New Orleans; the Land of Festival- Mariana Ricaurte

New Orleans; the Land of Festival

I remember the first day I came to New Orleans; I could never imagine I would be that in love with this amazing city. Five years ago I saw for the first time the magical places that today I feel they are like home.  New Orleans has a relevant importance for my family since my grandmother´s generation. She arrived here with my grandfather and all their kids to work in the Colombian embassy as a Consulate.  My dad stayed to finish college and then he went back to Colombia. Since I can remember, his dream was to see my sister and I enjoy New Orleans as he did in his youth. It happens to be that our most wonderful cousins live here so everything was perfect for us come to New Orleans and enjoy the experience.

Since the moment we got to the US, more specifically to Miami, every single person that asked us where we were going next and we answered New Orleans, they responded with the same happy face saying; you are going to have the best time ever!!!   Apparently they were all right, good music is everywhere, delicious food is everywhere, and great people are everywhere, what else can you ask for?

What inspired me the most to write this review of this amazing city was the numerous festivals I went to. First was the Crescent City Blues BBQ festival, followed by the Louisiana Seafood festival, then the Voodoo festival, the Po’boy festival and finally another Blues festival, all of this in less than a month and a half. In my drawing, I drew a self-portrait in a cartoonish way surrounded by all my favorite dishes. From the top to the bottom we can see a po’boy, below there is a drink I had at the Voodoo festival. Under the drink, I drew an image of the most delicious oysters I´ve ever had from the Louisiana seafood festival. At the left side of the oysters is the plate of unbelievable quesadillas I had at the Crescent City Blues BBQ festival, and at the end we can see the crepe I ate at the Blues festival. 

Each festival was magical in its own way. Not only because it was a completely new way for me to appreciate the weekend and the city, but because the joy and happiness of the people overwhelmed me since the first festival. Normally in Colombia the weekends are different. What happens there is that people have their group of friends and they plan trips to farms near the city. Maybe it is because there are no places to have festivals, or because people are not used to festivals. The closest thing in similarity that you can find in Bogota is big concerts which are expensive and don´t have delicious food, also they are not that often.

I think that going to all these festivals allowed me to deeply understand the New Orleans culture of music and food in the same environment. Although I’m leaving this city soon, I feel extremely happy that I had the opportunity to get involved with the culture so well. I am happy to go back home fulfilling my father´s wish. I think I have had enough experience in this marvelous city to tell the next person that tells me they are going to New Orleans; you are going to have the best time ever!!!