I remember coming home from the Burn last year, and having pretty much the exact same feeling.

Basically, not knowing how to put into words the experience. At least, not in a way that conveys the moment of standing in the desert, staring a dust storm in the face, reaching back for your dust mask, dropping your goggles, and pedaling out into the unknown.

There is no feeling like it in the world.

Eventually, I was able to write about my experience from last year – though I left it unpublished until very recently. It was less about getting it out for others to read, and more about capturing the wisdom offered to me by the experience.

As for this year… it’s coming. In the meantime, enjoy my photo essay Burning Man: Metropolis.

“And the day came when the risk it took to remain tight inside the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.”
~ Anais Nin

Written in the Ascension Tribe tent at Burning Man.

After 4 days in the Black Rock Desert, I’ve returned. Many friends have asked what the experience was like, yet predictably, I find it difficult to describe. Yet I’m going to try anyway in an upcoming article for BNT.

Stay tuned…

Aside from the colourful costumes and legions of dancers, I couldn’t help but notice a little booklet that kept appearing. The book was called El Camino de la Felicidad (The Way To Happiness).

I couldn’t read the book itself (since it was in Spanish) but something about it seemed…odd. It definitely had the air of a religious text, that much was clear. But even more bizarre was when I realized the books were being handed out to the crowd by the soldiers.

Why would the theoretically neutral army agree to hand out religious texts at the Carnaval?

I asked a Spanish speaking friend to call one of the soldiers aside and ask why he was handing them out. He said they were told to. My friend asked if he knew what the book was about. He shook his head, though said “Something about how to live better?”

A large truck drove by, loaded to the brim with boxes upon boxes of this handbook. Children clutched the book in their fingers as their moms flipped through the pages of their own copy.

A group of performers walked up to the barricade near me and offered me the book. I held up the copy I was already studying – they nodded and continued on.

I had to get to the bottom of this mystery. I searched the book for any more clues as to the origin.

Finally, on the copyright page, one name struck me: L. Ron Hubbard Publications.

I couldn’t believe it. It was Scientology. Somehow, they’d managed to convince the Colombian army to hand out their “non-religious” booklets as if it were an official document, sanctioned by the state.

On the last page, a website was listed: The Way To Happiness.

Visiting the page for the first time now at home, I’m confronted with an extremely slick presentation of short video PSA’s illustrating the key concepts of this new “moral code.”

Here’s the dilemma.

The PSA’s are very good. The messages contained therein, as far as I can tell, are timely and important.

I have nothing personally against Scientology. I even took their guided tour while in LA last year. But the method of distribution for these booklets, under the facade of being “non-religious”, feels shady.

Then again, like anyone outside the Scientology, I’ve been jaded by Tom Cruise’s antics and Hubbard’s rumoured quote “The way to make a million dollars is to start a religion.”

So what’s more important: the message or the messenger?

The start of the journey is generally the most anxious. It’s the point where the weeks ahead are completely unknown. You may have a vague idea of what adventures await…based on remarks from friends, photos in guidebooks, and your own wishes.

You go through the rituals of preparation: scanning documents, packing your bags, securing travel insurance. All the while excitement is building.

Suddenly the day of departure arrives.

You actually lock the door behind you, bid farewell to your home, and step across the threshold.

It’s tempting to flash forward. To think of reaching your destination, immersed in the experience.

You’ll find your first hostel, unpack your bags, and find yourself sitting at an unfamiliar cafe – studying your surroundings as if you opened your eyes for the first time.

But all that comes later. First, you must concentrate on the now.

The journey begins only once.

But we carried on. Thursday Sean helped again with Astronomy outreach at the local elementary schools, and on Friday, he gave two talks to high school kids about the One Week Job project. He was unsure as the kids filed into the library that morning, wondering if he would be able to fill the full 60 minutes with weighty lessons and colourful anecdotes. Turns out, he could – although the first talk came across as non-committal. Sean was a bit reserved, and the kids interested, but impassive.

The second talk was much better, as Sean seemed to hit his stride (and by that time the new class was more awake). Two teachers in the back nodded their heads to every point he made, and Sean was able to convey more of the excitement of the project – which in turn engaged the kids. I foresee these talks are the first of many in Sean’s career.

Friday afternoon, lo and behold, the Mauna Kea mountain cleared enough for us to tackle the summit. We loaded into a rugged SUV, Kenyan (our local guide and fellow astronomy teacher), Tammy (our host for the week), Sean and myself – and soon we were bouncing past acres of volcanic rock, shifting rain showers, until finally views appeared that would make Zeus weep.

Snow blanketed the summit, the road, and the massive outer domes of the telescopes. A fresh flurry fell from the sky as we hopped out of the SUV and into one of the telescope buildings (I can’t remember which one). We learned how much astronomy work isn’t actually spent gazing at the “pretty pictures” of stars, galaxies and nebulia – those are for lay people.

Astromers actually study mounds of data gathered from the telescopes, so they can analyze it, process it, mix it, shake and bake it, until they learn more about the history of the universe and life’s ultimate question: why are we here? Heavy stuff.

And just like that, Sean’s week as an Astromer was over.

On Sat, we drove a rental car around the northern edge of the Big Island, passing lush rainforest, and waterfalls that seemingly spout from the rock before dashing into the ocean. By mid-afternoon, we’d arrived in Kona – the hot spot for tourists and black sand beaches.

We sat on the sand and watched the sunset melt into the waves, a full 8 minutes after the light had actually left the sun. (Random fact from this week: the rays of sun that you see with your eyes take approximately 8 minutes to travel through space and hit the Earth).

Here’s all the photos from that week – near the end you can see some at the Mauna Kea observatory
http://www.flickr.com/photos/39533439@N00/sets/72157603850312912/

This past week we’ve spent at the Volcanoes National Park – Sean was a Ranger for the week. I’ll try to send an update on that in the next few days. In the meantime, check out the Park Ranger photos here
http://www.flickr.com/photos/39533439@N00/sets/72157603892762194/

Until next time…

Sean and I left Vancouver early Sunday morning to our stopover in San Francisco. The flight was pleasant, that is, until it came time to land. It seemed San Fran had a turbulent weather system blanketing the area in fog and winds, which provided us with the bumpiest landing I’ve ever endured. You might know my stomach doesn’t handle g-forces very well, and it wasn’t long before I had the air sickness bag clutched in my sweaty palms – just in case the need arose (I didn’t have to use it).

Luckily, the plane eventually landed and I staggered into the airport, directly into the convenience stand for some anti-nausea pills. I rarely eat on, or before flights, so while I was starving, Sean graciously chowed a Subway sandwich next to me while I wallowed with my unsettled stomach. The next leg of our journey was the much larger Boeing 777 plane (9 rows of seats!) and carried us across the Pacific in 5.5 hours to Honolulu.

From there, we stopped for an hour before boarding another small plane that hopped us over to Hilo on the Big Island, Hawaii’s second largest city, and our final destination. Unfortunately, we had somehow timed our trip to coincide with torrential monsoon rain, and this third landing proved to be almost as adventurous as the first. Amid the darkness and drenching weather, we touched down with our pilot adding an amicable “Aloho!” through the crackling speakers. “Glory to the Big Kahuna”, I mouthed, and disembarked.

Waiting for us at the airport was Tammy, our host for the next two weeks, and her son Judah. She was a fan who got involved with the One Week Job project after reading about it on Yahoo.com. My first disappointment upon our arrival was the lack of locals with leis in their hands, as I’d always pictured in the movies. (Perhaps it was the rain that kept them away that night). Luckily, Tammy and her son had leis in hand and draped them over our necks, immediately making us feel welcomed to their island. We collected our bags and drove to her house, a picturesque home near the ocean.

Monday, Sean was on the agenda to deliver talks to the local high school kids about his adventures in career-exploration – but the rain washed away those plans. Yes, the torrential rain of the night before continued until late the next morning. This was the first time I’d ever heard of classes being canceled over water. So instead we met up with Sean’s boss for the week: a hyper-intelligent astromer named Gary Fujihara who leads the outreach programs at the University of Hawaii.

Today (Tuesday) Sean was sent to some local elementary schools to help give a slideshow/telescope building workshop that helps kids envision astronomy as a viable career choice. As part of our welcome, the kids gathered on the steps of the school and sang us a welcome chant, before we were “leied” once again.

In the afternoon, we visited their state-of-the-art planetarium, featuring one of the world’s only 3D projectors. (It was almost as exciting as the giant rubber earth ball in the lobby). Finally, we spent the evening at a celebratory dinner at the Hilo Yacht Club, held in honour of the “Journey Across the Universe” program, which is the name given to the outreach activities all this week.

Meanwhile, the torrential rain continues. If the weather let’s up, we’ll be able to visit the Mauna Kea observatory – a truly one in a lifetime experience that will forever have me cursing the rain gods if they take this opportunity away from us. (Maybe there’s such a thing as the “anti-rain dance?”)