Impressions from the European Rainbow Gathering

There's not much information on the internet about the Gathering. Besides not knowing what to expect, I was in possession only of a very rough map on how to reach the camp. Mystery entices me and, more importantly, as I was riding thru smaller and smaller roads within the fields, I was completely in awe from the extreme beauty of the nature all around me. It was a similar kind of bliss I had experienced before, but this time, there was the excitement of the treasure hunt. After one hour of riding, when I was starting to doubt that something was going on, I get down to a small river and straight in front of me are two completely naked people, a boy and a girl.  Extremely friendly, they gave me a tour of the place "here you just do whatever you feel like" and lead me to the base camp, where I put up my tent and start meeting some new people. There's about 80 of us in the camp, coming from everywhere. I try to bond with those who seem to me more similar to myself and most approachable, in particular a funny French guy (garlic lover) but the most of the people seem to be a bit far away, a bit too different ...or indifferent. Fashionable new age rituals seemed to be widespread among the group and all the day revolved around food preparation and the ceremonies about serving the food. Most of the day would be spent reflecting or doing very little, even if there were occasional workshops and the music around the fire during the night.I felt somewhat lost, excluded, and uninterested to make the extra step and try to get to know these people more deeply. I am a practical ecologist. Don't really understand all this exaggeration of rituals... and I felt sometimes the comments and the discussions rather patronizing..I feel people here are preaching about the small things, and forgetting the big picture. They focus on symbol, rather than on the essence. As lightly as I arrived, 2 days later I packed up and left.