Burning Man and Baja
What do they have in common?
Many people that travel to or live in Baja go to the Burning Man festival that starts next week north of Reno. It amazes me how many people and or groups (I know of more than 12 groups of burners) from Baja and that are now or soon to be on their way, as I will be this weekend. Obviously many people that enjoy Baja also have a common interest in this 25 year old “one of a kind” human experiment/ art festival.
Many people ask me what is Burning man and if you go to the official site www.burningman.com you will see it is not an easy answer. I have found many people have the misconception that it is just a big hippie party with lots of drugs. After being a Burgin (virgin or 1st time burner) as they are called, last year I now know much more of what is real and what are just rumors. Last year at Reno’s Grand Sierra hotel and RV park where my friend Chris and I met up and prepared to go we met a few old time Burners. I told one of these Burners, I felt we had a pretty good idea of what it is to be like and he laughed.
This very experienced Burner said no matter how much you experience you have with other festivals, read, seen videos and look at pictures of Burning Man you still have no idea until you go. He was right…I like to put it this way …”You have to go to know and you can’t even really see it till you believe it!” I have had a lot of experiences in my life and traveled to many festivals, concerts and what not but nothing compares or even comes close to Burning Man!
Yes people party and there is nudity, techno rave like music along with lots of drummers and fire dancing but the real focus are the art installations, art cars, engineering and sharing. The art is absolutely incredible, the effort, investment and creativity could never be described to do the art justice. The reason Burning Man is referred to as an experiment is that it is a gifting and alternative society. There is almost nothing for sale but whether you want a massage, drink, pancakes all is for the taking…just give back what ever you have to offer…even if it is just a great smile and attitude.
It all started in 1986 when Lee Harvey conceived the idea of celebrating summer solstice at Bakers Beach in San Francisco by burning an 8’ wooden figure with friends and a small crowd of 20 people. In 1988 there were approximately 200 people and Harvey named it the Burning Man. In 1991 due to the size of the crowd it was moved to the Black rock desert of Nevada. The rest is history and you can see the evolution and historical timeline here (http://www.burningman.com/whatisburningman/about_burningman/bm_timeline.html )
Every year Lee Harvey proposes a theme; last year it was “Evolution” and this year it is “Metropolis”. The theme helps set up a general idea for the Art installations, art cars and the hundreds of them camps to focus their creative energy on.
Almost 50,000 people will be converging on Black Rock City (aka “the Playa”), the temporary city built about 2 hours north of Reno past Pyramid Lake, just outside of the small towns of Gerlach and Empire, Nevada.
Many of these people love the desert, art and alternative lifestyles such as we have here in Baja. For this reason many of those at Burning Man are regular visitors or residents of Baja.
As you can see in photos and videos on the net it can be very hot, dusty, windy, could rain and even be freezing, but people will tolerate all of it year after year as once the Playa dust gets into your soul there is no, “I’m not going back” for many. Of course not everybody comes back but almost every year the attendance grows and many people begin planning for the next year the day the event ends. There are burners from all over the world and there are the Burners without Borders program (http://burnerswithoutborders.org/ ) where
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people have other Burns around the world. While I know over the past years there has been a “Burning Bush’ party in the spring with a lot of the windsurfers, kite boarders and vacationers in La Ventana just south of La Paz; maybe its time to plan a real Baja Burn! Burners without Borders also has an annual WORLDWIDE Cinco playa clean up where they encourage communities everywhere to clean up the beaches and parks worldwide. Please visit their site for more information on this and many other projects that are scheduled worldwide.
There is also the Black Rock Arts Foundation (www.blackrockarts.org ) with art events throughout the year associated with Burning Man. Black Rock Solar (http://www.blackrocksolar.org/ ) is also another great non-profit that is focused on speeding up the adoption of renewable energy. Last year Nevada 
state highway 447 was proclaimed America’s Solar highway as this organization continues to create, educate and donate solar systems every year.
In trying to explain to people what Burning Man is and why I go, I hear a lot of misconceptions. It is about “radical self expression”, giving, self reliance, creativity, art, engineering, alternative life styles, community and most importantly “leave no trace”. Every year after the Burn, for about a month volunteers stay and make sure there is no trace left of the event or people with the BLM signing off once they are satisfied.
Map of Black Rock City Amphitheater
I hope that if you have any interest in one of the greatest human experiences you may have in your life…visit the sites above or of course better yet go to the playa and the Burn to learn for yourself what is truly is all about!
Hope to see you on the playa and if not this year maybe you will make it next year. To all those going have a fantastic Burn!
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