USA: New Orleans through to Miami, Florida

New Orleans, Louisana / Miami, Florida

As we arrived into New Orleans we were dreading that the rising water levels would spoil the 5 days we were to spend in the city, and our anxiety levels were rising remembering the flash flooding experience in Cairns just before we left for our epic trip.

As it turned out, the rain eased and even though there was minor flooding on our way through to our accommodation we got through without any problems.  The cab driver was quite happy to tell us about New Orleans and very informative about the redevelopment since Hurricane Katrina. 

 In our eyes there is still long way to go as we saw evidence of the destruction that the hurricane and floods caused some 3 years ago.  There are still many abandoned and damaged buildings within the city limits and many vacant blocks where buildings have been demolished.  We got the impression that the rebuild of New Orleans is being used as a political football, as a vote getter, in the promise that major re-development would happen, but we found the people were quite philosophical about this and seemed to live in hope that NOLA would be the same as it was pre-Katrina.  

One of our observations were that the City (Council) is very strict keeping the historical character of the buildings and have even devoted a TV channel which televises decisions made by the New Orleans Development Committee. The committee sits on a regular basis to decide new development applications, demolitions and renovations to ensure the guidelines are met, and they impose strict fines if development plans aren’t followed according to their decision.  It is the character of the buildings that really make New Orleans.

Funding for the re-construction was definitely an issue – and now pretty much at a standstill.  Initially after the hurricane there was a massive building effort to house families from low socio-economic backgrounds who had lost their homes. Within 12-15 months the city had built huge multilevel complexes just outside of the “Projects”, read that as Centre for Crime.  The City had this idea that if they were to re-house the “Projects” into new low cost accommodation that the crime rate would reduce.  All that has happened is that the problem has shifted from one area to another.  In fact, in the short time we were in New Orleans, and not far from where we were staying in Baronne Street, there was a police pursuit on the Expressway resulting in 2 deaths, a shooting of a School Bus north of St. Charles – again not far away and we were staying in a reasonable suburb.  

New Orleans Police Service CPU 
(Cherry Picker Unit) on the left

In contrast, Bourbon/Canal Street and the immediate area of the French Quarter doesn’t seem to have suffered at all and relies solely on the tourism $dollar.  The place just buzzes day and night. It also doesn’t seem to have any laws on morality, sexuality and any other perverse activity as long as it is done in the confines of a bar, nightclub, pub or live sex clubs.  And the police presence is very high.  In fact they have a special mobile Police cherry picker which can be moved around the streets to oversee any problems, literally.
The slogans on the T-shirts are an eye-opener too, and could be quite confronting. But that didn’t stop us going in just about every day for a look to see what’s new.  Oh! There is a law for drinking.  You can drink alcohol walking in the street 24/7, but as long as it is in a plastic cup.  There are even special plastic containers to hold those huge fishbowl cocktails, or grenades. And if you see girls in those 12 inch high heels having trouble walking on the cobblestoned streets, look again – they are having trouble walking because of the 12 inch alcohol containers they are holding in their hands not the shoes.  Quite amusing. 

Our visit to New Orleans also coincided with Navy Week which is a big event for the area catering to Sailors, Marines and Coastguard.  Also a big event for all those girls struggling in their shoes  - I can tell you!  The hoteliers in the Bourbon street vicinity were offering generous drinks discounts for service personnel and you could guarantee that by 8pm there was a sea (literally) of Navy personnel, legless, arm in arm with chicks in 12 inch heels. 

There is of course, some payback.  Each day the Navy Band, consisting of about 80 musicians, would play in an open area that bounds the French Quarter and the Street Markets.  Wouldn’t be too good having to play those huge trombones with a sore head the next day.  Ouch!

Our mode of travel around New Orleans was a combination of Trolley Car, Tram and Bus. 

 For a US$3 each we could get a pass that is valid until 4am the next morning.  There is no limit to how far you can go and how many times you use the ticket and we made the most of it.  And for that price you could also imagine how crowded they would get – standing room only many many times.  The first day of our street ride was quite memorable for me ie. Hopped on, bought my ticket and in amongst the crowd Tony was standing somewhere behind me.  As I moved through this guy says “Are you married, will you marry me?”  With that I replied, “Yes, I am and he is somewhere behind me” pointing in Tony’s direction.  He says “Shame, you are so Damn fine”.  Was he for real? Must have mistaken me for the 20yr old standing near me, suffered from double vision or he was an off duty Navy personnel in camos with “Beer Goggles” recovering from the night before after a big night in Bourbon Street.  

Trombone player

On the topic of street cars/trams we saw this guy trying to get on the street car with this huge trombone. He was really struggling and seemed to take forever to get it on.  Well one of the passengers took a dislike to this and started having a go at him.  The trolley was crowded, so it took a while for people to board, but this woman took offence to the fact that the trombone took up so much room and that he should have paid another fair just for the instrument.  This poor fella appeared to be so shamed that he tried to hide behind the trombone. She got so angry at him, and the street car driver, that she jumped off at the next stop.  You could almost hear the cheering from everyone on board.

On our second day just by chance we started talking to this guy who gave us some great tips on places to go, see and listen to live music, Jazz and Rythum & Blues, other sites around the city, either at minimum cost or free.  He then went on to say that he was once a Tourist Ambassador but because of funding cut-backs the city terminated his service along with about 30 others. 

His recommendations were excellent and we visited a number of historic sites, the River Walk, Mississippi river ferry crossing, the Cemeteries (yes – unbelieveable and they seem to go forever), laneways off the beaten track that have some significance, and just taking in the sites of the city ie the old houses (that are still standing).  

Appropriate Sign _ Exit Only

Even just hearing the street musicians along the way is fabulous and they seem to be around just about every corner. 

We also tried so “Soul Food” such as Corn Bread, Gumbo, Jambalaya and of course Southern Fried Chicken.  Shame - I couldn’t find anywhere that had chitlins!  Another food, if you could call it that, was Cheese Squeeze.  Not sure what the real name is but that’s what I’ve decided to call it.  Around lunchtime one day I saw a place offering Nachos.  “Great” I thought.  When it arrived it was corn chips, warm red beans with a touch of chilli, with this gooey yellow/orange liquid all over the top of it.  That was the “Cheese Squeeze” – straight out of a bottle and not even heated up.  I had heard about cheese out of the bottle, but never tried it – and hope never too again. Almost puts you off nachos.

One evening on our way to the French Quarter there was a hold up in traffic and because we were only about 4 blocks from where we wanted to go we decided to hop of the street.  We’d been told that in New Orleans they have spontaneous street parades.  Explained the traffic hold-up. So we followed this parade through for a while and the funny thing is that they throw out Beads, yes like the Jerry Spinger ones, except you don’t have to flash your boobs.  That suited me fine.  So I grabbed a few as souvenirs for free.  In the shops they charge heaps for them.  The beads also explain why on our mystery tours that there were beads hanging in the trees like Christmas baubles. 

Now how does this work??
If you flash your boobs you get 1 set of beads.
 What did this guy have to do to get his ??

We saw a lot of funny things that you would probably never see everyday, but it happens in New Orleans.  For instance, I will never be able to think about Homer Simpson as a cartoon character again.  My retinas have been scarred forever, and I don’t think I could watch The Simpsons again in the same light.  

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New Orleans to Miami

The next morning we have an early start for the next leg of our adventure from New Orleans to Miami for an overnight stay before we head off to Lima, Peru.

The trip involved catching 2 different Greyhound buses for the trip across to Jacksonville, Florida, then from Jacksonville by Amtrak to Miami.  All up this would take us 32 hours with about 7 hours waiting time in between for connections and we had to get to Miami in time for our flight to Lima.  You are probably thinking why not just get a train all the way across.  Well sitting on the bus and seeing pretty much nothingness for most of the way, both on the bus and train, you could understand why.  It was just a series of bayous, wetlands and pine forests that just go on and on and on.  And the land is just flat, hardly a hill in site.  And from discussion with other people we were told rail lines had been damaged in the hurricane and not been repaired, that would be the part I believe.  The most picturesque part of the trip was from New Orleans to a place called Fort Walton and Destin, which reminded us very much of a Gold Coast about 20 years ago. 

On the bus we went through places we had heard of such as Pensacola (huge military/navy base), Biloxi, Mobile, Tallahasee.  We have also crossed a few more US States to add to our collection.

Gulf of Mexico

We saw plenty of the Gulf of Mexico along the way and what amazed us was how white the sand was, but the Gulf water was murky brown.  Such a contrast.  

We arrived in Jacksonville, Florida at 1.30am and had to wait for another 4 hours before going to the Amtrak line which was about 10 kms away and it didn’t open until 5.45am.  And it was a cold night – not what we expected in Florida.  We didn’t see much of Jacksonville and we couldn’t really care less because we were quite buggered by this stage. We were actually looking forward to next part of the trip just so we could have a good kipper on the train.  And we did (just wake us up when we arrive in Miami pleeeaase). 

We arrived at LaQuinta, convenient to the International Airport (MIA), and as luck would have it, Tony spotted a little Irish pub just next door - Bennigans.  So he had to do some research for his blog site.  Or as he calls it – Quality Control !!  And just when you would think that luck doesn’t happen twice in one go – it did !!  It was Happy Hour – 2 beers for the price of one !!!  Nice little night cap.

We had some time to spare in the morning before having to get to the MIA, so we wandered about close by.  More expressways and dodging traffic for us.  Even though we’d been in the States for about a month already, we still weren’t used to the traffic direction and more often than not, the driver keep honking their horns and keep coming at you!  We’ve also been trying to learn some “survival” words in Spanish ready to converse with Peruvians.  We picked up some basic words in San Diego and Los Angeles ready for the next leg of our trip. It was also in MIA that we had to walk into one of the Full Body Scan machines – glad I didn’t see anything from my side!

Our flight would be leaving at 6.50pm and it wouldn’t be for another 5 and a half hours before we land in Lima. Thankfully the flight went according to schedule.  We didn’t know what to expect on our arrival, but we were getting quite excited about this part of the trip.

So until the next instalment from Peru – Buenas noches.

Liz and Tony

Travel Adventurers

NB. Due to internet connections (lack there of) the next blog will be delayed.