You are reading Part 5. Click here to start at Part 1, or view all parts here. I’m not sure which one of us woke up first. Probably Grizzly. It had become tradition for me to lie in bed in the mornings, waiting for the sun to rise high enough to cook my tent until …

You are reading Part 4. Click here to start at Part 1, or view all parts here. He was sitting with his back to me, so I started with the outlines of his shoulders, then the back of his head, his shabby greying hair, then finally down his torso to his butt. It wasn’t often …

You are reading Part 3. Click here to start at Part 1, or view all parts here. The crowd was already huge when I arrived. I’d thought I was early. Thousands of people sat in a huge ring, surrounding the Temple of Ixam. It was scheduled to burn just after sunset. ‘Burning’ was talked about …

You are reading Part 2. Click here to start at Part 1, or view all parts here. The light woke me up. I was wrapped in three layers of clothes, expecting the desert night to be arctic, but I’d slept through the night comfortably. I hid inside my sleeping bag, staring at the peak of …

When the bus dropped us at Welcome Road, none of us were really sure what to do or where to go. There was no booth, no person, not even a sign. Around us was nothing but desert. That was the irony of Welcome Road – it was hardly welcoming. I looked around. In one direction …