365 Days That Count - Day 117 - Africa Burn, Day 2.

I woke up in a strange tent and the first thing I saw was a perfect pineapple sitting in the corner.

I wasn't sure if I was actually awake or still dreaming and then I remembered Ruben, the guy who found me when I lost my friends and was now lying behind me in what was presumably his tent. We'd both found ourselves alone on the dance floor in a similar state. Getting lost at night can be scary, the ring is huge and everything looks the same in the dark.

We locked eyes and knew we'd found a life line. We hugged, we laughed and we danced.

I remember turning around to check that he was still there and always finding him standing right behind me beaming.

We had the best time. Now however I had a headache, was beginning to sweat in my velvet outfit which was under a tent in the rising desert sun and was still a little trippy.

I turned around and he was still behind me smiling. Where had this guy come from? And thank God!

We laughed and cuddled whilst swapping stories from the night before. Apparently for the first hour after we met he couldn't understand a word I was saying and kept shouting at me, "I can't understand you woman, but you're amazing!" I'm not sure whether that's more telling of his state or of mine...

There was also the time we looked at each other and repeated, "you're my rock now." hahaha oh dear!

I could no longer stand the heat of the tent so we gingerly got up and faced the sunshine.

THANK GOD he had a spare pair of sunglasses! He walked me back to my camp which happened to be one away from his and Lucy was at the car when we got back.

The first thing I said was, "how could you lose me?" to which she replied, "you said you were getting something and never came back." What? Whoops!

I put on something cooler realising I was going to have to wash the clump of honey out of my hair with a bucket and a bottle which I just wasn't ready to face yet. We lay a blanket in the shade next to the car and tickled and napped till we were woken by our German camp mates brushing their teeth in the bushes around us.

I said goodbye to my knight in shining armour and picked up the bucket. It was torture!

I ended up tearing a lot of my hair out whilst running out of water, standing - with soap still all over my body - on a wooden palate surrounded by shade cloth. Thankfully Luce was within earshot and saved the day! We sat in the car afterwards, snacking on rusks and slowly putting ourselves back together.

Clothes and makeup turned out to be tiring so we took our re-decorated selves to the chill area for another nap.

I woke up with mascara all over my face so had to re do one eye before we could venture out into the ring. It was 4:30pm but it was still boiling. I was sweating within 5 minutes but we were soon met with the start of a spectacular sunset which turned down the heat slightly and distracted me with it's beautiful colours.

We walked back to camp for a delicious curry that I was particularly grateful for as it was my first proper meal in nearly 48 hours.

Most seemed to be wearing the scars of the previous evening and although Lucy and I tried to venture back into the ring, everyone seemed a little quiet, as did we, so we headed back to camp and ended up getting 10 hours sleep - by far my record at any festival!

Now we're all fresh and energised and I have a sneaking suspicion night 3 is going to be interesting!

LOTS of love,

Daisy xx

( @daisyd )