"It is better to travel well than to arrive."

One of the things I wanted to do on this trip was the see life outside of the big cities of the South. When I first arrived in Louisiana I didn't know the difference between Creoles and Cajuns. To be it simply, there is a lot of debate about the actual line between the two, but common consensus is that the Cajuns are the descendants of the Acadians who moved into the more swampy, country parts of southern LA in the Bayou. Creole tends to refer to a different style of cooking and life that is often more city-based.

Yesterday we drove out to Cajun country to tour the swamps and communities that make up the Cajun life. It was such a learning experience! Though it was not a literary event, it certainly gave me a much better appreciation for a life that is rich in history and culture and is very different from my own!

One of the first things we did was to visit an alligator farm. This farm has been owned by the Kliebert family for generations. The grandson, Tuck, took us on a tour of his farm. He told us a lot about the life of a gator farmer. As he said, to him, gators are just cows with teeth. He raises them for meat and skins and sells their meat to local restaurants, as well as to many that are across the ocean!

Here is one of his breeders. He is a 13 foot male.

Here he is with a nesting mother. He clearly knows what he is doing!

At the end, I got to hold a gator baby!

After that, we went on a swamp tour! We saw many gators, as well as many examples of Cajun life in LA.

These gators can jump!

A wild blue heron.

This is a Cajun shrimping boat. We spoke to some shrimpers who told us about how the boat worked and what the life was like. The season began just a few days ago, and as predicted, it has started out tough for these fishermen.

This is a Cajun fishing area known as a Indian Village. These houses are only accessible by boat and some people live here year round. During Katrina, these houses were completely covered. These Cajuns survive by fishing, crabbing and shrimping.