I stayed four nights at the India House Backpacker Hostel, which seemed representative of New Orleans itself: gritty, but full of charm and music. The location was good in that it was away from the really touristy areas, but right near a stop on the main tram line. The area was a bit down and dirty, but generally seemed safe enough. There were houses in the area completely run down, or buildings stripped down to their frames. At first I wondered whether it was to do with damage from Katrina, or whether it was already like this.
The second evening of my stay I met another Aussie, Steph, at the hostel. She was great company for a couple of days. So, where I blog “we” in New Orleans, I am referring to Steph and I.
French Quarter: This is of course the tourist area of New Orleans, and so has the usual downfalls like tacky bars and crowds. That aside, it was a lovely area to walk through, browse the gallery shops and admire the charming buildings. We visited the Cabildo Louisiana State Museum, which included Rock & Roll history, and lay under a tree in a park and gazed at Saint Louis Cathedral, the oldest cathedral in the US. The history of New Orleans is quite interesting and I suppose is what makes it such a unique city today.
Swamp Tour: Have you seen the show on television Swamp People? I haven’t, but I did see people living or holidaying on the water in the swamp lands, sometimes in pretty good houses considering they had to bring all the materials across by boat and build on the unstable banks of the swamp. We saw a few alligators on the tour, some of them were only babies though and the guide was throwing in marshmallows for them, presumably because they float so the little ‘gator will come up out of the water. This was somewhat worrying; surely marshmallows from every boat that passes cannot be good for the little dudes? We saw one very large alligator who preferred hot dogs on a stick. The guide got the alligator to lift its head right up out of the water almost into the boat, so that was pretty exciting but I was too slow with the camera. As we ventured further into the swamp, it was really quite pretty.
Katrina: On the bus to the swamp tour, the bus driver showed us areas hit by Hurricane Katrina and as we drove through each area told us how high the water was (between two to nine feet where we drove). As it turned out, the area the hostel is in was not really affected, so that's just how it is I guess and an example that New Orleans is a relatively poor city. He also pointed out where there used to be hotels, shops etc and now there are only concrete slabs, it was a bit sad. The bus driver actually had a comical disposition and kept repeating "Devestatiiiiiooon. Katrinaaaaa." so that kept it light for us, though I'm sure he wasn't trying to be funny. According to my guidebook, the population of New Orleans is only two-thirds of that pre-Katrina and the bus driver confirmed that many residents have not returned. I would have liked to learn more about the disaster* however there was not a memorial or museum to visit, and Katrina was not included at the Cabildo. I wondered whether this was on purpose in order to look forward and not dwell in the past. I read that Spike Lee made a documentary When the Levees Broke which would be worth watching for more insight into the event, especially in terms of the government’s response.
*This seems to be a recurring theme for me with the WTC, Holocaust Museum and now Katrina: wanting to know more about tragic events and human atrocities and then feeling guilty and wondering if its sick to be curious?
Food: There is lots of new food to try in New Orleans, especially Cajun and creole. We liked the jambalaya, which I thought was kind of like paella, and gumbo was good too, like a seafood stew. I sometimes found the flavours a bit overpowering though. Bignettes, which are French doughnuts, are also a must in the French Quarter and I indulged a couple of times!
The people: The folks in New Orleans were great, so nice. The best example of their generosity was when I was stuck in a drenching afternoon storm, waiting for a tram. A woman and her daughter handed me an umbrella from the window of their car as they drove past. I tried to refuse, thinking I couldn’t really get much wetter anyway, but they insisted I take it and keep it. How nice! I also loved how everyone, men or women, black or white, would call women baby or sugar. If an unfamiliar male called me baby in Australia, I would be outraged, but in New Orleans it seems natural.
Live music: I was lucky enough to be able to contact a friend of a friend (thanks J!) who is a New Orleans local to suggest good live music venues. We were a bit unsure stepping out of the cab at Vaughn’s Lounge – the area was basically residential and, again, pretty run down. There were no immediate alarm bells to indicate that it was unsafe, but it was certainly far from the reassuring crowds of the French Quarter and we realised straight away that we didn’t know the phone number to call another cab. The door of the bar had a buzzer to get let in (!) and there was only one other woman there. Standing next to her at the bar, we ordered our ciders for only $3 a bottle. Soon enough, the buzzer was replaced by staff taking a cover charge, the crowd started to arrive for the gig, the gender ratio evened out and the evening took on some normalcy. We caught Vaughn’s signature gig, being Kermit Ruffins on a Thursday night, but the bar itself turned out to be the real experience of the evening - spider webs and all. On Friday night, we checked out a venue on Frenchman Street called The Spotted Cat where we enjoyed Washboard Chaz Blues Trio and discovered you can get more value for your drinking dollar by ordering doubles!
Cemeteries: New Orleans has a number of those cemeteries with above ground vaults. I wasn’t sure what the deal was with them until we happened upon one and I realised I’d seen another like this in a scene from the 1999 film Double Jeopardy, which I later found out was filmed at New Orlean’s Lafayette Cemetery #1. The cemetery was fun and interesting to look around, but I almost died myself in the heat with all that concrete! When we were in the middle of the place, staff (who we didn't realise had arrived in a car) started calling out to say they were locking the gates, and finding our way out was more challenging than you would think! It was kind of fun and scary thinking about the character in the film being locked in one of the tombs and then running to find our way out before we could be locked in the cemetery, with its high concrete walls. Unfortunately, we did not have enough time or information to see if there were any notable musicians buried at this location.
On travelling: my bags did not arrive at the airport, confirming my view that if you check your bag through connecting flights they will inevitably stuff it up. This was the first thing to go wrong on my trip so far, and wasn’t major, so I guess I’m doing well. I was on a bit of a downer the next day though when it still hadn’t arrived, especially because I didn’t have a towel or toiletries (pee-yew!), but it eventually turned up.
Next stop: Austin, TX.
