Small voyage to the land of eternal snows/ Pequeña expedición a la tierra de la nieves eternas

You advance 50 meters in half an hour, your breath is not enough, you have to rest every ten steps, your blood tries to burst out of you, pounding on your ears. You feel like you cannot walk anymore, that simple movement taken for granted in our daily lives, not one step. But you are so close. You catch your breath and continue. How can you not reach the summit?! Your legs hurt like you've run a marathon; you should rest but there is no time. Light is of uttermost importance. You make it! You reach the peak. Exhausted, you still have to go down, and go up again to go down. You cannot believe you can do it, and that you are doing it, but failure is not an option, you cannot stay here, or you might die. The whiteness surrounds you like a purifying blanket, and you pray. Not everybody made it to the top, but for that they are fresher, and have gone down already. You have to make an effort, concentrate where you put your feet, you cannot afford to loose your footing and brake an ankle...
This is how it felt climbing the mountain, El nevado de Toluca (The snowed of Toluca) Xinantécatl, with a height of almost 5,000 meters. The experience gave me a grown confidence in what I can do, and an iron will and resistance (of mind-body). It was much covered in snow as it rarely is, the lake on the crater was frozen, and we walked on it, all in the colour of blinding snow. It made me feel like I was in Tibet, the land of eternal snows, and the buddhas shined like a thousand suns. Karmapa chenno, karmapa chenno, karmapa chenno! 03/10 Nevado de Toluca serie. H R

The multiplication of Pakal/ La multiplicación de Pakal

These are pictures from prehispanic mexican keychains www.llaverosdemexico.blogspot.com. Pakal II (K'inich J'anaab Pakal) was an important Mayan king from the city of Palenque, Chiapas. He is the most renowned of the lords of Palenque, for the levels of splendor and sophistication B’aakal reached during his reign, as well as for his tomb (where this figure was found), discovered on the bottom of the Temple of the Inscriptions, in a secret crypt which remained intact for over twelve centuries, considered one of the most important archaeological discoveries of Mesoamerica. The piece shows classic features of the Mayan nobility, culture that reached the highest levels in art, science and civilization of the prehispanic world. The Mayas deformed their skulls and elongated their nose line as can be seen in the reproduction.

The other picture featuresTeotihuacan human masks.

02/2010 Keychains serie. H R