cool calm and collective ...and stoned!
the lines were excruciatingly long. definitely the traffic would be smoother if the event had been anything else. An hour and a half and we only made it 3 miles. for me, before i made it in, it took an extra forty-five minutes at the ATM. whereat i met a very interesting couple. their names escape me, however they'd be really hard to miss. the guy was white, about 6'-6'2 covered in tattoos as if they provided warmth in Alaska (including neck and head). he had any piercing you've ever heard of and many you haven't including silicon implants. something you see straight out of Ripleys or the Guinness world book. his girl was a little shorter, European decent, dreadlocks pouring out her beanie. equally strange, both with split tongues and matching piercings. we chatted a bit and they invited me into some insight of they're lifestyle. it was nice to meet them. not something you see everyday, unless of course your them.
moving on to the event..
more than a reggae festival it was a marihuana smoke festival. imagine yourself inside an ant hill. swarms upon swarms of fellow peers and smoke. even though you didn't know them, just being shoulder to shoulder, with a popular subculture in common, it felt like you did. using the word crowded is an understatement. tents upon fog infested tents, there was soo many people. thousands! it took baby steps, but i made my way through the tents onto the masses on a soggy muddy floor. i arrived to our picnic spot i guess you could say. sitting with one of my good friends Mauro who came to visit from college station. we sat, and smoked, and watched everything around us. it felt good to be in public, in peace. APD watched but did nothing. as far as i know, nothing went wrong. we spent hours present in the atmosphere. walking around, looking around. mirrored squinted eyes left to right. consumers from all over Texas.
it started to sprinkle which meant it was time to go. the drowsy crowds flooded the streets.
it was a definite eye opener. i wouldn't expect to be a part of a modern Woodstock. made public here in Austin. it makes me wonder where else they hold events like these. And how long its gonna take for marijuana to become legalized. Or at least decriminalized.
one small joint for stoner, one giant hope for stoner kind.
