traffic for good giving position.
It was a good and exhausting weekend. I think I needed a good fun weekend about now, too.
drspookyand
talldeansuggested it to
dellamortaand I, but apparently there are regional smaller events connected to BurningMan. Playa del Fuego takes place in some small fields in Delaware. It was a whole lot of fun. This definitely motivates me to be more adamant about going to BurningMan (which has so far been out of my budget).
I was not quite prepared for the August weather in October and have come back resembling a lobster and hating anything that goes on my shoulders. However, it was a really good time. I really liked the atmosphere. There's a good distribution of 'party responsibility' there, where there is little centralization, and each theme camp has something different to offer. I was trying to describe to
dellamortawhat it was I liked about the atmosphere, the lack of a feel of elitism. I thought and realized, no one ever in my earshot, said anything negative about anyone else's camp. I could easily imagine this theme camp thing getting competitive, with people wanting to outdo each other. However, I heard nothing even vaguely similar to a "meh. that camp was better last year." or "this camp is better than that camp." or even any nostalgia to some "it was better back in the day." all of these sorts of sentiments were completely missing, at least from what I witnessed. (I understand that I'm a new person there, and maybe I just didn't see this part of these groups, yet.) This was very refreshing.
The idea of a 'gift economy' was also amazingly refreshing. I was notified in advance, that it was not a barter-economy here, but a gift-economy. Things, and services are freely given away, with no recompense expected. This works really nicely. People were making and doing things, just to do them. There was the Iced-Coffee guy, who made the most amazing iced coffee I've ever tasted. "Jamaican Jerk" camp made the most amazing chicken ever. (
dellamorta, I think this one may actually compete with the random stand we found in the middle of nowhere Ohio on the way back from origins that time. You think?) I tried to give books away, but generally failed to take them with me while out wandering around and our camp was a bit out of the way and low traffic for good giving position.
It was a good and exhausting weekend. I think I needed a good fun weekend about now, too.