BM - Day Three - Coffee Service Begins!

Burning Man - Day Three

(Click photos for larger versions. Copyright - Heather U-K).

I woke up still with bad Playa cough and heart issues but bounced up and out of the tent, jazzed, it's coffee service today!

Today we started our coffee service. VICC, Vietnamese Iced Coffee Camp serves from 100 to 200 cups of extremely tasty iced coffee each service day to the hot and thirsty citizens of Black Rock City. It is a bunch of fun and we are very popular every year.

We have been very fortunate to have a contingent of friendly Brits who camp with Avalon under the camp name of Quixote's, who have been extremely nice in letting us use their space each year. This means we don't have to bring or plan our own structure. Quixote's was extra nice to plan space in their storage for our VICC equipment as well so we didn't have to lug stuff back and forth between camps, even if we were fairly close by. Quixote's usually runs a bar and cabaret and this year, their theme was beach fun, in keeping with the American Dream of course! Here's VICC's serving home at Burning Man. Note the line of citizens eager for tasty coffee!!

Vietnamese Iced Coffee could also be known as Crack-In-A-Cup as it is very sweet and strongly brewed. A couple of cups and you can run around the city (pretty large) a few times. We use sweetened condensed milk, one 6 ounce can per five cups and dark roast coffee brewed through drip presses. Stir and add ice. It was a bit crazy getting set up for the first run. We really should have practice runs before we come out here. Besides, we'd get to drink more of this stuff more often. Yum. We did have to train some VICC virgins as you can see Luz carefully measuring out sweetened condensed milk and MoistPup (with the apron and coffee press in the foreground) preparing a coffee press.

Once the water has seeped through and brewed completely, we hand the cups over to our eager and often impatient customers to thoroughly stir before getting their ice. We usually make a big deal of it, making people dance and be goofy or be goofy ourselves, faking accents while we encourage folks to stir with vigor and with passion! Actually, it's kind of selfish since if it's not stirred properly, it's hell for the dishwashers to get the gunk out of the bottom. So here are some enthusiastic and dedicated stirrers before receiving their ice.

As I mentioned, it was a bit crazy, setting up for the first time in a year, training folks, but soon we were full swing and eventually Gieve and I wandered off to go wander the Playa as our shift wasn't until Friday and I was just there to make sure everything got set up according to the health department standards (we have to apply for a temporary permit). As it happened, Gieve and I didn't end up wandering the Playa quite yet but went and had lunch, after getting our requisite Crack-In-a-Cup. VICC members get first dibs. We had tasty bagel salami sandwiches, under Chez Bryan, chatting, waiting for the sun to go down. We had some photography fun during our shade stint. Yes, this is black and white although I have recently just learned that for digital black and white, you shoot color and fiddle in Photoshop, not use the black and white setting. Who knew. I certainly didn't. I didn't fiddle with this and the unfortunate thing about black and white digital is that it shoots uniform grey, rather than contrasts of good blacks and whites.

On a total aside, we did get ice finally for the ice coolers but I also love filling up my camelpak with ice and water. The temperature is much easier to take when one's insides are cooled down. So I was physically doing much better after that.

But I digress. So as the light got cooler, we went out and about. I love a lot of things about Burning Man, the camaraderie, the atmosphere and the massive art installations. Here's an example of one of many, a massive mosaic and metal flowerpot. This was at the circle intersection of the Esplanade (the most inner street of the city) and the 9pm street. I'm shooting upwards but you can still get an idea of the scale of it. We ran into another very large art installation on our way to the Temple out in the deep Playa. Most art is Burned at the end. Obviously that metal flowerpot wouldn't be but the giant Hummer (the American Dream, obviously, after having its rubber tires removed) was burned to the ground. I don't know the guy on the top, but it was a great unconscious "American" pose.










Today also was the first Temple visit. If the Man is noisy and his Burn totally crazy, the Temple is quiet and contemplative. More on that later. 2006 Temple I liked a lot, 2007 Temple I didn't. 2007 Temple was beautiful but cold, not really any place to sit down or post memorials like 2006 Temple had, which was sprawling and had a warm quality to it.

This year's Temple was made out of reclaimed and recycled materials, old timber, processed wood, found beach wood, squashed soda cans, found nature objects, such as pine cones, old bottle tops for detailing. Bits and parts were painted, which was a first for me. Last two Temples were plain wood, relying on the beauty of their structure alone. As we walked up, you could see the delicate details of the structure but also, there was a noise all throughout. Those squashed aluminum cans were strung together, as well as wood bits being strung together to form long strands that were hung all over the Temple and next to each other so the wind, of which there is plenty on the Playa, rustled them together. You'd think it would have been a massive cacophony but really, it was quite peaceful. There were people sitting in the various little separate "rooms" and nooks, some quietly chatting, some meditating. As usual (although less so last year), there were writings on the walls or any clear surface, items place in nooks and crannies, photos, written pieces, all of a memorial nature. Where one writes whatever wanted on the Man (I wrote a hope for cultural world peace), the Temple is usually reserved for memories of the dead, the missing be they alive or whereabouts known or unknown. I often get quite teary reading and looking through all these heartfelt memoirs.

I thought the Temple was quite beautiful this year. I brought items with me to burn last year but not having connected to the Temple then, they came home with me. This year, I would be leaving them behind. Although not today.

As the light continued to dim, we started heading back to our bikes when we noticed a large crowd forming off to one side of the Temple so we went to check it out. It was a wedding in progress, one of those random Burning Man events, so we stayed through to the end and then Gieve realized that his cousin was in the wedding party. So as she was getting on the crazily decorated wedding art car, Gieve called out to her and she quickly told us her camp and address as they pulled off. So later we went to find her but sat for a long time, looking but didn't find her. But we had a lot of tasty appetizers for the wedding "reception".

So after a long sit, we decided to head home and found a good half of VICC dancing the Hava Nagila in our camp's "courtyard". Gieve and I hopped right in, it was a blast. These are the joys of Burning Man, coming home and finding these sorts of things happening.

Then off to bed, with Prayers to the Playa Gods actually being heard tonight and I managed to sleep through the night.