here and there and somewhere else.

I made it back from the desert safe and sound. And tan and dusty. To be perfectly honest, I wasn't ready to leave just yet. I felt like I was leaving the process prematurely. Indeed I was. There will be people still cleaning up for another month! It absolutely amazes me. The whole process. Almost three months of work for a one week festival. Albeit a strangely unique and resource-exhaustive event. But it takes a lot of effort to make a 53,000+ person event the largest Leave No Trace event in the world.
Anyway, I found this entry on the Burning Man blog about my work department, the Yellow Bike Project: http://blog.burningman.com/2011/08/building-brc/need-wheels-you-got-em/ and in case you can't tell, that's Yours Truly in the first photo. Apparently there are more pictures somewhere, but I don't have the time to search for them at this moment. I did take a few of my own, however.

comfortable rv ride to the desert, complete with jesus bobblehead

some older art pieces stored at the ranch -- the bone tree is sweet

kt painting bikes in the shop

art

this is my trailer -- and the desert is so nice with no one else there yet

epic sunsets every night

it's nice to have friends who will take you away from the playa sometimes

man base construction -- total height of base + man = 104 feet

jamie is bad ass & so was this chopper bike

view of our shop & some of our bikes

this is the bike crew in our camp

pyramid lake reservation -- goodbye nevada

So, that's basically all the photos I took. And if you're really interested, you can find plenty of other stories and pictures about Burning Man (.com), especially on the Burning Blog.

But now, the gears are being shifted. I've been in Austin one week, and I am ready to go again. Being here was interesting. It obviously didn't help that I was already reluctant to leave the desert, but I think I also just wasn't mentally prepared to come back. It's quite a transition. I'd been living such an idealistic life, I felt less connected with this reality. I know that sounds ridiculous, but it's true. I can't imagine how it is to be there for the entire DPW season. Don't get me wrong, there are some lovely people & things here, and I feel very grateful to have them in my life.

Anyway, tomorrow I leave for Guatemala at 7am. I fly straight from Houston to Guatemala City, and then take a 4.5-hour bus ride to Xela. I'm not exactly sure how to articulate my emotions. I'm excited, no doubt. Curious. And a little bit nervous too. Mostly because I'll be speaking Spanish almost exclusively, and right from the start. But challenges are great. And of course, I'm always hungry for new experiences.

So, here I go. Gracias y adios.

Quetzaltenango (Xela) farming highlands