Barden Begins: The Festival

We arrived on Mt. Batur on Friday afternoon after a two hour motorbike ride across Bali. In the rain, we pitched our tarp. I was mistaken because I thought that the festival was actually in the volcano...it was on the side of the mountain. Probably not so hot, what with the lava and all, so I'm glad I was wrong! The side was covered in volcanic rock and very dry vegetation.

The festival began at sundown with a sacred fire ceremony where about 100 of us gathered in a circle, held hands and chanted. I really wasn't feeling it, so I basically looked around while everyone else had their eyes closed and observed that I was way out of place. I felt a little uncomfortable in my jeans and black t-shirt without dreads, piercings all over my faces or tattoos all over my body. I was talking to an American-Israeli guy and told him that I, pardon the expression, felt like the whitest white person at the party. He replied, "yes, you are." Oh well!

The festival had a 'healing section' where people were doing yoga, tarot readings, etc. I didn't spend any time there. There was a chill out section where they played more mellow music. Michael dj'ed there from 5 AM to 8 AM Sunday morning. The main dance floor, where they played trance music from sundown - 2 PM, took a break for a couple of hours, then started up again, was where I spent most of my time. There were more people dancing at 4 AM than 11 PM. It was crazy...awesome music and lighting. I have never danced so much in my life.

In total, I slept 5 hours from Thursday night to Sunday night. The volcanic rock isn't really that soft and it gets cold on the mountain! I had no cardboard, newspaper, sleeping bag, blanket or pillow, so I tried sleeping straight on the tarp, but it was not so comfortable, hence my lack of sleep. No sleep does offer the advantage of being awake for beautiful sunrises over the surrounding mountains. After two nights of partying Gundula and I were ready to leave. We got back to Ubud last night, took a power nap, showered and put on a little sundress. I was so exhausted that on the way to dinner I realized that I had forgotten to wear underwear. Oops.

I posted new pictures, too many of them probably. Click on the picture below to view them!