People seemed to have a hard time understanding why I don't just fly to New Orleans. Just about everybody felt sorry for me, some even thought I was "hardcore" for driving. What they don't understand is that I'd just spent 3 months on my feet, entirely responsible for the way i look, act, and pretend to want to learn. 28 hours sitting in a car watching the landscape go by is a little bit of paradise in relation. More importantly, how am I supposed to have any sense of appreciation for the massive distances that formed the personality of this country if i'm just going to take a nap and end up in a new city? Furthermore it puts the great journey of the American Beat generation in perspective. They came from the East, drove across the vast expanse of country, stopped in New Orleans for a few years to develop their eccentricities, and eventually picked up and moved as far West as they could and settled in San Francisco. Making the same journey in a much different order, I might have a chance at understanding their time but only if I could appreciate the distances they traveled to do it.

So now that I'm here, I'm definately getting the impression that this is a place to develop one's eccentricities. The people I've met so far seem to agree when i suggest it, and some feel relieved at the idea that they might not have to stay here. Very few people come here and stay. Even less are from here. For me to suggest that this might only be a stopover on their way out West still rings a few bells around here. But as for the post-Katrina move, one black lady I met who is actually from here says everybody she knows who left has moved back. However the news might say otherwise, that's been her experience. Also, she said she was able to buy a 3 story 4 bedroom house in the Lower 9th Ward for $40,000 from an old couple that is sick of getting flooded out. According to her, the area is a great place to live (though I'm sure the color of her skin helps determine that).

Somehow I ended up in a Central American family practice clinic about 12 miles from the French Quarter. Although I still managed to live in the perfect neighborhood (the Marigny Triangle), the clinic is privy to being in the direct flight path under a mile from the airport landing strip, and serves an established yet growing Central American community near there. Closer to New Orleans, the hurricane seemed to bring the advent of Taco Trucks in its aftermath. As the jobs opened up for the "reconstruction," it didn't take long for the Mexicans to find out. And unlike in Los Angeles, the few people I've talked to so far seem to not mind it at all. Not only did they finally bring good Mexican food with them, but if it wasn't for them, nothing would ever get rebuilt around here.