NEW ORLEANS (USA)
18 February - 22 February 2018
In many ways the US is still
haunted by what hurricane Katrina did to this town in 2005. The epic failures
of Congress, the Bush Administration & the Federal Emergency Management
Agency , exacerbated a situation that was already diabolical. I truly remember as a kid, watching Great
Mysteries of the World on a Saturday afternoon and in one specific show, them
singling out New Orleans as a disaster in
waiting. Failure to secure New Orleans, to build in redundancies, meant
that the soothsayers only needed to wait for aberration of Mother Nature, in the right
location, to be able to say, ‘see, we told
you so’. There’s 1800 people who
lost their lives that wished, I’m sure, that some of the authorities could have
taken notice earlier.
Communication failures, failures
of proactive management, confusion, all led to a catastrophe of such wild
proportions, in a country that prides itself on being the greatest, on being
earnest, on supporting the weakest and being brave. It was a big old pile of
American ‘fuck’ and they, even now, need to take ownership for their
failure. Who can ever forget the images
of those poor people in the Louisiana Superdrome!? Acting initially as a refuge
from the devastation, it turned into a hell hole of filth and abuse. There’s no
amount of covering up that can deny that failure.
St Ann Street - Treme/Lafitte - New Orleans - Louisiana - USA
St Ann Street - Treme/Lafitte - New Orleans - Louisiana - USA
French Quarter - New Orleans - Louisiana - USA
Driving around some of the wards
of New Orleans, the physical scars are obvious, but, the mental scars are much
deeper. A predominantly African American population was hung out to dry here,
and as racist and as white supremacist as the US was, and still is, this level of
incompetence, which while not deliberate, certainly typified the lo lack of
urgency afforded to those in need because consciously they were aware that these people were only black. And whilst the US openly denies that, deep inside
their soul they know it to be true.
French Quarter - New Orleans - Louisiana - USA
Bourbon Street - French Quarter - New Orleans - Louisiana - USA
French Quarter - New Orleans - Louisiana - USA
French Quarter - New Orleans - Louisiana - USA
Hard Rock Cafe - Bourbon Street - French Quarter - New Orleans - Louisiana - USA
Thirteen (13) years is a fair
chunk of time between then and now. Not enough to make all the problems
disappear, and not enough to hide all physical and mental scars. It has been
enough however to get the spirit of New Orleans back, because more than
anything now, these guys are determined and resilient.
The city has a heady mix of
cultures and is a completely bewitching place. The most iconic area, and the one
that all tourists are drawn to, is the French Quarter. It’s filigree cast-iron
balconies tangled with ferns and fragrant jasmine are desperately gorgeous, and
the mood is always fun in a hedonistic, laissez-faire type of way. The music,
the parties and the gorgeous food are such draw cards, and the fun times run
from dusk until dawn in both the French Quarter and the Marigny.
Marigny - New Orleans - Louisiana - USA
Marigny - New Orleans - Louisiana - USA
Marigny - New Orleans - Louisiana - USA
Bourbon Street - French Quarter - New Orleans - Louisiana - USA
Marigny - New Orleans - Louisiana - USA
Frenchmen Street - Marigny - New Orleans - Louisiana - USA
Frenchmen Street - Marigny - New Orleans - Louisiana - USA
Frenchmen Street - Marigny - New Orleans - Louisiana - USA
We stayed in an AirBnB on St Anne
street, a few kilometres away from the French Quarter. In hindsight an error on
our part as getting in and out of the area meant an Uber on each occasion.
Also, somewhat unfortunately, during the last day in New York I was tagged by a
bit of a cold that actually hit me fairly hard for the first two days in New
Orleans, so much so that I spent most of that time on my back, trying to sleep
off whatever it was that I had.
In the time I did have free with
Inga we spent it mostly on Bourbon street, where, true as their word, the party
raged non-stop. A week after the famous
mardi gras had been and gone, it seemed that most of the idea of recovery involved going out and reliving
the entire experience. Bars were full, drinks were readily available and there
was just no way that you could, or would want to escape the bar hopping expectation in this town.
Frenchmen Street - Marigny - New Orleans - Louisiana - USA
Bourbon Street - French Quarter - New Orleans - Louisiana - USA
Bourbon Street - French Quarter - New Orleans - Louisiana - USA
Bourbon Street - French Quarter - New Orleans - Louisiana - USA
Bourbon Street - French Quarter - New Orleans - Louisiana - USA
For me, probably the highlight
was Frenchman Street in Marigny. This
is an area known for its Cajun bistros,
bohemian bars, sidewalk musicians and jazz clubs. A slow walk up the street would show the
music identity of this city, it was a festival every night of the week, and
that was just plain cool. I wish now that somehow I could have those sick days
back because this is the area that I think we could have taken a bit more time.
Bourbon Street - French Quarter - New Orleans - Louisiana - USA
Mississippi River - New Orleans - Louisiana - USA
Mississippi River - New Orleans - Louisiana - USA
Mississippi River - New Orleans - Louisiana - USA
Mississippi River - New Orleans - Louisiana - USA
Mississippi River - New Orleans - Louisiana - USA
Mississippi River - New Orleans - Louisiana - USA
On one of our days we managed to
take a tour out onto the bayou. For those that don’t know, the bayou is a body
of water typically found in flat, low-lying area, that can either have an
extremely slow moving stream or river, containing mostly brackish water, which
in itself attracts plenty of fish and plankton. For me there’s something
intriguing and mysterious about this area. It reminds me, a whole lot in fact,
of an area of Disneyland that I fell in love with as a kid – I recall them having
rides that mimicked these areas, and relating those thoughts to reality I have
to say that Disneyland did a mighty job.
The Bayou - Louisiana - USA
The Bayou - Louisiana - USA
The Bayou - Louisiana - USA
The Bayou - Louisiana - USA
The Bayou - Louisiana - USA
New Orleans, a unique city for
certain, with a melange of cultures and races that have come together to build
this town and give it it’s heart, perhaps not quite in the easy going manner
that you would expect, but easy enough to still live up to the well earned name
of the Big Easy.
