New Orleans...Beads, Booze and Boobs
New Orleans, 'Chocolate City'!Yes, we arrived to our usual ghetto standard hostel after our nightmare Greyhound ride and, well...let me paint you a picture. In August of last year the city was bashed around by hurricane Katrina and they haven't exactly done much to clear it up. The French Quarter (where it all goes down) is still standing strong, and then you get about a 30 minute walk of the most humming stenches, battered houses and general ghetto, oh...and then you reach our humble abode..the India House hostel. Yes, it is as hippy as it sounds. Our first night was a quiet affair where (as per usual) we tried ordering Dominos, only to find that the phones/internet/everything in our area STILL doesn't work! What are two hungry girls to do!?!
The next day we walked down to the French Quarter which is wicked (partly cos it doesn't resemble an American city at all) and all of a sudden we had these things flung at our heads. BEADS! This was to become our mission for the week; to get not only a neckful of beads every day, but the best ones as well! The first parade, where there are floats travelling the streets with some general unrelated theme, offered quite a steal of bead action, and we didn't even have to flash (which our hussy roommate Adrienne will testify holds quite a currency round these parts)! We even delved into the local cuisine, sampling creole and cajun dishes, but the most daring of them all...ALLIGATOR!!!!!! Kate loved it but in my opinion it was Rank McRank.
Its safe to say that Mardi Gras offers ample opportunity to have a spot of the devil's juice, our favourite tipple being a 'Huge Ass Beer', which contained way over a pint and a half for $3.50. Bargain! That was enough to get us oiled up for a night on Bourbon Street, followed shortly after by a 'Hurricane' (generally a rummy mess), but Bourbon Street is the birthpace of said drink so it provided reason to drink on!
One of the craziest nights involved us minding our own business in a Bacardi bar, and then some random guy (who was there with his Mum, of course) gave us some Bacardi passes which allowed us upstairs to the hallowed turf of the balcony. For those of you in Mardi Gras bead throwing circles, you will appreciate how we had hit the big time, for instead of being the catchers, we were now the throwers! The night turned into the biggest drinking affair we have had for a while, the cause of our downfall being free Bacardi and Amaretto all night, which provoked such drunken stumblings as a dance off against a midget in a jesters costume (I hang my head in shame).
Usually during all of this fun you meet a lot of people, so it was no suprise when we were approached by an odd couple on Bourbon street. We started chatting and then things didn't seem to add up. Why didnt Tammy have any beads? Why weren't they drinking? So we pressed them for why they were in New Orleans during Mardi Gras...and their answer...
"To spread the love of Jesus Christ".
They were fighting a losing battle. Kate then launched into the theory of evolution and how science beats religion hands down (apologies to any who disagree with Miss Wilde!), and we must have been there for a good 10 minutes until one of them simply said 'well recently Darwin's theory has been proved wrong'. Err.. I don't think so pal, and they walked off saying how it was the best conversation they'd had all night!
We wanted to show our support for New Orleans during all the new construction, and what better way to do so than going out for a night on Bourbon Street sporting matching 'KATRINA THAT BITCH' tshirts? They were very well received by tipsy bead grabbers city wide, and we got the best bead haul that night to say the least!
posted by Kat Weaver @ 7:27 PM
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