I recently took a stroll in the beautiful Riverside Park located in Washington Heights, Manhattan; the park stretches from 72nd Street all the way up to the end of Manhattan. I made my way down from 169th Street and Amsterdam Avenue to 158th Street and entered the park through its entrance on Riverside Avenue.

There is something about walking by the water that serves as therapy — and as a great workout. During the summer, this is my go-to park for picnics, long walks, early jogs, BBQs … the list goes on and on. There is an amazing view of the George Washington Bridge and the famous Little Red Lighthouse, but recently something new and unusual came to the park: the Sisyphus Stones.

As I made my way uptown through the park, I noticed all these weirdly positioned rocks that looked like statues. At first it looked like something religious and frankly a tad eerie; there was some sort of weird juju in the air. These rocks aren’t glued or held together by anything, they are simply gracefully balanced. I was trying to figure out what this all was about until I noticed a message with an almost prayer-like incantation.

Once I reached the end of the stones the view was powerful. They seemed to resemble people — a community hard at work or an army defending and protecting the city. There was just this really powerful energy around them. I couldn’t resist the urge to do a little research when I got home, and there was a far better explanation than the crazy ideas that ran through my mind.

Apparently, they have been displayed since last July — yes, I know I’m late! And the artist, Uliks Gryka, has not gotten discouraged when people knock them down. On the contrary, this sparked something in him to expand them and to change the shapes and now there are close to 100 figures.

If you are just as curious and adventurous as I am, you’ll want to take the uptown-bound A train next time you’re in the Big Apple.

— Yasser Ogando, sales planner