New Orleans

God punished me for the blog about being in the only warm part of America. I woke up to teeming, freezing rain, and I decided to skip my planned trip to Avery Island, the birthplace of Tabasco. Also quickly off the itinerary was my small hope for a swap tour. Oh well -- I guess for this time of year I have been pretty lucky so far.  I am determined not to let it slow me down... too much.

Jacque-imo's
(too cold for me to stop, so
pic from Google images)

I have been to New Orleans before, visiting the D-Day and Voodoo museums, touring the Garden District and enjoying many too many hurricanes (the cocktail) on Bourbon Street. This time I just wanted to see some of the Katrina damage and enjoy the culture. With my friend Christine, I drove around Lakeview and saw a little of the remaining flood damage (I was actually impressed by how little there was) and then enjoyed a fabulous dinner at the original Jacques-imos. The alligator pie and BBQ shrimp are soooo good! The next day it was so cold I decided to head to a museum where I would stay warm. I went to the Louisiana state museum in the French Quarter, where Let's Go promised an exhibit on Mardi Gras. Unfortunately that section was closed for renovation and the rest of the museum is dedicated to an exhibit about Katrina. It felt wrong that my entire trip seemed to be about the disaster, instead of about the revitalized culture in this fabulous city. (But now I know more about the flooding and levy construction than I ever hoped to learn.)  Bundling up in my down coat, pom-pom hat and cashmere lined gloves, I braved the frigid temperatures to walk around the quarter for awhile. I headed down Royal Street looking like a fool, but relatively warm. It wasn't so bad, and it would have been terrible to skip this touristy mainstay. And I did get to see some of the Mardi Gras decorations!

The best part of my trip was that I got to stay with my old friend Christine and her family.

When I was 16 years old, I participated in the AFS exchange program and traveled to Ecuador. I lived for the summer with a family in Ambato, a city of about 200,000 people. Most of the students were assigned to Ecuador's two big cities, the capital Quito or the port Guayaquil. There were only three of us sent to Ambato. We traveled to Quito as a big group, then the three of us were put on a bus to Ambato. The bus was right out of the movies -- loud salsa music playing, chickens running up and down the aisle, red tassel decorations and passengers (?) hanging off the sides. Despite studying Spanish since 7th grade, I did not understand a word anyone was saying. How were we going to know when to get off? How were we ever going to get our luggage down from the top of the bus? I was overwhelmed, jet-lagged and felt incredibly out of place. Amazingly we arrived alive and with our possessions.

I soon learned that my host family lived around the corner from, and were good friends with, the host family of one of the other AFS students, Christine Carbin from Wisconsin. This was a huge relief. The third student, Jeremy, left with his family and was never heard from again. (I jest - we met up with him a couple of times and I did see him on the return journey.) Christine and I spent most of the summer together. We were both living with strange families, speaking in a foreign language and experiencing a new culture for the first time. It definitely a bonding experience.

At the end of the summer, the whole group traveled back to the U.S. through the Miami airport. We arrived late, and everyone missed their connections and were put up at the airport hotel. Flying to New York, I was the only one able to get on a flight that night. I remember leaving just as the group figured out how to have Domino's delivered to the hotel room. Jealous of their 'American' pizza after a summer of eating chicken feet soup, I said goodbye and headed to my gate. That was the last time I saw Christine.

We kept in touch for a couple of years, but eventually and inevitably fell out of contact. Through the miracle of Facebook we reconnected. (Btw, I just saw The Social Network, and I think we all need to quit FB so that Mark Zuckerburg doesn't end up ruling the world. You first - I promise to quit right after you do.)

I sent Christine a message that I was heading in her direction and suggested that we have dinner to catch up. She immediately replied and offered me her guestroom! Wow -- this was pretty brave since she hasn't seen me since we were 16. I have become such a cheapsake that I had no such hesitations. Sure I barely know her, but this was a free place to stay in a fairly expensive city.

B-ball has a new fan!

After I won over two-year old Lucy with pictures of Butterball and my 'Talking Rex' iPhone app, I had a great time getting to know 7-year old Isabella, 5-year old Natalie and Christine's husband Tim. I especially loved reconnecting and reminiscing with Christine. (Our favorite stories to laugh over included the dinner when we were served guinea pig, my tomato-like sunburn during our trip to the jungle and her painting ceramic figurines with her younger host siblings while I got drunk with my older ones. It was a really interesting summer!)

Despite the cold, New Orleans was great. I really did make a lifelong friend that crazy summer in Ecuador!

(Sorry, no Ecuador pictures on my computer!)