Bayous of Louisiana

September 23, 24, 25

Breaux Bridge is the crawfish capital of the world

It is amazing that in the USA, the melting pot, that the Cajun culture, language, food and music has survived. We find the Bayou Cabins in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana. The owners, Rocky and Lisa, have bought and moved old swamp cabins and placed them along the edge of the bayou. National Geographic rates this as one of the six best places to stay in the USA.

Our cabin

View from our deck

Rocky and Lisa pride themselves with offering Cajun experience with a Cajun breakfast - boudin and cracklin. Look at their website Bayoucabins.com.
It is Friday night and our hosts, Rocky and Lisa recommend that we go to a local restaurant for food, dancing, and real spicy Cajun food. This not a tourist thing but a party with the locals and it was really fun! The older people are great dancers and the band was good.

Our South African neighbours at Bayou Cabins

The difference between Creole music and Cajun music is that Cajun music uses a French style squeeze box (accordion) and sings in French or with a French accent. Before 1760 when the Spanish took over Louisiana, Canada's Maritime Provinces and Louisiana were both part of New France.  There were settlers moving from one area to the other. When the Spanish took over Louisiana some settlers moved north. These Cajuns are our Acadian ancestors from Nova Scotia.

We went for a river tour and a swamp tour.

We ate lunch here and talked to the locals.  We had a great shrimp po-boy sandwich! Their claim to fame is a visit from Beyonce when she came there for an album cover photo shoot.

These beautiful water lilies are a plague to the bayous because of their invasive nature. They take over large areas of swamps and rivers very quickly.

We  saw a number of alligators on both trips.

These water lily pads were up to 24 inches in diameter. HUGE! There is a bird standing on one if you look closely.

These swamps are so serene and beautiful. Surprisingly with no mosquitoes!

Up close and personal with lots of beautiful cranes.

The bayous of Louisiana were a great surprise. The "Louisiana Outback" as it is called, is beautiful with great, spicy food and charming, wonderful, friendly people (even if you don’t speak their type of French).
On Sunday we went to Baton Rouge, it was closed. Nobody in the streets, all businesses closed, museums closed, the only thing to do was tour the state parliament buildings.
We were in bed early in preparation for the long drive to San Antonio.