The Silicon Valley tech set and others heading to the annual festival of self-indulgence and eccentricity known as Burning Man will face a new obstacle when they gather in the Nevada desert in the coming weeks: bugs.
A lot of them. And they bite.
“You may have seen the bug rumors on the internet. We are here to tell you that they are all true. Well maybe not all of the rumors, but the bugs are real. They’re everywhere. They bite. They crawl all over you. They get up and in you,” wrote John Curley on the Burning Man blog.
The infestation follows last year’s scare around the West Nile virus, which did not make it to the camp but was found 14 miles away in Gerlach, Nevada.
The group doesn’t know what’s causing the bug infestation but said they have already taken over the desert site. People building the Black Rock City festival site have already sought medical help to deal with the infestation and the “nasty red welts from the bites” that have ensued, Curley said.
And since Burning man shuns consumerism and operates on principles of sharing and gifting, it looks like insect repellant, bug zappers, and mosquito nets will be hot commodities to barter with this year.