New Orleans Part 3: Mardi Gras: Krewe d'Eris parade

"The Krewe of Eris are not notably hygienic, dear reader; many of them are transient. Not all were dirty, not all were homeless, and not all of them would like to smash the church and state, but a fair number might be said to fit into those overlapping categories."

This is what we had waiting for us when we walked into the Parade starting area of the Krewe d'Eris. I didn't realise that we were going to actually walk in the parade until after we got dressed up in some of our Host's costumes and walked to the parade route. The Krewe d'Eris is, as Atillio calls it, a "Dirty Kid" parade. That just means all the cool and really creative kids in New Orleans put on extravagant costumes and make small bike-powered floats to entertain the town. We had a blast walking the twisting 4-mile route among the cacophonous bands and costumed freaks (I say that endearingly of course!)

Enjoy:

Jim's costume

The next day at the Ranch, a chicken gets a ride from a visiting dog...

...and we say goodbye to our gracious hosts as they head off to the Purple Party.

Thus ends our first Mardi Gras and New Orleans adventure. We headed out of town on Lundi Gras, the day before Mardi Gras proper. I feel like we got a good idea of the Mardi Gras spirit. Maybe next year we will stay until Mardi Gras day. We made it to the texas border and began our second leg of our southern tour.

New Orleans Part 2: Post-Katrina and the Lower 9

Warning: Downer Alert!
Atillio wanted to take us on a driving tour of the Lower 9 while we were in New Orleans so we set out on the first nice day in a week to visit the place that got hit hardest by Katrina back in 2005. The destruction is still visible and ubiquitous.

This school still had its sign up from summer '05-I guess the kids never made it back to school.

This is one of the houses newly built by Brad Pitt's organization, Make It Right NOLA. They look kind of funky but they are up on stilts in case another hurricane comes through.

Common Ground Relief, a volunteer organization in the Lower 9 which helps to rebuild. Atillio worked here for a year or so.

Common Grounds' Mascot, Tchoupitoulas and his doghouse. Clever :D

Next we went into a house that was still standing but clearly dilapidated- our first Urban Exploration. It hadn't been stripped down, cleaned or occupied since the storm and was in fact still For Sale by Owner. This is the obligatory shot of a child's toy amidst the rubble.

The Kitchen of the house

Black Mold upstairs- we booked it pretty quickly once we saw this.

Mud caked on the top stair. The water level must have been at least a storey high.

The living room

And some kind of Teddy Bear torture device we found on the floor.

This is the Levy that was rebuilt after katrina. At some point during the storm, an unmoored barge crashed into the levy and caused a ton of damge in the lower 9. There is one remaining piece of Banksy art on it. At this vantage point, it looks just like a shadow.

New Orleans Part 1: Mardi Gras: Krewes d'Etat et de Morpheus, around New Orleans

After a few days driving west through yet another unexpected cold spell for the south, we made it to New Orleans where we planned to meet up with a friend from New York who had moved down here a few years back. We got stuck in downtown traffic for an hour or two before we gave up trying to find parking and then went near our friend's Neighborhood. Once we got to his house, we met his housemates and immediately went off to our first Mardi Gras Parade. We walked down Decatur, which was filled with great jazz clubs, bars, and coffee houses, until we hit Canal Street and the parade route. The streets were filled with revelers, reveling in the lax open carry (of alcohol) laws and generally enjoying themselves. Our gracious hosts knew half of the people on the street so we stopped often to chat. We had a great time that night, as is evidenced in the following pictures:

Still early on in the night, my neck was still visible under the beads.

A bit later on, I was already starting to be choked by my lavalliere.

I hadn't seen Atillio in 3 or 4 years so we shared a nice re-acquaintance hug.

This was my final tally at the end of the night. I'm not sure quite how I ended up with so many, but I know that I had the most of anyone I saw! It might disappoint some of you to know that I saw exactly no bosoms that night.

The next morning we hung out in the yard with the dogs, Deidre and MacGyver. MacGyver is a 10 year old black lab, who reminds Jim and Me of my grandma's dog Skipper in every way, even age, except that Skipper is Yellow. He almost never plays but the gave in that day to play with a ball we caught during the parade. The other dog is Atillio's sweet Staffordshire Terrier.

During the day, one of the housemates Monkey showed us around town. We met up with his friend Kelly who owned this Art Car. This one used to be more extravagant but he is in the middle of redoing it. He used to have a hearse that was also decorated. Parked on Decatur Street.

One of the houses' chickens. She is currently laying eggs!

When we got back to the house, we all (about 8 of us) sat down to watch a movie (The Producers) in the living room. The dogs piled on as well...
and another picture of Deidre. She is a sweetheart and one of the friendliest dogs I know. She licked Jim's face for 5 minutes straight before he remembered his allergies.

Coming up: Krewe d'Eris, Lower 9, and Texas

Mexico Part 3: Tulum and Playa again

For my last Blog post about Mexico, here are some assorted pictures from Tulum and Playa del Carmen. We spent the last week or so lounging on the beach, reading and frolicking in the waves. For two nights, we moved over to Cabanas Copal which is fancier than Papaya Playa and has a spa and, a couple nights a week, a Mayan Ritual called a Temazcal which is a 2+ hour long sweat lodge ceremony where we inhale and chant and generally meditate and sweat. That was a really great, spiritual experience despite the touristy intention of it.

On the beach, there were some really creative and talented people who made some cool sand scupltures:

Here is the view from our Cabana at Papaya Playa:

This tiny translucent crab waddled across the sand intimidatingly.

At Cabanas Copal, there were two beggar cats at every meal. The big one was blind and slow but sweet and the little one was wily and greedy.

A few days before in Playa, we ate at a mostly-vegetarian and all-healthy restaurant called 100% Natural. To show how health-conscious they were, they filled their fountain with fruit. The food was great. Instead of chips and salsa they served whole wheat bread with salsa and sour cream and chives.

The night before, I decided to bite the bullet and risk some street food. I was glad I did, because the tacos were awesome. Definitely the best mexican food I had down there!

A tiny scruffy kitten that lived near our hotel

And finally, a real live Mexican Mariachi Band roaming the streets of Playa.

Right now we are in New Orleans experiencing Mardi Gras first hand. We've already gone to a parade and toured the lower 9. More adventures to come!
Here is a taste: