Acadiana

Well, here it is Monday morning after a devastating Saints loss.  I would go on about how disappointed we all are, but I’m sure the regular media is well taking care of that.  The only thing I will say is that I’m damn proud about the turnout at Armstrong Airport at close to two in the morning Sunday to welcome our boys home.  We might have lost in an incredible emotional rollercoaster of a game, but we still love them.

Today, I am going to learn you something.  I’m actually not sure if that’s a national thing, or a Louisiana thing, but it basically means I am going to educate you a little bit.  I’ve heard the term since I was a little girl.  I’ll try not to be too dry.

As much as I love New Orleans, as if you couldn’t tell, this state is a mish-mash of different cultures.  Recently I had the privilege of spending a few months in Lafayette, Louisiana, also known as the heart of Acadiana.  

You may have heard the term before, Acadiana, Acadian, and Acadians.  It refers to a region of Louisiana and the people that live there.  You may also be familiar with their other unofficial title, Cajuns.

If you didn’t know (and some people don’t), Louisiana is the only state in the nation that does not have counties.  We have Parishes.  It’s kind of a Catholic thing.  I won’t get into it now.  However, if I say parish, think county.  We won’t hold it against you.  Acadiana usually refers to 22 parishes that stretch from just west of New Orleans to the Texas border.  Just to name a few, Lafayette, Acadia, Evangeline, Iberia, Saint Charles, Saint John the Baptist, Saint Mary, Saint Landry and Saint Martin (you feeling the Catholic love yet??).  Some of the largest metropolitan areas are the cities of Lafayette, Houma, Thibodaux and Lake Charles.  It’s also where the majority of Louisiana’s oil is produced.  Didn’t know we had a bunch of oil?  Well, we do.  Also, there are miles and miles of sugarcane fields.  Miles of them.  Everywhere.  

If New Orleans is the Hollywood of the south, Acadiana is the Napa Valley.  The region of Acadiana was named such because of the heavy French influence in the area, dubbed in Cajun French L’Acadiane.  It is one of the most breathtakingly beautiful areas of the state.  What will you see there?  Well darlin’, let me tell ya.  Swamps, all over, bayous and cypress trees dripping with moss.  Live oak trees with branches dipping and touching the ground, begging to be climbed on.  Acres of sugarcane and rice fields.  If you’re lucky, your Daddy has a pocket knife, and the farmer isn’t around, and he’ll cut you a fresh piece of sugarcane off the side of the road that you can chew on all day.  Old homes lifted off the ground by bricks with rusted tin roofs and cypress siding right next to brand-new mansions built to resemble them.  Plantation-style homes with big white columns and wavy glass that is older than your great-great grandma.  And from the dilapidated to the decadent, every house has a wide front porch with a couple of rocking chairs or a big swing, built to catch the summer breeze off the bayou, where the kids can play in the front yard and you can catch up with your neighbors.  Everywhere you turn, there is a family owned business, a fruit and vegetable stand with prices listed and a bucket where you can pay and nobody is around.  You don’t see a lot of McDonalds, Wal-Marts or other chain stores.  Those Cajuns are fiercely loyal to their home and don’t take kindly to strangers moving in on their territory.  

Lafayette, where I was staying, was dubbed by the love of my life as “New Orleans Lite”.  It has everything you want from a small city; shopping, restaurants, culture, with not a lot of the fuss.  It is also home to another hidden gem, The University of Louisiana at Lafayette.  He acquired his BA and MA there, and then proceeded to teach there for a decade.  Compared to the relative insanity of LSU where the focus is usually football, UL is quiet, almost serene.  Old red brick buildings and walking paths welcome you as soon as you walk on campus.  Hell, it’s the only University anywhere that has a swamp with real live alligators on campus.  I’m not kidding.  The middle of campus.  If you are brave, you could try and pet one, although, I wouldn’t recommend that.  If you are interested in going to a Louisiana college just for academic purposes, UL is where you want to be.

Lafayette has two industries, College and Oil.  On any given day, you can see sleek black Limousines creeping through the “Oil Center” part of town, chauffeuring unknown oil tycoons to secret meetings god-knows-where to deal in millions of dollars.  The food is unbelievable.  Not only do you have the Cajuns there, but a large Greek population, Spanish and even Japanese.    You can get a delicate croissant and walk next door and have the most unbelievable hummus of your life, then pick up twenty pounds of boiled crawfish to eat for supper, later.  It is a town of contradictions.  

Acadiana is special to me for many reasons.  As a child, sitting on my grandmother’s houseboat on the river, listening to my grandfather call the gators right up to the porch, was the first time I ever felt like I was home, and then, I lost her.  The second time was in a small apartment in the heart of the Westbank, where I found unconditional love and acceptance for the first time in my life, and then it was ripped away.  The third time, the time that stuck, was in an old house, right off the main drag near UL, where all of my dreams came true and my fairy tale came to life.  But that, Cher, is a story for another day.

Everyone in Louisiana has a “country” set of relatives down in Acadiana.  No matter if it’s in Lafayette, Opelousas, Napoleonville, Houma or Crowley.  We can all trace our Boudreaux, Prejean, Thibodaux, Richard, and Allemand heritage back there, somehow.  If you are going to visit Louisiana, or have just moved here, take the day.  Take the drive down Highway 90.  Watch the beautiful white cranes float majestically over the swamp.  Play count the gator and the nutria rat.  Taste the food, and talk to the people that call this beautiful place their home.  You won’t regret it.