By Pep Sayabath – Blogg Post
New Orleans is one hell of a city. Spending a week here you figure out why it’s nicknamed the ‘Big Easy’. Everything here is easy and cheap. The food, the alcohol, the cigarettes, the accommodation…and the people are super easy. They have this really laid back southern attitude…nice after being in New York for a while!
There is music coming out of every bar in this city. Some of the best Blues, Jazz, Swing and Brass that I’ve ever heard. The first night that I was here I went with an American bloke to Frenchmens (st). I can’t remember the name of the bar but It had a brass band of seven young guys. They did a lot of covers. But it was the happiest music I’ve ever heard in my life (and the drinks were $1 after 11pm). BUT the killer was at the end of the night when all of a sudden the band walked off stage out the door and started singing Louis Armstrong’s “When The Saints Go Marching In” out on the street. Everyone else form other bars walked out and it turned into a street party! (Random street parties with brass bands happen a lot in New Orleans…especially after their football team “The Saints” win games).
New Orleans is for lovers. The French Quarter has these old mansions on every block with ornate iron work…the city really would have been interesting to see back in the past. The city also has this crazy old-school romance to it. The girls and guys all get dressed up in vintage clothes and swing dance together in the clubs…its a site, its like the golden age of Jazz never left.
Random street parties with brass bands happen a lot in New Orleans…especially after their football team “The Saints” win games
The devil comes up a lot when you talk about New Orleans. Before I made my way down people warned me “Pep…you’ll have a great time but don’t let the devil get you!” I foolishly walked into a very odd neighbourhood one day. I started to feel a bit uneasy and then I saw this wall.
(Next to it was “Murder victims of 2007″ It actually tells you how they died, EG: Shot, stabbed, bludgeon to death, it’s crazy stuff!)
Everyone is addicted to one thing or another here: alcohol, drugs, food. Sometimes it’s a bit depressing when you walk around and you see these massive buildings still boarded up and abandoned after hurricane Katrina. It seems like people go a bit crazy from the humidity, partying and music…I nearly did.
In New Orleans they bury their dead above ground in mausoleums…this is because the city is so below sea-level that the bodies will eventually make their way back to the surface!
The food in the south is crazy. Big servings, and cheap. I had a Po-boy, which is basically a sandwich with shredded meat dripping off it…I was sweating by the time I finished it. People in the south are definitely bigger…a banana costs 70 cents and is hard to find, while a double bacon cheeseburger is $1.50 at Burger King…go figure.
I also met a lad named Ethan at the hostel I was staying at. A big lumber jack from Maine. He was 18-years-old and had been hitch-hiking all around the country since October. His aim was to make it to Tucson, Arizona for Christmas to see his girl. He had the craziest stories to tell and would always be trying to trade something for something else. In the end I gave him a few cigarettes. He expects to be back in Maine by February 2010. When he left New Orleans he only had $20, I wonder where he is now?
All in all New Orleans, Nola, The Big Easy, Nawlins, whatever you want to call it, is a rad city…I’m definitely coming back again.
Follow Pep’s adventures at: http://nowhereyeah.blogspot.com/
A word of warning: he frequently uses expletives!
