Utopia After Party, Lola The Van & Hotel Recovery
Trip Start
Sep 29, 2007
1
135
221
Trip End
Ongoing
Oliveira do Hospital,
Beiras,
Portugal
Friday, August 22, 2008
We did the pack up camp and scavenged a few comfort items from the Israelis who had been camped next to us. These guys abandoned their whole camp, tents, shade cloths and all and flew home to Israel before the party ended. Israelis are known for only buying quality camping gear so we took some chairs, a large chill out mat for the floor and three airbeds with inflatable pillows. The airbeds were quite a score because our Momo donated one had been used by lots of revellers throughout the week and somehow had sprung a slow leak
hall of hippies at entrance
. I wouldnīt be surprised if people had taken it for a paddle in the lake during the week. Momoīs queen sized bed didnīt quite fit in our three berth hexagon-shaped tent so we had to put it outside during the day. At night time you would pump it up with an air pump stolen from your neighbour then fall asleep nicely but wake up in the morning with a flat bed and a sore back. We are still grateful for the gift though. Now we have a good bed and two singles for lazing around on outside the tent. Sez rocked up at some time this morning with a sign saying Utopia and a block of organic Swiss Chilli flavoured chocolate he was going to use to woo a driver into taking him to the next party. He had crossed out the word Chilli on the chocolate. We saw Long Schlong Silver go for one last proud nudie swim and managed to snap a shot of him on the trusty Canon before we left our spot under the tree that had been such a good home to us over the week. Time at these festivals goes lightning fast when you are having so much fun. Mucho rapido!!! We lugged all the gear through the BOOM site and noticed that most of the Europeans were quick to pack up and ship out. I took a load of Australian up coming festival flyers to drop out to those cool cats we meet on our travels. The flyer has an image gallery and news of eleven Aussie parties on the psytrance trail and also speaks of the important gathering planned for Cairns in 2012. We cruised past the downtown BOOM shop where our passports and ipod had been kept in a safe for the week
early morning rockstar sunnies
. We hadnīt really felt the thieving vibe happening at the festival but we like to have peace of mind and still used the padlock system on our tent. At the shop i noticed the lost and found section was filled to the brim with all kinds of gear lost over the week like clothing, toys, rows of identification and credit cards and lots of sets of house and car keys all hanging on the wall. There was hundreds of single shoes and whole rucksacks. There were also notices plastered all over the walls posted by people seeking or offering rides onwards to destinations like Madrid, Morocco, Paris, Lisbon, Greece, UK, Barcelona or to the beach. There were still many people sun bathing and chilling out and i heard later that the production crew had helicopters fly over the BOOM site with mega microphones telling people to "LEAVE THE SITE, go home to your mummies and daddies, go home now, you must vacate the site". Just as i was buying a 2Euro plastic cup of Electric Kool Aid cordial and a vegetarian burrito, the call went out that the last bus to Utopia would be leaving in 5 minutes. We grabbed the gear and got onboard for a hot journey north east and into the mountains. The journey was supposed to take two hours but somehow the bus got lost on the way to the party and the trip took four hours instead. This didnīt bother us because we slept the whole way, exhausted in our seats. Once arriving at the site we realised that a crowd had been bottle-necked at the front gate and we would be looking at a very long wait for entrance
bliss out
. We moved inch by inch squeezed in a crowd with all our camping gear until we were inside well after the sun went down. The crowd was getting anxious.The main stage was already pounding out sound. We set up our tent and crashed until early the next morning. The party was lacking food, toilet and shower facilities and we suspect they had over sold the tickets to the gig. We had a packet of potato chips, some water and cigarettes so we knew we would survive. Next day we ventured into the site early and drank some rich spicy chai tea and some tasty, simmering hot Thai soup made by a family who had set up shop right on the chillout stage. The decor was simple but well done and included shade sails and tall psychedelic painted wooden cutouts plus an installation that looked as though inspired by the film The Day Of The Triffids. The chillout had little coffee tables and lots of rug space. There was a little island where a healing space was set up and a magical place for swimming plus a sandy beach area. The site was blessed with 80% shadow area thanks to the beautiful tall trees that filled the areas of the dance floors. The port-a-loo situation was bad and toilet paper was a valuable commodity. There is lots of tax free cash to be made on the European festival circuit.
The afternoon rolled around quickly and it was time to hit the dance floor for Ace Ventura, a good, funky, progressive psytrance DJ from Israel who we had enjoyed previously in Brazil.
hippie beach
Somebody stole our water suply within the first five minutes and we refused to drink the tap water. We ended up on the Portugese beers that were flowing freely from a tap beer bar set up next to the dance floor. We met Barry from England, a hobbit from Holland and danced with the Devon pixie. There was lots of random play time and fraggles in costumes including a guy dressed as a viking who was grating a pineaple and later, a rubix cube. The podium in front of stage was filled and much bliss was felt by all. There were many happy faces on that floor including ours. Once the trance music gets into your feet, you cannot stop dancing and dance we did for four hours, even with our weary BOOM party legs. Ace Ventura nailed his set and a good time was had by all. Loose! We had a break in the night and bought some new vests for the cold weather from a wonderful designer from Brazil. Nadineīs is a green and brown velvet cord fabric and mine is snakeskin and leather with pixie hoods on both. We spent our food money on clothes but felt warm in the cold mountain air. I had to pay with Euros and use some of my American dollars emergency stash in order to afford the purcahse justified by the thought that we cannot buy these unique clothes anywhere else on Earth and pixies must shop at pixie stores. Melbourne Sez turned up some time and had hitched then paid a taxi to bring him most of the way to the party, he set up camp behind us and brought an esky of beers, a melon and some bread rolls
nude camp
. A trooper he is. The main floor went into some darker full on raver type psytrance at night so we took some quiet time at the beach area next to a beautiful giant sandcastle someone had made and then had an early one.The last day of the after party saw us have a slow morning then hit the showers and the Big Pita snack van for a Big Vegetariano Pita bread delight that consisted of a veggie pattie, carrot, cabbage and french fried potato chips wrapped up in a large pita bread. The lovely European women spend alot of time in the bathrooms and always look their best, even showing up to a middle of the forest party in full outfit, jewellery, accessories and face made up. Bad news for us because the shower line took over an hour. The main dance floor was in full swing by the time we turned up with people in costumes swinging from trees, a very full dance floor stomping to a crazy DJ mixing fast tracks and crews of party people in full party mode. Dappled sunlight was streaming through the trees and dust was flying around everywhere as people danced and stomped it out on Mother Earth. This was a nice, organic party with a good vibe even if the facilities were lacking.
After spotting a notice on a wall, we briefly considered the adventure of jumping onboard a large, blue converted school bus that was heading to Morocco with a full load of hippies but decided we wanted to be in control of our transport and we werenīt quite up for the magical mystery tour experience
viking with cheese grater
. It is time for us to move more slowly on our journey. Instead of just camping, we have decided to look into buying a campervan for the Europe journey now and plan to drive it to the south of Portugal then load it onto a ferry to drive around Morocco. We are told it is difficult to get around there without some wheels and there is an Earthdance celebration being held there in two weeks. Worth a try. If we can secure a van we will save money on accommodation and we can cover more European countries more cheaply. The idea is to pick up a bus cheaply by purchasing one from other travellers because it will then have all the neccessary extras we need like cooking equipment and maps etc. Insurance is a little difficult to secure but we will find a way to pull it off. We decided to go for a wander through the campervan and motorhome campsite area at the party that was located along the river, around a bend and over a bridge, a nice walk. The idea was to look for some for sale signs on vehicles. During this walk we realized that the Serra de Estrela natural reserve is very beautiful and we would definitely have done some trekking here if it wasnīt so very hot during the day. Chilly at night though in the mountains. We were wishing we hadnīt sent our Andean woolie Alpaca clothes home when we discovered that the Portugal mountain nights were so cold. Camping and motorhome travel is very popular in Europe and there are campgrounds everywhere to stay in. Most people have these giant buses that we think are too big for us to drive around in
crew
. Firstly we spotted an older white 1995 Mercedes bus that was the right size for us and only 2000 Euros to buy. Next we found a really cool little converted truck cabin with a square camper / caravan back that was for sale but we couldnīt find the owner and then some other crazy gypsy, nomad wagons. There was not much else to suit us. We went back to the party and met up with some of the fraggles we had met at the BOOM party and also some of the production crew and staff who had been working over the festival and now had some time to play. We shared some beers, laughs and random converstaions with the pixie Dan from Devon in England and ran into Rennie and Dan the Swiss fire twirlers from Zurich who we had met at the Universo Parallelo party in Brazil. There really is family all over the world. Rennie and Dan are driving all over Europe in their campervan and working doing professional fire shows and Rennie is selling cute, coloured, leather pixie shoes she brings from India for market gatherings, not a bad lifestyle. Dan the pixie is a tree doctor and was heading back home with his very tall friend Lurch who had very large feet, he offered us a ride to England.
We helped Dan buy a beautiful woolly waistcoat from the flea market set up near main stage. People who follow the European party and gathering trail move from place to place selling the things they make or bring from exotic countries all over the world. Unfortunately we had not brought cash with us and there was no access to money out there
pixie from Wales
. Whilst cruising the markets my eyes were drawn to some beautiful Amber and Turquoise necklaces from Central America that were laid out on a rug on the floor next to some gorgeous red raw leather wrap skirts. Next a voice comes out from behind the wares and tell us that we had met before, the voice belonged to Spanish Rosa who along with her partner Scottish Charlie, we had previously met on the dancefloor at Rainbow Serpent Festival in Melbourne, Australia. These ladies make exquisite leather clothing, belts and bags and this time were selling something else of value...... the 208D Mercedes Benz Sprinter bus we had seen earlier in the campsite! This would be a solid buy with parts easy to find. The ladies were at the end of the festival circuit and heading home, they had decided to sell their bus named Lola that very morning and we had just decided to buy one. Perfect situation. They told us all about the van and we went with pixie Dan to check it all out, a nice and tidy bus with three solar panels on top, to be sold with all inclusions like wok, bed cushions and things we need on the road. We decided we could trust the girls and told them we would buy it. All we had to do is fill out the transfer documents in town and send them off. The problem is that the girls are slightly attached to the bus and reluctant to let it go so quickly without spending a few last days at the beach together in it. Rosa was crying. They didnīt think it would sell so quickly. We went to see the girls about the bus the next day and they had changed their minds and needed some days to sort out their plans and work out where they go from here without their bus before we could take it
mono loco in his jungle outfit, main floor
. Sure seemed too easy that we could just drive on from here. So, we decided to give the girls a couple of days to work it out whilst we waited in the closest town, Olivier do Hospital for their answer on the sale. We packed up our campsite and tried to work out how to get out of the party without hitching with cardboard signs. People were all over the roads with signs asking for lifts in all directions, Madrid, Lisboa, Porto and the UK were popular choices of destination. Sez tied some cardboard to his head using his dreadlocks to keep his head out of the sun. There was no food or water supply left at the party so we had to get out of there quickly. It was getting a little loose there. We have once again left our Israeli danny deck chairs behind and donated them to a Japanese crew because we couldnīt carry them. Sez gave us his esky, half a melon, some beers, a jar of pickles and some crackers. Sez is making his way to Turkey to meet with his family who he is supposed to be holidaying with. Instead he has been doing festivals in Hungary, Germany and Portugal. Classic free spirit guy. We would be parting ways here but we are sure we will see him on an Australian dance floor some time. Luckily we all flagged down a taxi in a small amount of time and did the 10kms to the town where a shower and food were to be found. I hope the girls come through with the van but if they donīt, it wasnīt meant to be ours.The taxi spilled Sez, our bee bag, esky, umbrellas, backpacks and us out onto the pavement in front of the Olivier Do Hospital central bus station where a hundred other unwashed and hungry hippies were already waiting for buses to take them onward to the next parties on the trail, the next one being on a surfing beach to the West
DJ Ace Ventura, Israel
. The buses only depart every couple of days around here so some of the revellers would be staying in this big country town for a few days. Some of them had already set up little crew camps in the park. We would be staying around to try and secure the Mercedes van from the ladies. It was interesting to watch the faces of the locals as us strange looking, dreadlocked, colourful otherworldly beings piled into their town and hit the supermarkets for a feast. Nobody had eaten for awhile due a lack of food supply at the Utopia after party. I ate a strawberry Cornetto in ten seconds flat. Sez disappeared and i had to leave his pack in the care of some others while we went to check in to a hotel for a couple of nights of sleep and recovery. We took a comfortable room with a balcony in the middle of the town, went shopping for yummy foods and watched the first and last of the Beijing Olympics we would see on the TV in our room. We were in heaven even if it was just watching the womenīs diving. I soaked for one hour in the bath and used all the complimentary bath gel, shampoo and cleaning liquid i could find to scrub the dirt from my dancing feet, it is so good to be clean. We feasted on lollies, chocolate, peaches, jam tartelettes, iced tea, a tin of octopus, pastries and two plates of pasta from Jimmys Italian down the street. The town is so slow it is a little backward and there are no people here. We think they all must be on vacation at the beach. We trashed the room by using every towel and hanging our hand washed laundry up all over the place
speaker massage
. In the middle of the night our mini bar fridge turned off and the giant ice cube mound that had been in the freezer section melted all over the floor causing a little flood situation. We tried to hide the flood by putting the Do Not Disturb sign on the doorknob only to be told that we would be moving rooms because the Portugese womenīs basketball team would be renting out the entire floor and our room would be needed. New towels, hurray!We are staying around to wait to hear from the ladies with the van but we are losing hope by the hour. The internet here is in an un-named dingy bar located behind and at the bottom of a block of flats. So, i am out of here and will be back later with news of our van or no van and our next move. Whatever happens, we need some more sleep. more recovery time and some wheels for Europe. Just how do we find a van in Portugal? We are counting on people selling their vans at the end of the Summer holiday season which is over the next two weeks.
