Ecuadorian ice sculpture award --just in time for the polar vortex

Friends,

This weekend at the Breckenridge international ice sculpture competition, I was pleasantly surprised to see the Ecuadorian team had won the “Artists’ Choice” award for their masterpiece. As you probably know, Ecuador, my home country, does not have a winter season –and you have to hike to elevations where it hurts to breathe if you want to experience snow (no polar vortex for us!). Yet, our snow sculpture got an award. Similarly, Mexico won first place. How can artists who did not grow up with snow accomplish these feats? Perhaps we can attribute it to the “nobody is a prophet in their home town” phenomenon. Familiarity breeds contempt and folks who have known you for a long time are all too likely to take you for granted. That being the case, I have decided there should be no donuts today. That way, maybe we’ll appreciate them more next week. To  help tide you over, here are photos of the Ecuadorian and Mexican award winning sculptures.

Happy Friday!