Willie Wagtales: Way Down Yonder in New Orleans

A few years ago whilst attending a Floods Conference I met an engineer from New Orleans. He was a keynote speaker and he talked about that city’s

recovery effort after Hurricane Katrina and the resultant devastating floods. He was very candid and delivered a very enlightening but heartbreaking presentation about the slow rebuild and I have to admit that I was ignorant of so many details of its topography, the history and the culture - so add to that Johno’s interest in ‘all things blues and music’ and we were ready to discover our very own N’Awlins.

As we approached the city area we came across huge expanses of concrete roads and bridges, wide enough for at least two lanes of traffic in each direction, and high enough to avoid the rivers, tributaries, swamps and wetlands below. They were everywhere. One fellow told us that Louisiana has six of the longest bridges in the USA and I don’t doubt it. Johno said he’d like to have had the concrete contract.

Our RV Park was located right in the heart of the city, and getting there was a real challenge. Our GPS, Jill, was great but even she didn’t know that some roads were closed and one-way streets had been reversed. After some frustration for Johno and road rage from other motorists, we finally got to the French Quarter RV Resort. It is situated directly under the I10 but as we had to have the aircon on all night because of the high temperatures we didn’t hear the road noise.

New Orleans has a reputation for not being safe so we chose to stay here ($80 a night – thank you very much) with gate and razor wire security and only a two-block walk into Bourbon Street and all the action. The resort also had a pool, spa and provided transport to and from the hot spots for free. So we stayed five nights and had the best time.

The city is alive, and boasts deeply rooted cultural, culinary and musical traditions.

see the beads hanging on the balcony?

I loved the French Quarter. The architecture is just beautiful, with century old buildings with central courtyards on narrow streets, lacey ironwork and colourful hanging pots on balconies, the ‘French influence’ as you would guess has been maintained and restored, despite many wanting to tear it all down some years back. The quaint streetlights and bollards that look like horses heads amused me. (like to see those in Lismore’s beautification program – ha ha).

We found a lovely little cafe just off Bourbon Street to eat pastries and drink good coffee (yes – real coffee) and listen to excellent jazz musicians. They even played a jazzy version of Waltzing Matilda – very funny.

New Orleans food was soooo tasty. It is a mix of French, Spanish, German, Native and Black American people all coming together. Cajun is spicy and has a lightly peppery flavor, not chili and more like Tabasco – some favourites included etouffee, hush puppies, po-boys, red beans and rice, catfish, gumbo, jambalaya, soft shell crab, crawfish, a shrimp dish made with four cheeses (so rich) and, of course, beignet at Cafe Du Monde.
Beignet is really just donut dough that is deep fried and heavily coated in icing sugar. Yummy - but not something that I would eat often.

Locals joke that you can always tell tourists because they come to eat beignet in black clothes and walk out with icing sugar down their front. So if you get there make sure you use the ‘napkins’ so the locals don’t make fun of you.

We expected to find some really good music on Bourbon Street but were a bit disappointed. The bars were full of people and every one had a band or some type of music and staff at the front enticing you to visit their place. The problem was they are all chasing the tourists and so there is competition between establishments – the noise is deafening, each band trying to outdo the one next door, the music was mostly popular covers (to attract people into their bar) and as we were there night after night, we discovered that the sets were the same each night. That is not to say that we didn’t find some good music to listen to, just not in Bourbon Street.

Mostly it was the street performers who captured our attention for hours. We watched acrobats, an accapella barbers quartette, a great brass band, drummers, and a very good blues singer – we tipped them all and they played with gusto. Much more entertaining that being squeezed into a bar with questionable ladies and ordinary music, I say!

The French Markets were markets on the Saturday so off we went to find some beads to make Heather (my Nashville friend) some earrings. We took detour to the Visitor Welcome Centre to listen to a colloquium discussing the influences that shaped Louisiana and its people. The speakers were an historian, a journalist and cookbook writer, and a fifth generation New Orleans resident and author who writes both fact and fiction. Between them they shared a wealth of information and gave a great insight into the history, culture and lifestyle of the locals. They also spoke about the Hurricane and how it has changed the people and their city.

On the way out we were stopped by some other visitors who asked from where we hailed. We answered “Australia’ and so the conversation developed as it has done so often during this trip. How long? where have you been? what’s your favourite place? And in this case – “Have you been to New York because that’s where we are from?” Again we said ‘yes – loved New York.” The gentleman asked what we liked best and I responded that I really loved Bryant Park, NY. We spoke for some time on that subject and about the adjacent toilets, which I may not have mentioned before. They have big, beautiful fresh flower arrangements in the foyer of the toilet block and there is an attendant on duty full-time. THE most beautiful and cleanest public facility I have ever seen and…. it’s free!

Why am I telling you all this? Well serendipitous moments are the bright stars on this trip and here was another one. The man we were speaking with is ‘on the Board of Management for Bryant Park’ and he was tickled pink that we gave it such a rave without prompting. Such a lovely friendly couple to brighten our day.

Then we were off to the markets down by the river. Lots of people, exciting, colourful, so much to look at, laughing, singing, and dancing – too much to be specific but a great fun day!

Cajun village

The following morning we went to a local church service and then spent the afternoon on a Honey Island Swamp Tour. We wanted to see a bayou and a real swamp and were not disappointed. There is an indescribable beauty in the ugliness of the swamp. We were blessed with blue skies and sunshine which helped when we were creeping up the through the slimy back bayous on the hunt for alligators. Found them!! They are smaller than a crocodile and nowhere near as frightening but still an interesting looking creature. We also saw an authentic Cajun village where residents can only get there by boat.

Some of the houses looked very unstable, half on land, half on water and not much holding them together. Other wildlife we saw included water birds, a turtle and a raccoon.

Honey Island Swamp is about an hours drive out of the city so we got to see quite a lot of the residential and industrial areas that were affected by Hurricane Katrina. Although most other parts of New Orleans are now ‘back to normal’ the area to the east has long-lasting scars that will never repair. Many people have chosen not to return to the area and neither have the service providers and retailers. We saw schools and hospitals rebuilt but empty, the Walmart carpark remains but the company decided not to rebuild there along with a host of other stores and service providers. That means that those who have moved back have to travel long distances to get groceries, medical treatment and all manner of help. We were told that some areas may never be rehabitated.

After all their disasters and troubles you might think that it would result in sadness or bitterness, but the people we met were all cheerful, appreciative, fun-loving, resilient and proud New Orleaneans.
They show huge respect to those who loss their lives in the hurricane and we came across many remembrances in their honor.

New Orleans is unique for its cemeteries. There was a cemetery directly behind our RV Park, which captured my interest as all the vaults were built above the ground. It seems that most were originally constructed during the 18^th and 19 th century and explanations about ‘above-ground’ burials are a mixture of fact and folklore. The water table around New Orleans is very high and the soil is soggy in low-lying areas, so caskets would rise whenever there was heavy rain or flood. “You just couldn’t keep a good person down!” is a favourite saying over here! However the vaults are in fact more due to French and Spanish tradition than they are to water table problems.
(That’s the official version from a very nice lady at the Visitor Welcome Centre).

We went for a wander among the vaults in Saint Louis #2. It didn’t feel morbid or intrusive to do so. The crypts, crosses and ironwork depict age-old skills and workmanship and the weather has aged them nobly. Although there has been some defacing and vandalism, the crypts provide a beautiful resting place, and effectively put an end to coffins rising up from the ground when it floods. Most of them were originally built way back, but we noticed they are still being used and people are still being buried there in family crypts.

Voodoo, superstition and rituals remain part of the culture for many New Orleaneans and candles, flowers, food and effigies were left on many graves.

After five nights sleeping under the I10 we were happy to hit the road again, although we both agreed that visiting New Orleans has added more cultural depth and understanding to our US adventure.

Some more pics if you are interested.