HoneyBoomers, August 11 - 17

Boom Festival.
Promoting itself as an event of "Independant Culture and Artistic Expression", the reality may lead to other descriptions but I will hold my tongue as much as I can on this one :)
It certainly was a spectacle like no other, and we all enjoyed our time there... some for different reasons than others.

Our accommodation during the festival was to be in a campervan. We organised to collect it from Pombal, a short train ride North of Lisbon. Boarding the train at the Santa Maria Novella station, small groups of festival types could be spotted here and there. The excitement was building for Naomi and for Daniel, who had taken the opportunity during the train ride to catch up on recent blog entries. It was nice for us to see his reaction to our pictures and stories.


Daniel waited while Naomi and I collected the camper from friendly little Filipe and his father, who smelled like old cheese.
Armed with a road map, and with our supplies all tucked into the back of the van, we set off down the IC8 highway towards Castelo Branco. Naomi did a great job with the driving. It was her first time behind the wheel of such a large vehicle, but you would never have known.
Our destination was a lake not too far from the Spanish border. We had heard from others that there may be long queues at the entry, so we decided to camp nearby and then head in first thing in the morning. The gates were not set to open until later in the day.

In the following photo, Daniel is up on the roof of our van scouting the length of the queue. After rising early, we had driven for only a few minutes before we found ourselves at the end of a long, long line of cars and campervans. Our directions were good. Daniel had collected them from the guy at the service station. He even gave us a piece of paper with squiggly lines on it, cryptically indicating "straight and then left".
Even without the personalised map, there could be no mistake that we had arrived.


Every half hour or so, we moved forward a few metres. Sometimes hours would pass with no movement at all... but there was plenty of entertainment as people began to set up little homely areas along the road. We couldn't help but feel for the innocent bystanders, locals who suddenly lost access and had to go home the long way around.
The hours ticked by, and carspace by carspace we crept forward.
It was surprisingly cool inside the campervan, maybe that had something to do with the relatively mild temperatures outside. When a hot day in this area is somewhere in the mid-40's, our 37.8 degrees seemed just lovely.


The day came to a close. We had cooked sausages, made friends with the Brits who had jumped the queue to squeeze their van in behind ours, and each gone for many walks up ahead to see how things were progressing. As we approached 12 hours in the queue, we reached the chaotic intersection which was where our squiggly map said to turn left.


It took a few more hours to get through, even though the above photo shows us at the front. Along the sides of the road, you can see the cars that belong to those who had given up and decided to walk the rest of the way. Little did they know, they were still 6km from the gate.
There was a poor traffic cop who had a hell of a time trying to control the queue jumpers. Some would make a break for it and then others would push in while he was chasing them down. It really was mayhem and people displayed a great deal of ugly behaviour.

We had been nice to him, and finally he signalled us through. After this turn, darkness crept in and tempers were really starting to fray (amongst other drivers, not us - in our van we were laughing in disbelief most of the time). Many drivers would fall asleep and miss one or two of the small jumps forward. When this happened, there would be a mad dash from the nearby vehicles to fill the new gap in the road. And all the while, streams of people walked by loaded with their party gear. Pun intended.

It was about four in the morning, after over twenty hours having passed since our van joined the queue. We had reached the entrance of the reserve where the festival is held. Idanha-a-Nova, we had arrived.
Or so we thought. And likewise, so thought the hundreds of vehicles corralled onto a dusty field in an attempt to control the traffic. It was a whole new world of mayhem. People passed from excitement to indignation very quickly, and as the 20 or so lanes of traffic converged to two in order to get through the gate, tempers would flare in the cut-throat push to the front.
The next photo was taken from the top of our van. You can see in the middle, one poor fellow who had fallen asleep in spite of all the horns and noise. The slow moving river of vehicles adapted and flowed around him.


As the sun came up, we drove along the last remaining stretch of road and then before we knew it, we had arrived.
Deciding to minimise the mayhem we were exposed to, we went all the way to the end of the sea of campers and picked a nice spot on a small rise. It took only 22 hours between when we had first slowed at the end of a long line of cars to the moment Daniel backed our van into its final resting place.
And rest we did. In no time, we all fell asleep.
Well done to both Naomi and Daniel for their steady hands at the wheel.


This next picture is what we woke to. It really was a sea of cars and campers. The actual site of the festival is out of sight to the left of the photo, across the other side of the lake. From our van it was a 2km walk to the main area.
You can see the hill in the distance. Rising halfway up it, is the car park area. In that space alone there were at least 10,000 cars.
It was a spectacle beyond anything any of us had previously encountered. In no time, the nearby fenceline became a wasteland of toilet paper where only the brave would dare to step. We were very thankful for the facilities in our van.


So after all of this, you must be wondering what the fuss is about.

This is Boom.


A seething mass of people who had pulled out all stops to be here. The air was buzzing with excitement, and also with music debatably louder and harder than is really necessary. The main stage was a phenomenal sight in itself.
Aside from this dance floor, there were several secondary stages, a marketplace, food stalls, cafes, workshops and various festival-type activities spread across a huge area along the lake.
People were here to dance and, well, a few other things that do not sit well with my own views on living as a good human being. But it is still fun to be a spectator, and the scale of this event made it very easy to take a step back when it all got a bit much.

The numbers were incredible. Officially around 27,000... but given that there were over 15,000 cars and campers, the real numbers had to be upwards of 40,000.

There were many beautiful areas to spend time in, and interesting people everywhere. We were all thoroughly entertained from morning until night. Actually, the party didn't stop... so in truth, we were entertained every minute of the day.
Amongst the campers, elaborate spaces were set up. Some had stalls or restaurants, others had couches and shady areas to hang out. Many people played their own music and held mini-festivals of their own. It was cute to see.
In the image below, you can see the tent city that sprawled between the car zone and the stages.
We had risen early, to catch the sunrise set at the main stage.


Sunrise is always a beautiful time of day and this feeling was amplified by the thousands who had joined us. There were also some sorry looking people heading back the other way after a long night. At Boom there really is never a dull moment.



It was with a touch of sadness that after a few days the time came to say goodbye to Daniel.
He had to catch a flight home, but in the week we spent together both Naomi and I had some quality time with him which was fantastic. It was the first time Naomi had hung out one-on-one, and when we were all together we had some really good chats about life and love and what the future has in store.


The campsite we had chosen was ideal. We had a small copse of trees where a French family had settled behind us, and rocks to the side that prevented other vans from coming too close.
Over the days of the festival, people began making little rock towers and I thought I would join in.


After some careful balancing, the next photo shows the result.
You can see our little camper, with Daniel's tent in front. We had a good spot for the awning, and from the bunk window we could look out across the sea of cars to the twinkling lights of the main stage at night. My piles of rocks guarded the entrance.


The lake provided welcome relief from the heat, dust and noise. I swam several times a day, and occasionally Naomi would join me. Her enthusiasm slackened a little after we discovered that rumours of leeches in the water were true.
It was, however, difficult to feel very much animosity towards these particular leeches. They were tiny! After a swim, you would see them wiggling around on your feet before they shrivelled in the hot sun.

(that's one on my ankle, and another on my big toe. Tiny!)

Boom is very much a festival of the modern age. There were claims all over the place about how sustainable everything was... but in our eyes there was a lot of flashy behaviour and denial going on. It was admirable that they tried, and in some areas their efforts received external recognition from an environmental body that focuses on outdoor events. Recycling waste and water, and using bio fuel were two areas that had been carefully considered.

There was a cybercafe that provided intermittent internet, and some creatively constructed areas where people charged their mobile phones, cameras and other electronics.


All across the grounds there were creative oases with gardens, water features and areas for people to enjoy. A huge amount of effort had been undertaken and it really made a difference to have little refuges dotted around the place. We spent quite a bit of time at one of the gardens that provided a welcome break on the long walk to and from our campsite. There were shady trees, green grass and most importantly a water tap.

One day, I was at the area with the charging plugs and saw a guy waiting patiently to use his hair clippers. He had chosen someone give him a trim, and seemed horrified when the guy didn't have a clue how to use the device. Much to Naomi's amusement, I stepped in to give a quick tutorial and soon they were on their way.


The lake was used by some people for more than just swimming. While on a walk near our camper, we were entertained by a guy on a sailboard who could not wipe the grin off his face as he streaked back and forth.
I've included an enlargement, so you can see how much he enjoyed the feeling of the wind in his sails.


I also think I spotted the horse from the Portugese post office, catching some sun in between deliveries.


The food at Boom was a bit hit and miss. Naomi was excited to introduce me to Brazilian Acai, but promised that it is much better at the source. We had some great dishes from a buddhist kitchen and each day made a point of supplementing our caravan home cooking with tasty treats.
The last food anyone expected to see at Boom was fresh sushi. Some enterprising locals who are friends with the festival organisers had set it up, and they really did a good job. Not the best sushi we'd tasted (we are quite spoilt back home, we do miss Akiya) but the name was fantastic for a sushi restaurant at Boom.
Booshi.


Towards the end of our time there, we had a number of conversations with the manager and he even invited us for dinner at his home after the festival was over. Unfortunately, we had to move on and missed out. It would have been a unique little adventure.

The music was louder than ever before all through our final night. While trying to sleep in the camper, we thought someone nearby was having a little party of their own... but in reality the giant speakers at the main stage 2km away had been cranked way beyond 11.

Overall, Boom Festival was quite an experience for both of us. We left a day before it ended, in order to depart in peace and to avoid repeating the mayhem of our arrival. The timing worked out well as by this stage things had become messier and messier amongst the general population, and between us we had both really had enough.

Naomi really had a great time there, and so our efforts to come all this way from Scandinavia were declared a success.

In our final image from Boom, you can see Naomi having one last dance before we left it all behind.

It was wonderful to see her come back from the dance floor, wearing a great big smile.