Luckily for me, going uphill turned out to be a fantastic decision.
The hill was very steep and the ground - slippery, the dirt beneath my sandals infirm. I used the trunks and branches of the trees to propel myself up and forward.
At the top I arrived at a mowed field. Besides the cut off wheat, I found the vegetation strange beyond recognition. What was most likely cotton thistle (Onopordum acanthium) and other common weeds seemed like alien species.
The music was so loud that even at the top of the hill I could easily hear it. The distance made the base frequencies more audible, and the acid, in turn, transformed them to the sounds of a gluttonous creature, very much like Jabba the Hutt from Star Wars except as big as a building and more frog-like. In my inner eyes, the creature was constantly consuming, by picking something with one hand and putting it in his mouth. As the feeding hand reached the mouth, the other one was already grabbing the next bite. The act of consumption was constant and efficient, only interrupted every 10 or so seconds for the creature to give off an "orgasmic belch" or sound of satisfaction.
I believe the creature was an aggregate manifestation of the festival goers - a lot obsessed with consumption, whether it was music, food, drugs or sex, and enabled by the festival organizers - to be as efficient and profitable as possible.
This vision was in sharp contrast with the Sunset.
The festival grounds are very strategically chosen - they are overlooking a big, flat area. This creates an incredible natural spectacle when the sun goes near the horizon, yet the sun rays paint the underside of the clouds with a warm, golden colors.
The vast spaces revealed a natural spectacle that would humble the biggest of egos. The energy of the sun, a thermonuclear explosion happening every second, was reaching us through the cosmic vacuum. If I could paint, I would. If I could write and describe it - I would. I apologize, dear reader, for I will never be able to truly convey how magnificent it felt. Just like dr. Ellie from movie Contact, I think we should send poets and artists to meet the aliens, but also to capture such states as best as they can.
The source of our life, now was turning the clouds into dragons, into monsters, and into aliens. Some of the clouds that were turning dark gray from the way the light was hitting them, started to look as a frozen levitating alien insects. I realized that we (the festival goers) have been watched by these alien species. They weren't condemning us, but rather, studying us with a scientific interest.
I felt embarrassed for all of us, for our gluttonous pursuits, for the global warming, for our disastrous effect on the environment. I put my hands together and I promised to them: "We can do better".