We now understand why there was NO question Mardi Gras would take place after the hurricanes. It's like one big tail party all along the parade route (President's Day was all but ignored... Mardi Gras on the other hand everything closed down for). Almost no street vendors either so if you didn't bring something to eat you were pretty much out of luck. In Houmas there were two parades today back to back (it's still a mystery to me why they called it two parades since there was no separating the two but so be it). The amount of beads and stuff the folks on the floats throw people is incredible. We figured at least one village in China must be able to eat for a year on what they made selling beads to the US. The theme for this parade was something to do with Holywood (John's trying to bring himself a little luck by posing with the Oscars).
With the thousand of pounds of beads they throw (I'm not kidding!) I'm sure your mind runs to clean up... Turns out they bring out the convicts. We happened to be at the half way point of the parade where the floats dump their empty boxes and bags over the side. The convicts rake them up and load them in the garbage trucks. Efficiency Louisiana style. I still do NOT know what everyone does with all the loot they collect, especially folks who come year after year. It seemed like everyone was going home with bags of the stuff - certainly everyone in our group except for John & me had at least two BIG bags full. I thought we only had a small amount until John began unloading all the beads he had around his neck. The weight must have been too much for him as he took a two hour nap when we got back - almost missed happy hour around the campfire. Guess some days can be more trying than others...
We now understand why there was NO question Mardi Gras would take place after the hurricanes. It's like one big tail party all along the parade route (President's Day was all but ignored... Mardi Gras on the other hand everything closed down for). Almost no street vendors either so if you didn't bring something to eat you were pretty much out of luck. In Houmas there were two parades today back to back (it's still a mystery to me why they called it two parades since there was no separating the two but so be it). The amount of beads and stuff the folks on the floats throw people is incredible. We figured at least one village in China must be able to eat for a year on what they made selling beads to the US. The theme for this parade was something to do with Holywood (John's trying to bring himself a little luck by posing with the Oscars).
With the thousand of pounds of beads they throw (I'm not kidding!) I'm sure your mind runs to clean up... Turns out they bring out the convicts. We happened to be at the half way point of the parade where the floats dump their empty boxes and bags over the side. The convicts rake them up and load them in the garbage trucks. Efficiency Louisiana style. I still do NOT know what everyone does with all the loot they collect, especially folks who come year after year. It seemed like everyone was going home with bags of the stuff - certainly everyone in our group except for John & me had at least two BIG bags full. I thought we only had a small amount until John began unloading all the beads he had around his neck. The weight must have been too much for him as he took a two hour nap when we got back - almost missed happy hour around the campfire. Guess some days can be more trying than others...
