On Sunday, October,9th we danced to the playa music again and got a bit of the vibe from Burning Man, the last bit of energy for 2010.

The Decompression Party was probably a 1% of what Burning Man is, a small replica of the most amazing festival and party in the world.

The crowd was a mix of “burners” and “virgins”. It looks that many San Franciscans go to this kind of local event even before going to Black Rock City, which makes perfect sense ( too sad that I had to learn about BM through photos and videos). 😉

Many virgins think of this festival as the place to use drugs. I keep saying that yes, there is a lot of that, but BM is much more than a rave place. It is so only if that is what you are looking for. Like any other city, you can find all kinds of groups to enjoy music, lecture, meditation, art. My mind was blown on my first day and night at Burning Man and I didn’t take any drugs, only rum to keep myself warm.

I always feel so guilty for wearing streetwear. When I see everybody with elaborated customes and fun clothes I say to myself that I have to add some colour and craziness to the surroundings next time.

We spent the afternoon walking around and talking to random people on our way. It took us two hours to go from one side of the street to the other. We spent some time talking to a guy from Albuquerque who is actively participating in the Ocuppy SF peaceful protest, but most of the time we danced to the sound of the Burning Band, fooled around with the hula hoops, listened to CelloJoe (the same guy I saw a couples of days ago near Market and Powell St), danced some more, sat at the Solarium and just enjoyed the decompression process.

There were a few fire throwing sculptures from the playa, a couple of dusty mutant vehicles, an embassy where you could get your BRC passport done and a post office. The post office remained opened until the end of the night but the embassy was closed by the time we visited it.

One tiny thing I noticed before and I confirmed last night is that some people who are relaxed and friendly at the Playa completely transform themselves when they get to the city. The city tension, maybe? I remember a day after Burning Man we went to SFMoMA and met a couple of Canadians from the Green Tortoise camp who were surprised when we approached them to talk about BM! Hello? Even if you do not remember me it doesn’t hurt to show a nicer face for five minutes. I actually remember the group for being super sociable on the bus, going to Burning Man.

There are all kinds of people going to this Festival and I do not expect everyone to be ready to give me a hug but at least BE YOURSELF at all times.

It is good to see burners outside Black Rock City, to see that majority of people are the same in the real city and willing to start a very natural conversation. They live the Playa life not for one week but everyday of the year and those ones are very fortunate.

We kept mentioning we should convince some of our friends to take a trip to Burning Man and how fantastic it would be if they actually could come with us one year.