day 19: Monday, january 23
We woke up REALLY tired this morning, thanks to the jam-packed weekend of house-gutting. We therefore got a pretty slow start, but finally got things moving and headed off to Louis Armstrong Park, just off the French Quarter. We had driven by it many times, and we noticed that it seemed as if it had not yet been addressed by the city at all. Though most of the French Quarter looks like it is back to normal, this park was still covered with debris. We arranged to take it on last week sometime, and today was the day.
By the time we got there, though, it turned out that another group of students had already made a pass through the park and had substantially cleared the debris. Students from four of the local colleges had gone in on Saturday to begin a long series of service events that they hope to undertake to help rebuild the city. Thus, when we arrived today, things didn't look nearly as bad as they had last week. Still, there was work to be done, and Joan Doyle of Parkway Partners gave us a series of choices. We said, "Which job is the hardest, the messiest, and the most daunting? That's the one we want." We took on a section of the park that includes a shallow pool that was full of muck.
We got out our Papa Hoot boots, and the seven people with the boots slowly walked through the pool dragging rakes behind them. We got as much of the muck as we could to the edge of the pool, and the bootless ones would drag it up onto the deck and cart it off. We swept and cleaned the area all around the pools and then moved on to a grassy area that had not been touched and that could not be reached by the heavy equipment that park employees would need to use to pick it up. We moved loads of limbs and leaves to a place where the park workers could remove them. Then Chris went through and pressure washed for as long as the gas on the washer lasted. It looked like a different place when we were done.
Some of the park workers came by and asked us who we were and why we were there. When we told them we were college students, they said that they had seen college students working in there before, but that no one had ever done the work so well. They further said that our part of the park looked better than it had ever looked, hurricane or no. Yay, us!
We headed home early because we knew that we were having a FIESTA tonight! Today was Elvia and Hugo's first anniversary, so they wanted to celebrate by cooking us a FABULOUS dinner. They made excellent tacos, gorditas, homemade salsa, tortillas, and guacamole. We feasted. We cranked up the ipod tunes and danced all night. We laughed about all of our great times together, and we cried about how much it means to all of us and how badly we will miss this place when we go. Like so much that has happened here, we will remember this night for years and years. We are sure that it is only the first of many beautiful celebrations we will share as friends in the years to come.
Tomorrow: Parkway Partners work, then gumbo with Rosie!
| This is the pool that we cleared in Louis Armstrong Park. |
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| This is the sludge that we removed from the pool. |
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| Overview of the pool we cleaned. |
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| The group has a chance to use their Papa Hoot boots. |
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| The group (along side the bus) looks over the pool. |
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| Statue of Louis Armstrong. |
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