Speaking of Cajuns, I'll tell you fellas a little story. A good Jarhead buddy of mine is from Morgan City, La. I spent 10 days on leave back in the late 80's, were both stationed at MCAS Cherry Point, NC...I hauled my bass boat at the time all the way over there. Morgan City, La looks like any other spread out city, ain't no skyscrapers or nuthin'. I get there and my buddy Gary says we going fishing, be gone for a few days...ok, cool with me, let's get plenty of ice and several cases of cold beer. We set sail from a boat ramp, hit the bayous and ended up after about a 2hr boat ride deeep, deeep into the bayous, we ended up at a settlement that his uncle kinda is the HMFIC...it was a friggin community all by itself. The real deal Cajuns...and my white boy Ga *a-hole is puckering a little, lol. We catch a dock spot and disembark, and folks are looking at me 'cause I can't speak no Cajun, like I got a big ol' booger on my face. We get to the 'main camp' area and I'm kinda feeling like a idiot...I don't understand nor know the French/Cajun dialect...I'm sitting back thinking these crazy MF'rs are laughing and calling me a cork soaker or some chit...I'm just shaking my head up and down like 'yeh'. I can't understand a *f-wordung thing they're saying, lol. I go back down to the boat and drag a couple coolers of cold beer up the 'village camp', ain't got no clue as to where my buddy Gary is...and these MF'rs start talking plain English all of a sudden. It was like I was the Anheuser Busch God, lol, we totes 8 cases of beer with us and here I am thinking we going fishin' for a couple of days. I'm sitting back thinking 'man this is Southern Comfort' movie deal when we first got there. I figgered *f-word it, if I'm never coming outta this swamp, I'm gonna get drunk and enjoy my punishment as best I can, lol.
They accepted me...and we had a helluva time for two plus days straight. I ate some of the craziest groceries you ever heard of, but it was damn fine grub. One thing you don't do with those Cajuns is snub your nose at the cooking and the vittles. You eat. Definitely some different groceries, I loaded up on the crawfish and blue crabs...but ya gotta eat the nutria (swamp rat) and other stuff, they eat the hell outta bowfin, blackfish, and all the other cuisine they offer. It was some damn fine chow, whether it was in gumbo form or on the grills.
An experience I'll never forget in my lifetime. For the record, this same area is where they filmed the movie Southern Comfort...as well the same area the rock band Warrant shot their footage for the song Uncle Toms' Cabin.
I made it out alive fellas, lol...on a serious note, it's a whole different ballgame for them folks on this planet. Them folks grounded fellas, living off the land and their resources. And they do it everyday as a living and a means of sustainment. Those folks, guys and gals, are tough as nails. I'd like to get back over there one day and see them again.
I'd probably hafta show up with another eight cases of beer, lol. They some good peoples. My buddy Gary taught me some Cajun dialect words the whole time while we was there...I thought I was saying 'hello, how are you, good to see you', etc, etc. The SOB was telling me bad cuss words to say to these people the whole time...*f-word I didn't know. I wondered why I got some awful strange looks at times. Lol.
I enjoyed the heck outa that!
