Burning Man 2012: The Iris Thrives on Melted Ice

Black Rock City layout 2012.

In the sprawling layout of Black Rock City, arranged in concentric alphabetical circles at the hours of the clock, Camp Aspen Eurotrash was located at approximately 7:05 and I.  Because of the theme of Fertility 2.0, the alphabetical circles that year were named for flowers, so officially we we at 7:05 and Iris. The makeshift wooden street signs had small painted purple and gold flowers of that genus.

This location put us almost on the edge of the city itself. The streets officially went up to Lilac, but there was hardly anyone encamped beyond Jasmine.

It turned out to be a fairly good location---far enough out that we could spread out in our camp, yet not too far from the Central Camp area, which was crucial for certain supplies. Part of the ethic of Burning Man is that nothing is supposed to be for sale, or even for trade---everything must be gifted freely. The sole exception is coffee and ice, which are both for sale in Central Camp, the sprawling large open tent structure at 6:00 on the innermost ring of the playa. It served as a main central hangout area, full of wooden benches and carpets in a maze-like labyrinth, interspersed by art exhibitions and stages on which people gave impromptu performances of anything they felt like expressing.

A typical morning inside the tent at Central Camp

A typical day last year began with us waking up and emerging from our shelters and tents in various stages, stumbling over to the table where someone might be making breakfast on the propane stove. The first order of business after that would always be a trip down to Central Camp. There we park and lock our bikes in the expansive row of racks. We would go inside the huge tent and wait in the long but quickly moving queues to order a latte or a mocha or a yerba mate, depending on one's taste. It had the air of a typical urban hip coffeehouse, but entirely staffed by volunteers.

After lounging around to drink our coffee we walked across the plaza to the shiny reflective domelike structure with Arctic-style lettering. Inside the dome one felt the cool blast of fans sending out refrigerated air. It was usually only a couple minutes wait to purchase as many bags of block or cube ice as one could carry. We would them put them in our bicycle baskets and carry them immediately back to camp on Iris, dumping them into our coolers.

Coffee and ice---it shows you what is truly indispensible to our civilization. Everything else---water, food, toiletries, etc.---one must bring by oneself. But those two items are furnished at a price inside Black Rock City.