Sometimes I Miss Being a Horse Girl

From my recent trip to Tobago, Trinidad and. There is a therapeutic horse center there for people with disabilities, run by a German lady who used to train circus horses.  Currently, they make extra money on the side by taking tourists on bareback rides through the surf and then offering them pictures of the experience for extra money.  I'm okay with this. I rode a beautiful Brazilian flea-bitten grey named Simbu. He was broad and smooth and comfy and sweet. While in the water they also told me I could try standing up, so I did!

Poe's Grave

 Westminster, in Baltimore.  Poe's original grave, and later grander memorial

Lo! Death has reared himself a throne

In a strange city lying alone

Far down within the dim West,

Where the good and the bad and the worst and the best

Have gone to their eternal rest.

There shrines and palaces and towers

(Time-eaten towers that tremble not!)

Resemble nothing that is ours.

Around, by lifting winds forgot,

Resignedly beneath the sky

The melancholy waters lie.

The Ruins of Panama Viejo

What is left of the old Panama city, after it was burnt by pirates.

Pacific ocean, at low tide.

Banyan tree!

Old bell tower.  Which we climbed.

Current archaeological dig.

The ruins were, of course, graffitied because people are awful, but I saw my last name.

In Which I Frighten Buzzards and Iguanas with a Little Coconut

I went to Panama and rode a beautiful little mare named Cocita (little coconut) up the mountain next to Volcan Baru, the dormant volcano which is the highest point in Panama. It was delightful, and we frightened turkey buzzards on the summit and an iguana near the base.

Things that grow on trees, orchids and various bromeliads.

Letting the horsies rest at the summit, with the volcano in the background.

All the turkey buzzards!

Iguana!

The Ruined Gardens of Chellah: Part 2

Part 1 here.

Moving on through Chellah we got to the Arab ruins part of it.  Here as every where there were lots of cats.  I wanted to take all of them home and turn them into spoiled first world cats.

Storks were nesting in the ruins.  I didn't see any storks alas, but I was fascinated by the nests.

This part of the ruins used to be a religious school.

Grave.

Necropolis.

There was an eel pond right by the necropolis.  According to the guide, who was difficult to understand so I transmit a garbled story, some queen buried in the Necropolis, tried to grab power for her children and either became an eel or died and then became an eel.  Either way there was power grabbing and an eel.  According to the guide, you can throw coins into the pool and make a wish.  According to the Lonely Planet, you can feed eggs to the eels to increase your fertility.

Saint tombs outside the mosque ruins.