//////////////////

Burning the Foundry

20220718

It's Monday, and I'm currently on a plane back home. This weekend has been a pretty wild experience.

First of all, meeting Carven. Such an interesting person... 6 years traveling around the world by foot and sailboat, such a humble individual. It really clashed with the people we ended up with there – white Germans with a bunch of crazy expensive vans, music equipment, and a variety of festival clothes and drugs.

Nico and I had a crazy LSD trip after doing half a dose each, and it has been quite eye-opening. Apart from finding myself laughing at the stupidest shit, I felt my brain was similar to when I was a kid, liquid ADHD. Everything seemed extremely interesting – for example, I felt zero need of looking at my phone, people and situations were incredibly exciting and attractive by themselves. I wonder if this can help me focus on any more creative endeavors.

As always, Henk was really nice (as were his friends). Dennis and his child Nappi had this super interesting anarchic relationship, Pachamama's girl had this really intense, almost ritualistic approach to life, Max was a great, humble entertainer, and some girls had an incredible aura of freedom around the way they danced and enjoyed life, German guys had this same vibe with this kind of bicurious approach to it, the music group friends had this super authentic Spanish vibe, with the singer being completely shameless and incredible while dancing in the chapel.

Some takeaways from the experience:

  • Feel free to run away: You don't have to do anything you don't want/feel prepared to do. Susana and the Queimada triggered this.

  • Sometimes it's worth taking stupid risks: I was about not to do LSD, and I didn't get into the church. Both decisions or doing the contrary would have worked, but I don't regret the first.

  • Just chill and let things happen: things will eventually sort themselves out (or not be done at all). This is one of the traumas I bear from my mother, but being with Henk, Dennis & Susana really helps take an anarchy approach to things you don't want or can't control.

  • Take the things you decide to do seriously: you never know the impact of what you are doing on people. I spent too little time in the Queimada, and too little time on the ritual for the tortillas.

  • Act it out: life is a play! It's way funnier if you switch roles from time to time and refresh things a little. It also helps to unburden yourself from shame.

All in all, I would repeat, but definitely what I will push is meeting Henk and the people I really enjoyed spending time with (Aleida, Nico, the Dutch couple, Henk).