Promenade Gardens and the 1763 Monument

This morning (Thursday, July 1), I went to what I thought was the botanical gardens and took some really nice pics. I spent at least an hour there, enjoying the beautiful scenery and the peaceful atmosphere. Today is also Tariq’s last day of school, so school was out by noon. I head over to the school and we made plans to lime (lol) in the city together until I go to my meditation class at 5:30 this afternoon. So, since I promised to hang out with him at the arcade this afternoon, I first made him walk with me to a monument which I thought was just a few blocks away from the school. Tariq (btw, he is THE sweetest little cousin EVER) told me the monument was on the other side of town, and it would take FOREVER to walk there. I was in my jolly walking mood, and decided that he was exaggerating (as 13 year olds do), it would only take a few minutes, and we could use a nice walk for the afternoon. Well….1 hour later, we arrive at the monument and meet a ridiculous downpour. The weather went from hot , humid and sunny, to buckets of rain instantaneously. Those drops of water were the size of apples!! Still, I had to stay and take at least 1 picture of the monument :0), ya know, since we traveled so far to get there. In the space of 2 minutes, we were entirely soaked. At least I was protected a bit by my jeans and tank top, poor Tariq was wearing his thin school uniform and was completely drenched. After a while, he couldn’t even see out of his glasses ‘cause they were so fogged up and wet!! All that sacrifice, just for me…awwwwwh! He really loves me!

Pics from the “other” gardens (aka Promenade Gardens). They had an amazing Ghandi statue there. I’ve noticed Ghandi busts and statues are very common here, I see them in people’s houses, in stores and restaurants everywhere I go. I love the inscription at the bottom of the statue.

"Mohandas Karamchand Gandi Born 2nd October 1869 Died 30th January 1948. Truth and Non-Violence Are My God"

Here’s the monument from our visit today, and some other pics I took during a drive-by a few weeks ago. This monument is in memory of an unsuccessful slave revolt by a slave named Kofi

…On the way to the monument we passed the REAL botanical gardens and the city zoo…I wanted to go inside, but I figured that would be kinda pushing it. ;0) Thanks Tariq, you’re the bestest!!!