Richard MacDonald at Dawson Cole Fine Art, Laguna Beach, CA

I believe in God as a force that underlies free spirits, eternal beauty and unbreakable bounds between us. I believe as well that God dwells in each of us as a creator, but in some of us the creator is confused with his creation itself. 

This is exactly how I felt when I saw Richard MacDonald's exhibition at Dawson Cole Fine Art in Laguna Beach, California. His sculptures have something magical: you look at them and you can see them moving, acting, dancing as the artist captures in these carved bodies that unique moment of a motion or a gesture which can simply raise a theatre hall full of spectators. 

I was not allowed to take pictures inside the gallery and the photos I took in the garden of these installations do not do real justice to the sculptures but I hope they will arouse your curiosity to search for the astonishing work of Richard MacDonald. 

Perfect Balance

"The characters he creates are playing forever in the theatre of life". 

                                                                              Guy Laliberte, founder of Cirque du Soleil.

Richard MacDonald

Uros Floating Islands, Peru

Lake Titicaca situated between Peru and Bolivia is the highest navigable lake in the world at an elevation of 3811 meters and the largest lake in South America by water volume (and not surface area).

Andeans believed that lake Titicaca is the place where the sun was born ;)!

Take a motor boat from the port of Puno (I would not recommend spending too much time in Puno since there isn't much to do or see in the city) and in 20 minutes you'll enter the ancient world of Uros floating islands. The islands are 100% man made from a reed cold "totora". Every island is home to three to ten families. If you wish, you can even spend the night with one of the families (arrange this with a local agency before your trip to Uros islands), getting the chance to understand the traditional life of Uros local natives living in symbioses with the lake and the nature. 

At the beginning, the Uros people made these floating islands so that they can be moved easily in case of danger. Today they just represent a way of life and a big sightseeing attraction, offering the visitors the opportunity to travel back in time. Even if the locals somehow adapt to the modern world (some of them have televisions, motor boats and there is also a local radio station that emits music several hours a day), they still hunt wild birds and have kept their traditional methods of fishing. 

The island, the houses, the furniture and the boats are all built from weaved layers of totora reeds. Since the reeds rot at the bottom of the islands, every couple of months, the locals add another layer of totora at the surface of the islands. These communities are self-sufficient and their way of life proves one more time that nature is the most precious gift that homo sapiens could ever have.

I heard that, on one of the islands, they also have an elementary school made out of totora, but for college and university the children go to the mainland and most of them never return, being lured by the modern civilization.

Before going back to the mainland don't forget to enjoy a ride in a totora boat. You pay a small fee, you help the locals and you make your experience more authentic. You may also buy some reed souvenirs or colorful textile made by the locals.

Hasta luego!

P.S. Bring some gifts for the children in the Uros islands and you'll get back big happy smiles. Tip: crayons and notebooks are very much appreciated.

Twin Lotus

"It has been observed that the stalk of a lotus flower is easy to bend in two, but is very hard to break because of its many strong sinuous fibers. Poets use this to represent a close unbreakable relationship between two lovers or the members within a family, showing that no matter how far away they might live nothing can really separate them in heart."

The symbolic life, C.G. Jung

"One cannot afford to be naive in dealing with dreams. They originate in a spirit that is not quite human, but is rather the breath of nature, of the beautiful and the generous as well as the cruel goddess. If we want to characterize this spirit, we would do better to turn to the ancient mythologies and the fables of the primeval forest, than in the consciousness of modern man."

"In general, the heart seems to have a more reliable memory for what benefits the soul than does the head, which has a rather unhealthy tendency to lead an "abstract" existence and easily forgets that its consciousness is snuffed out the moment the heart fails in its duty."

Acrobatics

I play among the stars with your heart

And the sky seems not enough for me

To look deep into your eyes.

I am not afraid to lose my balance

And go down from the top...

From any fall

I dive on earth,
Right into your heart.

Salinas de Maras, Peru

This time, when I say brown, coffee or white, I don't think of a tasty coffee latte or a latte macchiato, but of thousands of colorful salt pans that capture your attention with their surreal beauty. When the guide asked us what we thought they were, we were quite speechless because none of us ever saw something this unusual.

Usually, I read in advance about the sites I'm going to see on an organized trip, but this time I was completely unprepared, which made this place even a more beautiful surprise for me.

As with most sites in the Sacred Valley, these pools were used since Inca times for salt extraction. Nowadays, they are owned and used by the Maras local people. The water from the Qoripujio spring (if you'll taste it, you'll realize how salty it is) is directed through narrow channels to man made pools where the water evaporates and the salt deposits. Each pool is around 5-7 square meters and there are more than 3000 of them that produce pure crystallized salt.

Moray, Peru

Moray is not just another Inca archeological site, but a theatrical one. 

It was considered to be the Inca laboratory, an experimental agricultural site for growing and selecting crops. What it is special about this site is the circular shape. From the above it appears to be designed as a peaceful amphitheater with concentric terraces, each terrace built on the same theory of increasing temperature. 

Another interesting fact about this site is the water drainage system. The lowest circle is never flooded even after a great storm. One theory is that lots of underground channels were built underneath to allow drainage while another claims that such site has been built over a porous rock zone.  Whichever it is, the Incas were smart!