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Published: November 8th 2007
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Hey from the Big Easy otherwise Known as New Orleans, after leaving our crime spree of mississippi, we headed of our next state of Louisana, first stop was a swamp tour to see the alligators, the swamp where we did this was badly ravaged by hurricane Katrina and while some have rebuilt their swamp shacks some have just be left to rot, it was here that the hurricane actually hit and while the clean up is immense, after 2 years there is still more to be done. it started to hit me here how much damage was caused and how life must of changed. Our swamp guide reminded me of the nutty professor in every way and was great with his stories and had the most bizarre accent which all he could say was the accent of the swamp. There were hundreds of alligators and they certainly were not shy and most came very close to the boat, and they were massive. Being the ever over dramactic one I thought that we were going to be alligator food at one point when a turf war began between two of the males, it was amazing to watch though i felt like i
was in a BBC 2 nature programme all i needed to hear was the voice over. At first i was reluctant to do this tour but it was well worth it and as was said by many of the locals that you cant come to Louisana without going to the bayous.
After we had our lunch we set on to New Orleans or as the Americans pronounce it Nawlins, our group was really looking forward to it, not just because its a party town but we also had beds to sleep in for two nights and our tents could stay in the van - we couldnt wait. We arrived to find that we had our own little appartment with us all having our own four poster bed, we were all in our element even though it was just at the edge of what the media would call the ghetto. Unfortunatly New Orleans has a very high crime rate, maybe because its a tourist and party town, maybe because after the hurricane people do what they know to get money.
New Orleans is still recoving from Hurricane Katrina and every street has houses that are in total ruins, some in
the middle of repair and some that have been rebuilt completly. Even though the hurricane actually didnt hit New Orleans itself, the damage was all done by the levies breaking, to this day the levies are still not secure, surely this should be a top priority as no one wants this devastation again for some reason the american government seem to be taking their time.
As we were in party town, first stop was of course the off licence to stock up, it was three blocks away and i seriously thought that i was going to die, this is the hottest place so far, it was so bad that i actually didnt make it so one of the guys had to go for me. ahh well. So we all got dressed up and even straighten our hair which after camping was a luxery in itself and headed out to try the local food that is Gumbo, i went for the crayfish gumbo and it was really good even though it did not look that good when it came out, the other group were all dressed up in the randomest clothes you can imagine, they had passed a yard sale on
the way and gve themselves the $5 challenge of buying the worse clothes imaginable, they did a brilliant job. so then we went on to the infamous bourbon street even though it was only mid week the place was still packed, we ended up at some rodeo bar where we all had hurricane drinks which are sweet but deadly, they suddenly hit you about a hour later, luckily they were too sweet for me so i didnt have that many so was able to tell everyone what they did the next morning which i dont usually get to do including when paul dualled this guy in the bar to a dance off even though he can not dance and somehow managed to ask a professial break dancer, i have not laughed so much in years. i just wish i had my camera that night. but before i go on saying how good i was i should let you know that i managed to come back to the appartment soaking wet after deciding to go swimming fully clothed and with a random bed post - i really need to let go off the bringing random things home, the fact that i
was the sober out of all of them goes to show how drunk the rest of them were.
The Next day was our free day so we got up early to have a look around. New Orleans is a wonderful place with a very european feel, it looks like what i imagine France would look like 50 years ago, we went to St Louis Cathedral and took the free boat over the Mississippi River, had a look at the french markets and tried on all the Mardi Gras costumes and saw miles upon miles of beads. to be here when its mardi gras must be amazing if not totally hectic. then it was on to meet everyone for dinner and to do the ghost tour which turned out to be the worse ghost tour ever but it passed the time before we headed back to our place to have a pool party and enjoy our last night in our bed before we are back to the tents tomorrow.
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