A few weeks ago, there was a sculpting competition in a sculpture park about two miles away from where we live.

The whole competition took about a week. Each person got handed a big block of marble and were told to carve something out of it.

We first found out about it because Marathon, Sudoku, and I were taking a bike ride up Cerro San Cristobal. We decided to really explore the sculpture park for the first time.

While we were there, we noticed there was a lot of whitish smoke. Then we saw a big tent set up and all the people with their big pieces of marble. None of the sculptures were very clear yet. We decided then that we would want to see when they were done.

As far as we could tell, there were about 20 sculptors, each one making one sculpture. (A few of them had helpers.)

Below is a list of a third of the competitors. This is one of three lists that were there. (Notice the guy from Taiwan! Listed as “Taipei, China”.)

We — all but Mom — took a bike ride down there two Sundays ago–Marathon, Carman, Sudoku, Rosebud, and me.

The sculptures were pretty amazing. There were a few at the end that had granite, but apart from that, they were all marble.

Here’s a slide show of some of the works.

Dad’s favorite part was the textures. Some sculptures were glossy smooth while others were rough and chopped at wonky angles as if to resemble age.

Now I’ll get to the particulars.

One looked like a guy frozen into an ice block. The whole thing was smooth, all in one piece. The guy looked like he was trying to get out, but most of his legs and part of his arm was stuck.

One was like a bunch of plates stacked on top of each other.

One was a big waviness with a bunch of writing in small letters going around it at the base and up the waves to the top.

Another was what looked to be a Greek/Roman guy with a blindfold and a sash that read, “OMNIA VINCIT AMOR”. That was my favorite.

Another was like one of the water things that you sometimes see in parks, with all the little pools, with a trickle of water flowing slowly down from each pool to the next. The water was also made of marble.

Another was like ten people sitting on a boat.

Another was a pregnant woman. This one was cool, because it was all rough in the back, and slowly changed to smooth in the front. None of the other statues had this.

Another was like a jet scooter, with granite handle bars. Most of the granite parts were cylinders. Marathon said this was done with a hole saw.

Another was an A, but with waviness on it. This was Marathon’s favorite.

Well, we got back from our bike ride and told Milkmaid how awesome they were, but that she would have to see them for herself.

About a week later, Milkmaid, Sudoku, Rosebud, and I went back to the sculpture park, but already most of them had been taken away to different parts of the country.