Louisiana International Music Festival and Des Ami Cafe, April 29-30.

We arrived a Maxies RV park later in the day than we planned due to our fuel leak fiasco and found a place to park and desperately hoping the fuel leak had stopped, but the fuel was still trickling out.  There was diesel fuel all over the side of the Beaver and on the car so we had to get that cleaned off before it dried up and turned to a sticky, gooey mess, so you might say we hit the ground running. The leak seemed to have stopped so Joel didn't know if the overflow valve has malfunctioned or there was a crack in the hose.   We got cleaned up after washing the car and sought out our WIN friends Max, Judy, and Tom and discovered they had arrived a day earlier and had already scoped out a few attractions including the Louisiana International Music Festival.

We all jumped in the car and headed to downtown Lafayette, the setting for the festival.  Streets are blocked off and five big concert stages are set  up at different areas.  Different venues are performed at each stage.  The nice thing is, if you don't like the particular venue you can walk to a different stage and listen to different music.  The music is truly international ranging from "World" music to hard core Cajun  and Zydeco.   All of the venues have some tie to Zydeco or Cajun music.

 The street to court house is blocked off and this sculpture of blind justice was lit up at night.

Notice the performers on stilts.

The crowns were large, but manageable.

The festival also has many craft and art booths.  They were not your typical craft fair stuff, but original works or art and crafts. .  It's been a long time since I have been to a real art/craft fair.  Most shows  today seem to be the "same ole same ole " boring stuff.  Mixed in with the booths was a sprinkling of musicians playing different drums or instruments.

 There was even street music.

 These guys were selling the drums but were pretty good at playing them.  Look how fast their hands are working!

There was even some pop culture.  These guys were pretty good.  I didn't want to get to close to their hair though!


 Of course there is lots of Cajun food and drink.  The other pleasant things was you could get a beer for $2.50.  (Joel really appreciated that). I can't remember a recent event where you could get a beer for less than $5.00 or a soda for less than $3.00.  Most of the food was good and reasonably priced.  The festival is definitely a family affair.

 I'm not sure how this guy got in!  I think it is an advertisement for Ultra Beer.  Pretty scary as he creeped along the asphalt!

 The ghouls on stilts keep everyone entertained.

 From young to old enjoyed the music.

 Joel even found time to take a quick snooze and contemplating purchasing one of the hammocks.  Where would he string it up though?

The next morning we headed out at 6:15 AM for Cafe Des Amis  a short drive down the road to Beaux Bridges.  The cafe is famous for its early Saturday  morning Cajun music and breakfast. The doors open at 7:30 A.M and the band starts at 8:30 A.M.  We got there a little before 7:00 and we were the second party in line.  A few moments later there was a line down the block.  I'm thinking to myself, we all must be crazy, but I had been assured this would be fun. Dancing at 8:30 in the morning?  

The dance floor is tiny, but folks did not waste any time getting to the dance floor once the music started.  
Some folks came just for the band and dancing and other for the whole morning.  We talked to one couple who came frequently and they planned to stick around for breakfast and dance and then go to another cafe up the road and repeat the process.  Zydeco music was fast and loud. A good morning workout!!

The line went almost to the end of the block.

Since we were early we got one of the good tables close to the dance floor.

Note the small Zydeco type accordion.

 The music was so fast that it was hard to get a picture.  My  camera lens is not fast enough. Judy is going a warp speed.  Most of the time dance took place in one small square foot of space.  These people really know how to party.

This couple came all the way from New Orleans.  They had been taking Cajun dance lessons for the past year and were really fun to watch. 


After breakfast and dancing we headed over to the Cypress Island Preserve and Lake Martin .  I'm hoping that we will be putting our kayaks in the lake later this week.  

 The calm of the bayou was soothing after all the Zydeco dancing and music.

These are knees of the Bald Cypress. They help the tree breath since most of the roots are under water.

 Can you see the baby alligator?

Max and Joel enjoyed the nice boardwalk over the bayou.

We returned to Maxies in time for Joel to try and isolate the cause of the fuel leak, which was no easy task.  He ended up taking off the front tire and shield and determined the leak was coming from the fill hose. The Beaver has a fill line on both sides like many Class As.  The hose had cracked and was still leaking slightly.  The challenge was to get the hose disconnected and not spill more fuel.  Joel ended up pumping out nearly fifteen gallons of fuel ( I had to go buy a container and we used all our recycled water jugs) before he could get the line disconnected.  What a mess.  At least we are in a park; its not raining; and we have time! Stay tuned for more on this saga.