Every year, participants in the Burning Man Festival descend on the playa of Nevada's Black Rock Desert to form a temporary city – a self-reliant community populated by performers, artists, free spirits, and more. Last week, an estimated 68,000 people came to Burning Man 2013 from all over the world to dance, express themselves, and take in the spectacle. Gathered below are some of the sights from the festival, which lasted a week and came to its conclusion yesterday

“Rescuers were digging through mud and debris Friday to retrieve more bodies strewn across a farming valley in the southern Philippines by a powerful typhoon. The death toll from the storm has surpassed 500, with more than 400 people missing”. – Bullit Marquez via Associated Press

Photo: Children look at the a damaged road destroyed by flash floods at the height of Typhoon Bopha in the village of Andap, New Bataan town, Compostela Valley province, December 5, 2012. (Photo by Ted Aljibe)

Indonesian activists covered with sludge from the mud volcano hold a protest during five year anniversary of the Sidoarjo mud eruption on May 29, 2011 in the subdistrict of Porong in Sidoarjo, East Java, Indonesia. (Photo by Ulet Ifansasti/Getty Images)

Kaci Nuyen 8, holds a “Kiddizoom Twist” camera during a Hamleys Christmas toy photocall at Hamleys Toy store on June 28, 2011 in London, England. The famous toy store unveiled today their “must have” toys for Christmas 2011. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

Children fill plastic containers with water from a well on a street, close to a neighbourhood called “The Tank” in the slum of Petare in Caracas, Venezuela, March 17, 2016. Although their nation has one of the world's biggest hydroelectric dams and vast rivers like the fabled Orinoco, Venezuelans are still suffering water and power cuts most days. The problems with stuttering services have escalated in the last few weeks: yet another headache for the OPEC nation's 30 million people already reeling from recession, the world's highest inflation rate, and scarcities of basic goods. President Nicolas Maduro blames a drought, while the opposition blames government incompetence. (Photo by Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters)

In a simpler time all a child or an adult needed to enjoy the outdoors was a ball and a stick. Or maybe an old tire tied to a high branch to fashion a swing. And the only instruction given to children was to “be home before dark”. Now there are iPads and computers and television screens and shrinking safe public spaces. But despite the distractions and limitations of space, these images show the charm of kicking a ball or skipping rope endures. Sometimes with modifications as a nod to changing times. Here: in this Saturday, June 20, 2015 photo, a boy runs while playing with a motorcycle wheel in Samugari, Ayacucho, Peru. (Photo by Rodrigo Abd/AP Photo)

An Indian boy dressed as Hindu god Shiva to attract alms from devotees chats with tourists as they sit on benches partially submerged in flood waters on the banks of the River Ganges in Allahabad, India, Thursday, July 30, 2015. The Ganges, one of India's largest rivers is flooded following monsoon rains. (Photo by Rajesh Kumar Singh/AP Photo)

A Tibetan artists wearing a traditional costume waits before their performance during the 82nd pre-birthday celebration of Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama at a Monastery in Kathmandu, Nepal, 05 July 2017. More than 1,000 monks and other Tibetans gathered at the Monastery compound to celebrate their spiritual leader's birthday. The Nepalese government has banned all kinds of Tibetan activities against the Chinese rule in Tibet so Tibetans have been changing the venue of the Dalai Lama's birthday celebration. The Dalai Lama will turn 82 on 06 July 2017. (Photo by Narendra Shrestha/EPA)