Ghost town.

New Orleans is a placed wedged between two worlds.

Before my tour of the city this morning I instinctively reach for my protective bead necklace but decide instead that they clash with my outfit and leave them behind.  Deep, I know.  It's a clumsy mistake on my part.  In Africa we say that the Ancestors live in the water.  Thusly most traditional Africans still are loathe to swim in streams, rivers or the sea.  There's no doubt in my mind that they would also stay well clear of the swamp lands, where trees grow both above and beyond the waterline.  There is little distinction in this town between the living and the dead.

Louisiana is the most haunted state in the US and not surprisingly so.  It's old and steeped in water.  It was home to Marie Leveau, the famed Voodoo Queen who's grave gets the second highest amount of visitors in the States, beat only by Elvis.  Anne Rice's vampire novels are all famously set here and she herself lives in the city, having bought the insane asylum and turned it into her personal boudoir.

Katrina has ravaged this city.  Where there were more than 1 million people living here before the hurricane the numbers have dwindled down to about 370,000.  People have moved to neighbouring towns like Lafayette and have no intention of returning.  Who could blame them. 1,836 people died in the hurricane. They were warned before, even asked to evacuate, but they didn't.  80% of the city flooded and for about 10 days after the storm most of the city had no water or electricity.  Terrible things happened.

Our tour guide tells us that after the hurricane their house was still standing but they weren't allowed to return till 3 months later.  All the houses had to be searched for bodies, not necessarily belonging to the resident family but others having been washed away during the flooding.  She tells us about a fireman who discovered 13 bodies huddled together in the attic of a house a month later, hidden unsuccessfully from the ravages of the hurricane.  She tells us about the stench of the place.

I pick up on the pain in everything.  When we get off at the graveyard there is a notice posted by the SPCA.  They are looking for the man who shot a dog in the face.  The newspaper whispers about racial tensions, gangsterism.  New Orleans has one of the highest crime rates in the US.  The hostel's party atmosphere feels banal, even crass and I keep finding myself wanting to shhh people, like they should be more respectful of this place and its people.  I am quiet and withdrawn, standing (like New Orleans) with one foot on this continent and my other in Africa.

This town has a depth and detail to it that I've never encountered anywhere before, a strange hypnotic allure that I'm sure will draw people back here in time, back to this mystical place.  I find it totally enticing.

This house is an example of what the properties looked like in areas where flooding was minimal.

In the worst hit area, this is all that remains of the previous neighbourhood

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are the most famous inhabitants of the French Quarter.  He started a foundation after the hurricane to start rebuilding these neighbourhoods and put up $5 million of his own money.  We saw about 5 houses that have been built by this program.  They are all made of recycled materials and completely green, using solar panels and even water from local wells.  These houses are really exquisitely beautiful and stand out as beacons of hope in an otherwise bleak surrounding area.  The flag outside the first house serve as memory to the two members of this household who were swept away and who's bodies were never recovered.