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

Playa del Carmen and Diving in Cozumel (part one)

After we flew into Cancun, we took a bus straight for Playa del Carmen which is another hub for travellers through the Riviera Maya. Like New York, it has its Avenida 5, but it is filled with souvenir shops and tour sellers, as well as a little shop selling pictures with tiny monkeys. We decided to take advantage of its prime location on the caribbean sea and its proximity to Cozumel to go SCUBA diving, which we hadn´t done since Belize a year ago. We dove with Geofish, run by a nice guy from Denver who decided to move down here and follow his dream of owning a dive shop. Turns out it´s not exactly profitable. I guess I´ll have to reevaluate my dream of doing the same thing! Anyway, last thursday we took the ferry across the bay to Cozumel where we were picked up by an texan who ran dive shop on the island, and were soon on a boat out to our first Dive Site.
We did two dives, and on both we saw turtles, sting rays, and of course the hundreds (mas o menos) of colorful fish one finds in the caribbean.
Here are some pictures from diving, but first, our first view of the Caribbean in Playa del Carmen:

A Blenny

These lionfish are not native to the caribbean (in fact I saw one on my dive in Australia), but an aquarium broke and a few got out and mated and the rest is modern history...

The second of the two turtles we saw on our dives. He was pretty nonchalantly swimming near us, and let us get pretty close.

This lovely painted lady is a Triggerfish

A very colorful Angelfish and its entourage

I had no idea my fins were this pink

A Very Large Hermit Crab indeed, who had apparently stolen a Conch Shell

After our first dive, we had a lovely lunch of Guacamole, Pico de Gallo, and sandwiches and anchored near a beach. I dove in and Jim caught me mid-leap.

This Pelican was on the dock in Cozumel, and was very friendly, or at least tolerant. We got within a foot before the dock security told us to get away from the side.

Finally, the adorable dogs at the Hotel we stayed at in Playa (Barrio Latino).

We´re back in Playa now, and we finally got our PIN so we can get cash out at an ATM which saves us a hell of a lot of hassle. We are going back to Tulum tomorrow to finally relax on the beach for at least 5 nights. We´re having a good time, but it´s been kind of stressful with the money situation (and a bout of "Traveller´s Sickness") but I think now we´ll be able to really enjoy ourselves.