Photo Opps Galore

The salt beds are a fascinating display of nature, and a possible link into our very distant past as life first began. If i'm ever to be a National Geographic photographer, I'd best consider wearing rubber boots next time.

Sinaloa

I thought it a good idea to strap a Mexican to the back of my bike through arguably the most dangerous area in the entire country, Sinaloa. In actual fact, ´Rom´ was the one who spearheaded the idea, and i hoped there was a snowballs chance in hell we were both going to make it home alive. about a half hour of preps ripping the bike apart and godammn it we were on the road unbelievably. no stopping for gas, because it took so long just to get on the damn bike. she was loaded to the hilt. Guaymachil, the city´s name we were headed to, was morphing into reality in my mind the closer we got, and the further topolabompo and the ferry terminal. The city´s lights came with a welcome sigh about 1 hour 40 after our departure with just one stop, and plenty of wriggling around to save my butt legs and back from complete disaster and permanent damage. I was none too happy when rom´s first stop consisted of a dark house with no lights. It´s late, and i remember rom hasn´t been home in 2 years.

Burning Man Exhibit D

The time had come to get lost. I wasn't sure if the rumours of deaths at Burning Man were really true, but I still felt as if I was embarking on a final journey. Perhaps it was merely a symbolic one. Perhaps the well-stocked backpack was cheating, in a way. Regardless of the infinite possibilities I set off with a pirate's constitution looking for his hidden chest of treasures. The goal: find the trash fence. Lacking in romanticism, but heavy in meaning, I set off past the centre of the camp, or the Man, past the Temple, and onward, splitting the clock due north, or 12 o'clock. Actually 11:11 was the approximate destination, a venture quested only because someone told me to check it out. All I found was endless desert. Imagine absolutely nothing. A void, filled only with sand on the ground, and darkening skies above. Now, you've walked for about 1/2 hour, and still nothing. Now, you're getting it. You're completely alone. There is noone to save you, noone to talk to, noone to feed and clothe you. A subtle change occurs in one's mind and heart, and a choice is inevitably made: stay with it, or run back to safety.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDI7vdGuLoo

Moments later, an oasis, of sorts. 4 table settings, replete with white linens, dusty wine glasses, and china plates, reminiscent of a dinner party gone awry in the belly of the Titanic on the bottom of the Atlantic ocean. That desolate, that isolating, yet still eerily human. A few more moments of trudging through the desert, and 4 big, comfy couches accompanied by numerous plastic palm trees, umbrellas and table, and inhabited by a sleeping couple obviously planted there to scare the shit out of me. By now, I'm wondering how people can seem so comfortable, and unassuming in such a hostile environment, and at the same time questioning my own personal boundaries. Turns out I had very little tolerance, but this realization came late, as I still had to make it somehow back to camp. My overconfidence in my natural male ability to know exactly where I'm at directionally was further tested with a sudden white-out dust storm. My sunglasses were ill-suited to the intense wind that somehow squeezed sand granules between the impossibly small, microscopic space between glass frames and face. Looking down to somehow escape the torture of glass shards on eyeballs, I try to maintain my composure, and continue on towards camp, around 7 o'clock in respect to the camp layout. The wind delays for a moment to open up a massive construction set of ladders, ropes, and poles. "Hmmm..... I don't recognize this playset, but what the hell. Oh, they have a bar too." Turns out it is the Nexus Camp, situated on the very edge of 10 o'clock. A few steps to the right, and I would have missed a 50,000 strong human outpost right out.
Instead, I'm greeted by a bartender who says I can have a drink if I tell him a joke. Forever and eternity passes, and I cautiously come up with one. A white guy comes up to a urinal, and a black guy is beside him. The white guy looks at the black guy, and notices he has 'Wendy' tattooed on his willy. "That's crazy! I have the EXACT same tattoo on MY willy. It is a reminder of the love of my life, Wendy. Is your girlfriend's name Wendy, too?" The black guy hesitates for a moment, looks over, stretches his willy out, and says "No, man. It say 'WElcome to jamaica have a Nice DaY.' That was literally the only joke I could come up with on the spot. Classy guy that Jason. Luckily the next bartender said it was opposite day, which only translated to a vodka orange juice instead of a rum and coke. Diva's Garden was the true oasis, and felt like home upon my return.

Burning Man

Radical Self-Reliance is a term used at the Annual Burning Man Festival in Northwest Nevada to remind the over 50,000 participants to keep their own physical, mental and emotional needs in good stead. With blazing heat, sudden and surprising dust storms and white-outs, and bone-chilling cold evenings, one must come prepared. Regardless of whether you simply showed up with a tent and some water, or have been working steadily for the entire year, the Burning Man Experience will still find something to surprise you with.

The city is designed in a clock-like fashion, with camps starting at the 2 o'clock position, and going down to 6, and all the way over to 10 o'clock. Streets are then overlayed onto this clock, denoted alphabetically from 'A' all the way through to 'K' and beyond if necessary. The system works, and despite some initial acclimatizing, keeps people organized and able to find their camps. That is, if the address your camp gives you is where they are at. So, what if you can't find your camp? You can either fruitlessly continue searching for them, or ask if you can join someone else. You will soon learn about 'letting go', as the effort it would take to get what you want is trumped by the need to stop moving.

'The Man', affably named, stands perched on top of 4 pillars, at the centre of the clock. Not only is he a symbol of humanity, but also a beacon, and landmark for people to orient themselves. In spectacular fashion, 'The Man' is lit from within, and with a flurry of explosions, fireworks, and cheers from the crowd, he begins to burn, and eventually topples in a mass of flames. Destructive, beautiful, symbolic - everyone gets something different from the experience. A secondary structure, deemed 'The Temple' is traditionally a more subdued locale, and generally attracts that part of us that is in pain, and searching for a way to release it. The following night, it too is alight with flames, symbolically destroying the troubled past for some, or a grudge held too long for others.

In a frantic mix of inhospitable weather, surreal sights, creative self-expression, and brotherly love, participants of The Burning Man Festival are treated to personal experiences they may never hold in the 'real world'. People seem to come to their senses out there in the desert, both in spite of and because of the unique characteristics of the environment. It is a brief, if intoxicating vision, of what is truly possible when a small group of people come together to create something new for us all to enjoy, and to transcend ourselves for a grander purpose: one that is much, much larger than ourselves as an individual.

Burning Man

The festival of 50,000 people with no money exchanged, in the searing heat and blinding cold at night, has been running for over 10 years. It is a social experiment of sorts, one that promotes radical self-reliance, creativity, and self-expression. There is no forms of outside communication available here, and I will be unable to connect while I'm there. Mike's shortcut had better work out, as I said I was going to be there before noon.

Fear of Heights is what?

Have you ever joined a window washer on a 37 storey building, with just a rectangular shaped piece of wood under your butt? Don't. I've bungee jumped, sky dived, rap jumped, snowboarded, mountain biked down vertical slopes - all nothing compared to this.