Lightning in a Bottle was like nothing else I have ever experienced. Words cannot capture what I have witnessed, felt, been a part of for the last four days. It was so much more than just a party; it challenged me, enriched me, gave me a safe and enchanted space to grow as a person. The people and the culture really make LIB what it is. It’s a beautiful place where everyone is smiling and welcoming, and everyone you meet will have something nice to say and a hug for you. The atmosphere is one of gratitude and the joie de vivre, and it is a very spiritual space. One of my most special moments was sitting in a geodesic dome, set to vibrate to the earth’s frequency, with 6 others, in various yoga poses, chanting, or sitting cross legged on the floor, breathing in the energy as one man played Tibetan singing bowls. The conversations around the Temple of Consciousness were so enlightening and new for me, with different worldviews such as shamanism and Hare Krsna, all engaging and seeking spiritual growth together.
Meditation at the lake at sunset The people. Festivals are always a space filled with diversity and alternative lifestyles, but this really was a whole other level. The words that kept ringing in my mind were, ‘these people are SO GOOD at being themselves.’ Everyone was so free, open, confident and spontaneous. It was beautiful. I have never seen so many grown adults engaging in play. One of my favourite spaces to observe this was ‘Frontierville’, set up like an old frontier town with a saloon, which hosted the LIB Frontierville Mayoral election. My vote was for the flamboyant Italian Amori, with the campaign slogan ‘vote for love’, who ran the Frontierville Casino and Burlesque Parlour, and handed out condoms with his campaign slogan on. His opposition candidate was the patriotic Thornbush, with the slogan ‘let us do the thinking for you’. The mayoral debate featured hilarious banter about topics such as the right to bear arms (“I see many beautiful bodies around here – if the people want to bare their arms, let them bare arms!”), and the future of LIB, particularly the imposed ban on public nudity (“let the people derobe!”). All characters stayed wonderfully in character throughout the festival, and the Frontierville saloon was a festive playground in the evenings. Frontierville Another favourite of mine was the Psychedelic Friendship Bingo, which kicked off after midnight when the main stages close down, and was a wild anddebaucherous affair featuring some of the craziest costumes I have ever seen. The bingo panel featured musicians (including one of the members of Beats Antique) and organisers of LIB and other big festivals, and each round began and ended with everybody reading the friendship bingo mantra – “Friendship like the setting sun sheds kindly light on everyone.” The DJ was dressed as a lucha libre fighter, and Vegas style characters walked around with megaphones giving commentary on what was happening, creating a disorienting atmosphere of insanity. The games lasted far longer than any game of bingo I have ever witnessed, the prizes were ridiculous, and the rounds were frequently interrupted by extended dialogues between the main actors, improv singing performances, and spontaneous dancing outbursts where everyone was up out of their seats, dancing on the tables etc – and you should see the reaction when someone called bingo! I haven’t laughed so much in a long time. Psychedelic Friendship Bingo The music. There were more ‘zones’ than any other festival I have been to, so the musical diversity was phenomenal. What’s more, the dance floors were full of smiling faces reflecting the joy of movement. One of my musical highlights was a group called Tropo, who were playing electronic music with live violin and rapping – a combination I never thought I would see, but which absolutely blew me away!! At the end of their set everyone would not stop asking for more, so they played about three encores, where they were just jamming and freestyling lyrics about the festival, before they were finally forced off the stage. The Wookie stage – DJ in a treehouse! Not only did I expose my ears to new music, but I also learned to truly free my body on the dancefloor. In particular one night I was sitting toward the back of one of the music zones, talking with a couple of guys and watching this group of people dancing together. They were really fantastic dancers, so free and expressive, and interacting with each other in a beautiful way, much like contact dance, each reacting to the movements of the other. I said to the guy beside me, “I wish I could dance like that,” to which he replied “you can.” Maybe fifteen minutes later a song came on that I just could not stay sitting down for, so I commenced dancing by these people. Their energy was infectious, the music was fun, and I quickly lost myself in the experience. One of the girls who I had met earlier came and danced with me and told me, “Girl, I love the way you move!!”, and we both danced together, sharing in the elation and grinning like madwomen; at that moment I realised that I could and WAS dancing like that! It was such an empowering and wonderful feeling that I will never forget. Later in the night my fave place to be was Silent Frisco, a silent rave where everyone has their own set of headphones tuned into the one DJ. It was SO. MUCH. FUN. Every time I removed my headphones I could hear everyone giggling, humming and singing, and watching people rock out in their headphones was GREAT! This group holds Silent Frisco throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, in warehouses where they wouldn’t be allowed to hold a regular rave because of noise regulations – genius. The glowing lights of a few hundred pairs of headphones on dancing bodies My personal growth. I feel like this environment truly taught me how to be more open to my fellow human beings, giving me much more confidence to approach people, and to be friendly and open right from the outset. I went to some great workshops and had some amazing conversations with people, including a guy who almost died in Indonesia after 6 months travelling the world on a soul-searching journey, and has written an Amazon bestseller about his experiences. I met him at a talk by a woman from the Rainforest Action Network, and I learned that he had been one of the almost one hundred people arrested (including James Hansen, Bill McKibben and Naomi Klein ) in the 2011 protest in Washington D.C., against the planned Keystone XL Pipeline. For those of you didn’t see this, thousands showed up, with more arriving each day in reaction to the arrests. It was fantastic. I approached him to thank him for being there, and to tell him how inspiring that action had been for me, witnessing it from NZ. We talked about the value of such actions for movement building, and the challenges of remaining motivated when the mainstream media refuses to acknowledge / cover such events. He gave me a copy of his book and it is a really uplifting read (‘Into the Wind’, by Jake Ducey). Being around such people was such a truly magnificent experience that I really cannot put into words. Every person I met is actively creating the life that they want to live, and the world that they want to live in. I was remarking to one woman how so many people are doing amazing things, and a man nearby overheard and told me ‘you’re doing amazing things’, and came over and gave me a hug! That moment epitomized the atmosphere of gratitude and appreciation of one another. I can only hope that each person who was there can carry that home with them and influence the people around them with that wonderful way of relating to one another. A note pinned to one of the noticeboards I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to attend this wonderful event, and encourage anyone who plans to be around the West Coast next summer to check out LIB!! Unfortunately my backpack was taken on the last night, a rare occurrence of negative energy in an otherwise fantastic five days, taking from me my notebook containing contact info from the people I met there. So for me LIB is to remain a magical moment in time, spent in the company of wonderful souls who I am not likely to ever see again in my life, but with whom I experienced and shared so much. And actually that’s kind of lovely.
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The time had come… for Caitlin and I to rendezvous in a fabulous location as we all promised each other we would continue after our tramping rendezvous in the Copland Valley. So I travelled with Ben and his good friend Tobias to Priceless camp out, set in Belden town, among the stunning Sierra mountains, on the banks of the Feather River. So there I was, wandering around a campsite of 600-odd people (def 600 ODD people), and this tiny voice says “Tarsh?” followed by excessive giggles - Priceless indeed.
What followed were three fantastic days spent floating on the river listening to great music, meeting people, and having the very best catch up. We named ourselves Camp Comfy, and each had monikers to match. Ben was Captain Comfy, and let me tell you, that man is VERY serious about his fun. His costuming was also second to none (think red cowboy hat, red suspenders, and red tartan pants), and his tarot card reading surprisingly accurate ;) Caitlin was Comfy Calamity, and was Ben’s biggest challenger for best dressed, wearing fairy lights wrapped around her outfit, very cool. At one point I watched a man stood transfixed watching her hula hooping. I was the Comfy Crusader, fighting for the cause of comfort, and then there was Tobias, aka Comfy King, a warm caring gentle man who I am honoured to know. Together we talked so much rubbish, ate ridiculous amounts of almonds, and daaaanced the nights away. Much of the Priceless family was made up of the Bay Area Burning Man people, so the vibe was fun, offbeat and eccentric. Next to the dancefloor was a giant monkey bar set which by night became a seething mass of bodies deftly moving up, down and around the bars, erasing any doubt that humans are related to monkeys! It was quite the sight. I even overcame my fear of heights and scaled it alongside a crazy Australian. There were several art installations, my favourite of which was a bunch of motion sensitive LED flowers, which were amazing on their own, and mind blowing when looked at through 3D glasses! At another site, a woman was doing close up photos of people’s eyes, which were so incredibly beautiful. I never realised how many colours I have going on in my eye!! On the Saturday morning they put on a huge delicious brunch for everybody, which Cait and I were lucky enough to serve up in our role as volunteers. Suggested payment was a compliment or a hug, so we had the best job in the world!! Too many great moments to do justice to really, everyone was super welcoming and friendly, the music was great – I discovered a new genre which is really popular here, called Trap, essentially rap lyrics put to electronic music. We thrashed around to it until the wee hours of the morning. However I most enjoyed Oakland-based bilingual hip hop duo Los Rakas, dancing on the beach in my bikini, oooh yea!! Check them out on Bandcamp :) From Isla Vista it was time for my first Greyhound bus experience – all 8.5hours of it – up the coast to Oakland. During my travels I’ve been reading Jack Kerouac’s ‘On the Road’, a classic from the 1950′s beat generation, based on Kerouac’s own travels around the U.S. Kerouac often rode the Greyhound, and described his experiences, so it was funny to be in the same situation 60 years later. I can confirm that they are still stuffy, crowded and full of all walks of humanity, but I was lucky to meet some friendly fellow wanderers. I broke out into the hugest grin when a Brazilian guy I met told me he was on his way to Napa Valley to see “a reggae band… called Katchafire.” Represent!
Toward the end of my ride, two men boarded the bus together, and we quickly established that we were all couchsurfers, and they were looking for somewhere to stay that night in San Fran. They ended up being transferred to another bus, but I exchanged details with Olivier, a smiley frenchman who was keen to explore SF with me. Well, he turned out to be one of the very best people! When we met up in the city, he asked if we could head off in search of Jack Kerouac Alley (I hadn’t even mentioned Kerouac yet!!), so we set off and explored that area, spending large amounts of time in both the bookstore and the bar which Kerouac used to frequent. Olivier and I found we had a lot in common, and I fell for his wonderful energy and fantastic outlook on life. It was an absolutely perfect day. My host in Oakland was Caitlin’s good friend Ben, who is another spectacular human being. He gave me a sticker that said “I met a real clown today,” and when I wore it out, a real clown boarded my ferry!! Ben is also a CS host, and one of the best, with a pre-prepared Word doc with insider tips on where to go in the bay area, links to local websites of events etc. Olivier came out and stayed with us the second night, and we both fell in love with Oakland – the only place I’ve ever heard someone sincerely say “can I get a woop woop?” (in response to receiving a cigarette). We set out to find real coffee (American coffee is pretty terrible), and found the best place… We stopped to admire a street side art installation, and when we went to continue we realised we faced two crossroads: one like any other street crossing, the other painted in a rainbow. Naturally, we chose the rainbow, and on the other side lay a “Taqueria” (Mexican cafe), with espresso! Perfection. I keep being told, “Tarsh, NOBODY visits Oakland,” but we really had the best time, sipping coffee and meeting passersby. It could have almost passed for Modaks or Mou Very on a sunny Dunedin day… Ben, Olivier and I spent the funniest afternoon ‘thrift shopping’ (op shops!) These two guys are just the most hilarious. Macklemore has nothin’ on us when it comes to thrift shopping, I tell ya ;) Our enthusiasm was unbeatable, and when one of the stores announced 20% off dresses, well!! Too much excitement for one day really. It was hard to say goodbye to Olivier so soon, but – we will always have Oakland. Disembarking the island, I was informed by my beautiful friend Sam that as soon as I arrived in I.V. we were going camping by the beach with a crew of around 30 co-op kids. Yahhoo! Seven of us piled into the back of a huge classic ‘shagging wagon’ style van full of furry cushions and blankets, and off we went. Everyone was so friendly and interesting, and we had a wonderful evening making s’mores around a campfire, and playing with hoops and poi. We greeted the morning with a skinny dip before heading back to town.
My days in Isla Vista were like a dream. Set against a backdrop of palm trees and hibiscus flowers, we cycled everywhere, and spent our days surfing, stand up paddleboarding, chilling… We stayed at the faux-op, a 20 person co-operative house, home to some of the best people I have encountered. Really open, friendly and eccentric, they made me feel instantly at home, and I had the best time. We went pot luck hopping, played strip jenga, and Sam and I were bridesmaids at the most hilarious faux wedding I’ve ever seen. I sat in on a house meeting, and found the cooperative housing model really interesting. It seems to break down so many of the hang ups that most of us have about sharing space and resources, and create a more open and sharing environment. I’m really hooked on the idea. Three of us went to see Damian Marley perform at the Santa Barbara Bowl on Saturday night, and it was fantastic. We ended up seeing not only Damian, but Stephen and Julian Marley also, and Stephen’s son Joseph, aka Jo Mersa. Seeing all of them on stage doing Bob Marley versions, unbelievable. Plus we managed to sneak past security, into the floor section, gaining such a close up view of the action… It was such a good show, I loved every minute of it. We continued the party back at the faux-op, and at dawn I was lucky enough to witness the sun rising behind the Sierra ranges, turning the sky all kinds of pink, an unbelievable end to an unbelievable night. I can only hope that I will continue to meet such delightful human beings, for this crew really filled me with love for humanity. Eager to go walkabout, I caught the ferry over to Santa Cruz Island, the largest of the four islands which make up the Channel Islands National Park. On the way over a mother blue whale with calf surfaced right alongside the boat. The blue whale is the largest animal to have ever lived on this earth. Unreal. I was straight out onto the trails, along a rugged coastline of bluffs, with a backdrop not unlike Central Otago.
The sunsets were stunning, with seabirds soaring past me, riding the ocean winds. Seeing the flocks of brown pelican was particularly special, a truly remarkable bird which was almost lost forever. Amid rising concerns about pesticide use in the 1960s, scientists were able to pinpoint contamination from DDT in mainland sewers, flowing out to sea and entering the food chain, disrupting the reproductive cycle of the pelicans. The federal government listed the brown pelican as an endangered species in 1970, at which point only one chick survived on West Anacapa Island. DDT was banned in 1972, and by 2009 the brown pelican had recovered enough to be removed from the endangered species list. There are now some 6,000 nesting pairs raising chicks on West Anacapa each year. Cool story right? The inland trail over Montanon Ridge is stunning and exhausting, with almost no shelter and soaring temperatures. The plant diversity is fascinating, with a high proportion of endemic species, and some fantastic cacti. I befriended the kayak guide crew and they showed me how you can suck the berries of the ‘lemonade berry’ plant, and it tastes just like sherbet. They were a cool crew of guys with a raft of interesting projects on the go. I passed a pleasant evening with them, drinking beer and climbing to watch the sunset. After climbing to see the sunrise, the Smuggler’s Cove trail was a much cruisier option, which I was surprised to finish before lunch, even with a swim and some time spent reflecting at a secluded lookout point. While trails like this one are easy going, the heat really makes you appreciate this, and it was still gorgeous. The unique island fox (not much bigger than a cat) is everywhere, and so damn cute! I had one following me for awhile, pausing every time I turned around. Other local characters include pretty little lizards, and the somehow intimidating ravens. The island also has a rich history of habitation by the Chumash Indians, who crafted a trading currency using seashells collected here. A wonderful escape of delicious freedom,which left me feeling nature drunk and happy. |
I am a conservation field worker in New Zealand. I love mountains, sunrises, river swims, barefeet, cold beer, campfires, live music and whiskey. Archives
December 2014
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