Tuesday morning early Josh and I dressed up in our tutus (Tuesday at Burning Man is traditionally Tutu Tuesday) and went out for a quick potty run and a little more exploration of some of the art that was on the way there and back. One of the most fun things was a circular swingset installation. (It was fun during the day but at night it lit up and got even more awesome, as we were to discover later.) There were 6 or 8 swings set up in a circle, and each swing was set up so that when you swung vigorously enough on it, a ball set high up on the metal cable on the swing’s left or right side would collide with a bell and make a nice chiming noise. If there were many people swinging at once it made some pretty, temple-bell-ish music. I love it when an art installation is able to be appreciated as both as a solo and a collaborative experience.
After we got back, we spent some more time setting up our yurt and shade structure, and then there was an all-camp Pink Heart meeting in our communal kitchen area, where we got to meet or at least see most of our camp-mates and spend a little time together. Halcyon gave us some inspirational meditations and words, we got to go around in a circle and introduce ourselves with our names and one word that was how we were feeling right then, and/or our intention for the burn (mine was “serendipity”), and we talked about camp activities and expectations.
After the meeting, we spent some time helping to set up and serve at Pink Heart’s ice cream giveaway (on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, Pink Heart gives away scoops of vegan coconut-milk ice cream on gluten-free cones to anyone who wants one). First I served toppings to people (because, as I told the people in line, “you know what makes free ice cream in the desert EVEN BETTER? Toppings!”), and then when the toppings ran out, I gave people ice cream cones. Giving out the ice cream itself was particularly fun, and I really enjoyed playing around with people in line, telling them “oooh, I have YOUR ice cream! And YOURS! And look what I have for you? Ice cream! Yayyy!”) Our campmate Karpo was cracking me up too: as he served people (especially the women), he would drop to one knee and present the ice cream cone as though he were presenting a diamond engagement ring or a gift to a Queen. As I have personally affirmed in prior years, there is nothing quite so fabulous as a frozen treat in the hot dry desert, and nothing quite so fun as giving people something they are really, really happy to receive. There were a few people who were kind of fussy (“can I get a chocolate one instead?” “Nope, you get what you get and don’t throw a fit. Trade amongst yourselves if you must”) or maybe just too tired to do more than say “thanks” and walk off with their treat, but for the most part people were so grateful and happy and all that joy just went round and round and created a big pink lovey smoothie, metaphorically speaking.
I did that for hours, until the ice cream ran out for the day, and then realized that I was both physically and energetically exhausted (even though I did sample the ice cream myself and both Anjanette and Josh had come round to make sure I was drinking water). I staggered back to our campsite and drank a quart of recharge, had a snack, peeled off some clothes and took a nap in the yurt that lasted for several hours, and felt better after that.
Right around sunset it was time for a Pink Heart wedding. Two of our camp-mates, Ian and Millie, who had met the year before at Burning Man, were getting married, and the whole camp was all excited and caught up in the planning. Josh and I got re-dressed and lounged around Pink Heart while waiting for the wedding to start. Waynerd came by (the guy who does such beautiful playa portraits who took pics of Anjanette and I last year) and Josh and I took some cute couple pics with him, and then finally it was time for the ceremony. The wedding was officiated by Halcyon at the pink fur-covered Heart Arch across the Esplanade from Pink Heart. There were lots of people there and though we couldn’t hear or see it too well from where we were back in the crowd, there was clearly a lot of love and good feeling all around. The bride and the groom were gifted with amazing, elaborate new playa coats and backpacks shaped like jetpacks, and there was cake and champagne and a whole lot of yay. Anjanette was serving pink champagne to everyone, which was also fun. I adore watching people publicly declare their love and Josh and I had some happy teary moments basking in the reflected glow and remembering our own wedding and declarations of love.
After most of the well-wishers had gone on their way, a group of Pink Heart campers all headed over to Apex (a nearby sound camp) for celebratory dancing. There turned out to be another happy love event to celebrate that night also, as at some point our campmate Joe/“Sexy Situation”, the man who built the Heart Swing, proposed to his darling girlfriend Karen, whom he had also met the year before at Burning Man. It was super sweet and cute and I was honored to be able to share in the moment.
We stayed for a few hours at Apex (I even got to watch some killer fire poi dancing out front at some point, which made me really happy), but eventually the Pinkies started to move on and we decided to go back to camp and try to get some sleep. I say “try” because our immediate camp neighbor, Buddha Lounge, had their speakers set up probably only about 10 or 15 feet away from our yurt, and their bass was so incredibly loud that it vibrated our yurt and the ground and came right through our bones. It was inescapable and very, very loud and even with earplugs and playa-induced exhaustion on our side, we couldn’t so much “sleep” as “pass out from time to time”. (That turned out to be the one major bummer of the whole week, but it was totally balanced out by all the other good stuff so we didn’t mind it too much.)
Anyway on the way back to camp we detoured by the potties and some more nearby art, and discovered yet another interactive, collaborative installation that turned out to be one of my favorites. It was a roughly 10 x 20 metal frame with a whole bunch of different sized globes suspended from it on vertical cables. It looked at first like it wasn’t working or that it was something that was a daytime exhibit, but much to my delight when we got closer and examined it we discovered what it was. (Love that feeling of discovery you get when you experiment with something and figure it out!) When you tapped each ball you got a light and a sound for about 3 seconds, and then it turned off. So the challenge was to tap each ball as fast as you could (and ideally have other people in there with you doing the same) to see if you could get as many going at once as possible. I had a really fun time running around inside the installation and whacking the globes and encouraging other people to do it too.