In the morning I drove south along the St. Bernard Highway snaking along the Mississippi River to St. Bernard's Parish. St. Bernard's Parish had been decimated by Hurricane Katrina in the fall of 2005, and I had spent the summer of 2006 gutting flood damaged houses there. The volunteers all stayed at an abandoned middle school that had been converted to a barracks. When I arrived, 10 months after the storm, 2 houses were inhabited out of 5000. Row after row of houses were in the same condition the flood waters had left them. White FEMA trailers littered the yards. Wreckage had been pushed off the streets and laid along the sidewalks and in front yards. Abandoned vehicles were everywhere. Local businesses hadn't returned. Packs of wild dogs had claimed certain areas. Here's a couple pictures from the summer of 2006:

I returned to St. Bernard's Parish in the winter of 2006 for a week, and saw that there had been a lot of progress. Many more houses were occupied, the wreckage was cleaned up, businesses were open, the community was healing. I again stayed at the abandoned middle school with the other volunteers. 

This time, almost 4 years after the storm, it was hard to find any evidence that it had ever happened. Here and there buildings had been abandoned, but the neighborhoods were alive again. It was amazing to see.

The barracks was once again an elementary school:

I returned to the city and wandered around the French Quarter for awhile. It was certainly different than I remembered it. There were far more tourists and young non-natives riding beach cruisers and wearing berets. The quarter seemed crowded compared to my memories of post-hurricane New Orleans. There was less charm; it was less of an individual experience. Before, tourism hadn't returned but the attractions were all open, ready and waiting. It felt like the entire city existed just for my fellow volunteers and I. Back then, the city had this type of amazing flavor, this rich culture that you could feel in the air. All the non-essential parts of New Orleans were gone and it was pure, unadulturated, and wonderful.

But now all the other parts had returned and it wasn't like I remembered it. It wasn't bad - I will always love New Orleans - it was just different, and less magical.

I met up with Ben and we went to a couple cool bars. The New Orleans music scene is really good if you know where to look (the further from Bourbon street, the better). A band was playing upstairs at the second bar we went to. It was a week night and there were about 6 people watching the 4 person blues/soul band. 4 of them appeared to be the band members' girlfriends. The band was absolutely incredible. They were fantastically talented and we sat there slack-jawed for a couple hours listening to their set in the big vacant venue. It was surreal. It was like listening to a private show of Led Zeppelin. Like, that's not meant to happen. Apparently the band had just formed and hadn't even recorded anything yet. They need to get in a studio, like, yesterday. Jamey St. Pierre and the Honeycreepers - watch out for them!