Tour diary

Wow. That's about all i can say. It was more than just a festival. Like Ecotopia 2003, somehow it has changed me a bit, in some kind of subtle but profound way. I am leaving with a warm glow inside that feels like it will carry me through the next year and beyond.

For those who weren't there, i guess i should say a bit more about what Ecotopia is. Ecotopia is building an alternative world for two weeks. Like the rainbow gathering, we change the rules, we work together, we build community. Unlike the rainbow gathering, the days are filled with workshops, offered by whoever chooses to, on environmental and social

topics. After a gentle wake-up call of acoustic guitar and singing, each day starts with a morning circle where we divi up the tasks (cooking, wood-chopping, maintaining the solar showers and composting toilets, etc.), discuss anything that needs changing, make announcements, and present workshop descriptions. At any given time there were usually more workshops that interested me than i could attend. But sometimes i just skipped them all and played with my poi or devel sticks, helped in the kitchen, went back to bed, or hung out and talked with people. Time became mostly irrelevant and my focus stayed happily in the Here and Now.

Most nights we had an activity to bring us all together. One night we joined the kid's camp for their goodbye party, dancing alongside the little ones to delightfully bad pop music and sneaking swigs of clandestine beer and Moldova coladas (pineapple, coconut and vodka). Another night we watched everyone flaunt their talents in the Ecotopian verson of a EuroVision contest. The winners got watermelons. A few night during dinner we watched EPCTV (Ecotopia Permaculture TV), which consisted of a big wooden frame in which anybody who wanted to stood and tried to say or do something interesting. And of course there were the campfires, around which i always found myself sitting late into the night meeting people and singing my heart out. I sang so much all week! Remind me to teach you "Black Socks" next time I see you. Mom, you won't like it. Oh, there are so many little details and pictures in my head that i hope i remember forever. Like the little frogs that jumped away everytime istepped from my tent toward the river. And the shooting stars that seemed to wait until each moment i looked up to race across black sky, adding to

the effect that we were in some magical world where everything is a little extra special. Some of the most intense rains i've seen herded us into the big tents, one day followed by a huge rainbow arching from horizon to horizon. The rains never lasted too long, just long enough to make us really appreciate the sunshine. I joined singing workshops, poi workshops, and hugging workshops. The spirit of lightheartedness followed into

serious matters as well, and our media action against the Transdneistrian governement's noncooperation with munitions removal agreements was filled with the song, theater and playfulness that permeated the magical land of Ecotopia.

The biggest highlight of the week was the final night's magical journey with Lian and Frodo, a night that reminded me of the absolute beauty and perfection of the Universe, and brought me back to a place of perfect peace and trust inside. But that's a story you'll have to ask me about in person.