Fertility 2.0, Burning Man

Yes this seems completely insane to jump on a plane and travel for hours to make our way back to San Francisco only to pack up a truckload of equipment to spend a week out in the middle of the hot, dusty dry, remote desert of Nevada. But we do it anyway. Steve has been attending this annual event for 11 years. I have only been going for 3. I guess we are committed to going no matter where we are in the world. Yeah it is crazy, but then, so is Burning Man itself crazy. It is hard to describe what Burning Man is to anyone who has not attended and difficult to describe even to those who have attended. Someone once said, “Burning Man is like a county fair that has gone very very bad”. A lot of people revere Burning Man as feeling like going home. They talk about the world we live in as the default world. Burning Man is the real world where things are as they should be. And when you are there, you do get the sense that this just feels right. Overwhelming and permeating throughout everything else is a since of community and creativity. It certainly is a place where thinking is not restricted to what is expected. And perhaps the underlying current of the whole experience is the gifting community. There is nothing to buy at Burning Man except ice and coffee at center camp. After that, everything is given freely to those attending. Literally hundreds of camps are set up to gift to those attending anything from bacon, pancakes, crepes in the morning to music, dance, art, root beer floats, ice cream and pop corn in the afternoon. But there is much more than that. There are spectacular fire events throughout the week culminating in the burning of “the man” on Friday night and the solemn torching of the temple on Saturday night. Burning Man is every bit a spiritual experience as it is a spectacle of creative forces when normal is anything but normal.

The Mother Ship, Venice

We sailed back to Pula and took a 3-hour ferry ride to Venice on our way home to attend Burning Man. We choose taking the ferry rather than sailing because we didn’t have to deal with all of the government paperwork of leaving Croatia, entering Italy and then coming back to Croatia. After spending so much time sailing into one Venetian outpost after another all through Croatia, coming into Venice felt like coming to the mothership. This is where all this commerce and political power was centered for centuries. There is no other city on earth like Venice. Its stately architecture combined with its unique waterways make it stand out in anyone’s book. You see the wealth in St Marco’s square and the commitment to make monuments that only the rich city coffers could afford. The kingpin to the square is Basilica di San Marco and attached Plazzo Ducale. It is crowned with sculpture treasure, and gold mosaic from all over the world. It was decreed by law in 1075 that every ship returning from abroad had to bring back a treasure to adorn this grand church. Legend has it that St Marks mortal remains are housed in the alter of this imposing church. The wealth of Venice was also spread out amongst its successful sea captains and merchant traders. A boat ride up the Grande Canal shows off the magnificent palaces they built right along the waters edge. Each building is supported by literally thousands of trees driven into the mud to hold them up. Despite all the sinking problems and erosion, one has to remember that parts of this city have been standing since the 10th century. The famous gondolas of Venice have been a part of the city since the 11th century. In 1562 it was decreed that all gondolas had to be painted black to stop people from making ostentatious shows of wealth. They may still all be black, but there is a bit of a rivalry to see who’s has the most plush velvet seating and brass ornamentation. There are only 300 gondolas allowed on the canals. So getting a license to own one of these cash cows is hotly contested. It is said that the truly wealthy citizens in Venice today are the men polling these ancient watercrafts.