Burning Man 2013: Cargo Cult

Somewhat like a year in Kyoto, a week at Burning Man is just too much to describe satisfactorily. Here's my non-comprehensive attempt, brought to you by way of other people's photos and videos.

I didn't take many photos at Burning Man due to a combination of suspected camera malfunction, the awkwardness of accessing my camera from my camelbak, and received advice about not letting the act of photography get between me and Participation in the Experience. The photos I did take are here.

Our camp consisted of 12-14 people, a half-dozen tents, a geodesic dome cooled with a swamp cooler, a large breezy yurt ger, a shaded kitchen with propane stoves and grill, bicycles for everyone, an open shower, levels of food refrigeration ranging from run-of-the-mill coolers and cold packs to Stirling and marine coolers and dry ice, a week's worth of pre-made frozen vacuum-sealed dinners, a solar panel, and a bank of pre-charged marine batteries.

This photo shows the beautiful Zonotopia structure I chose as a setting for chanoyu with my campmates - it's the taller structure on the left of the photo, dubbed Crystalline Conjunction by its creator. I used a camp kettle and a Sterno cannister, which worked pretty well to boil water. The temae, if you can call it that, was about as simple as possible, like bonryaku without the bon, since as a host I was pretty much stationary. I'm already thinking about how I'd like to expand it next year to a scheduled event with more utensils, goza mats, and arguably more appropriate attire. ;)