Day X: LA

July 24, 2008

Mango woke us up at around 10am again. Sharon was all ready to go into New Orleans after we were done with breakfast. Bea loves her Frosted Mini Wheats, and I love fruit.

Sharon drove us to the French Quarter in New Orleans- called “the Quarter” by locals, I was told. On the way there we talked about Katrina. I still can’t believe that it’s been 3 years since Katrina hit. It was really interesting to hear Bet’s mom talk about the hurricane. It seems like everyone who stayed in New Orleans stayed there by choice. She said that even Amtrak was offering to evacuate people out of the city. The hurricane didn’t even hit New Orleans- it was the flooding that was so devastating. Sharon said that 57 tornados hit Slidell, which is just north over the bridge from New Orleans. One of the bridges was torn to pieces by the hurricanes, and the other was guarded by state troopers after the storm. Thank goodness, said Sharon, or else the looters would have crossed over and spread even more mayhem.

Another big problem that I had no idea existed was the New Orleans’ prison evacuation. Actually, it was more of a “free for all.” They just let everyone out into the streets. Really? And the higher-ups complain about rampant crime and complete madness on the streets? It only takes a few to get the ball rolling. Also, the New Orleans police department and the state government are known to be some of the most corrupt in the country. I guess no one wants to work together. Oh politics. Looking out the window was so surreal. There were brand new homes sitting on their brand new stilts perched like flamingos along the river’s edge. Their neighbors were (I’m guessing) their old homes left in ruins. Roofs were caved in, moss was taking over, and trees stood crooked and twisted along the bayou. So surreal.

We got into New Orleans, talking politics and Katrina the whole way there. I kept thinking about Mango the entire time. Sharon took us out to lunch at the original House of Blues. It’s difficult to be vegan in the South, lemme tell ya. Most people in the south don’t even know what being vegan consists of, and why people would chose to live that kind of lifestyle. I don’t blame them, but still. Knowledge is power in my eyes.

I feel like most vegans are pretty aware of what’s going on and won’t stand for it. I say most because you do have those who are vegan for the wrong reasons. Personally, I’m began because #1- I don’t feel like we should be eating half the things we’re eating: i.e. lard, corn-fed cows (cows are supposed to eat GRASS), and milk (we’re the only animal who drinks it after we’ve matured- AND we’re the only animal who drinks anther animal’s milk. GROSS). That’s among lots of other things. #2- Yes, I believe us humans are naturally “supposed” to eat meat- we have partly carnivorous teeth for a reason- but I absolutely hate the way we’ve abused and manipulated our meat, poultry and dairy sources. I disagree with so much concerning the food industry. Please ask if you’re interested in what I have to say, and I’ll gladly talk your ears off. Also, the book “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” is a fantastic read. I’ve only gotten through the first quarter of it before someone stole it from me at work. Imagine that.

Anyways, the House of Blues was pretty good. I had their house salad with avocado and a side of sweet potato fries. Mmm! After lunch we explored the restaurant a little more. The rooms are outrageously colorful and the bars are gorgeous. We left the House of Blues and walked around the rest of the French Quarter for a bit. It’s real cute. The architecture reminds me of Europe, which is appropriate since New Orleans was “owned” by the French, then the Spanish, and then again by the French. The streets are real tight and the hustle and bustle of the stores, bars, and restaurants makes this city feel alive. And I was only there during the daytime!

We went into lots of little touristy stores, had coffee and beignets at the Café du Monde. I waited in line for the restroom for what seemed like forever. This man who was completely spray painted silver stood next to me in line. He had two revolvers on his bullet belt: one was pink and the other was silver and wooden. This silver man sported a cowboy hat and a silver sprayed black tennis shoes. He kept making these weird clicking sounds from his throat at me. It was real flippin’ strange. I just didn’t stare back. Oh, the coffee was really good.

There was another outside covered market sort of like the one in Charleston. There were loads of jewelry, Mardi gras beads, cheap sunglasses, and more jewelry. Beth’s mom told us buying people Mardi gras beads who visit New Orleans is “what she does.” I picked out this awesome blue beaded one with a large shark pendant. I thought it was hilarious. Bea got a yellow and pink beaded one with monkey heads and bananas that felt like stress balls. We walked around a bit more, it poured gallons from the sky, and then headed to the Mississippi river where there was an oil spill yesterday. I guess one of those touristy boat planes crashed into an oil tanker from overseas. It smelled horrible.

Sharon then drove us around Uptown, which is where the Mardi gras parade takes place. The houses that line the main street are gorgeous. They are enormous with wrap around balconies, large front yards, and layers of floors- some four stories tall. In my mind the houses resembled large cakes. The trees and telephone wires lining the street are all covered in Mardi gras beads left over from Fat Tuesday and the months preceding it.

Bethany still had work until about seven or so. We probably got back to the house at around five. Bea and I were still pretty tired from the night before so we napped after I hosed down the slobbery Mango dog.

I had corn for dinner! Yum Yum, I love corn. Beth had mentioned earlier that she was going to take us out to town and out to the Louisiana bars tonight. We were all watching “So you think you can dance” on the tube with her parents during and after dinner. Bea goes out to the car to get a change of clothes for the night and returns looking pissed. “Guess what? I just locked the keys in the trunk.” I looked at her and said, “Bayuhhhhh…” She retorts with a snappy, “Well, I didn’t mean to! You think I’m going to be all jolly and happy? SHIT!” and walks away. Honestly, I wasn’t too happy myself. I more annoyed that she blew up at me. In my opinion, being in a bad mood in a frustrating situation just makes it ten times more miserable for the people involved. I wasn’t mad at her or anything- shit happens, but I really hate getting snapped at if I didn’t do anything wrong. Trust me though; I was over it in a couple minutes.

Beth goes upstairs to get all dressed and purtied up while I sat on my laptop uploading pictures from Savannah and Charleston. She came down and told me that Bea didn’t want to go out tonight because she was getting really bad cramps. I went up and Bea was still in a bad mood, so I let her be and walked out to Beth’s car. Halfway down the driveway Beth asks me if I have my ID with me. “ID? I left my wallet in Philly, and now it’s being mailed to my home in California.”(Insert sheepish grin.) Turns out you need to have an ID saying you’re over 18 to get into bars in Louisiana. Beth called a couple friends to ask if the bar we were planning on going to cards. Yup, they did. So instead of going out and dancing the night away we stayed in and watched a Disney movie with glasses of red wine perched in our hands. It was a good night. I’m sure we started that movie over at least four times because we kept getting carried away with jibber jabber. It was a great night in my opinion.

-S&M