Map Quest in New Orleans

Map Quest doesn't work in New Orleans. It never really did anyway, but specifically we had a lot of trouble yesterday trying to find the house where we were supposed to paint. Using Mapquest, it led us to exit the interstate only to keep going straight and immediately get back on the Interstate that we just exited.

Another problem with Mapquest is that you have to know street names.
A lot of street signs were lost after Katrina and they still haven't been replaced yet, so when the directions tell you to turn right on Maple street, it just assumes that everyone knows where Maple Street is located when it doesn't have street signs.

The final problem we encountered with Mapquest yesterday was the problem of street signs that were switched. We were supposed to be working on Delta Queen street. River Queen street and Delta Queen Street intersect, so we followed Mapquest and made it to 2250 Delta Queen street. When we got there, no one was home. Some of the guys went looking around at the neighborhood, and they found a lady at 2250 River Queen Street who was expecting people to come and paint for her. We thought she might have just been trying to get free painters, but eventually she explained to us that during the storm, the signs for the streets (which were connected to each other) had spun around from the wind, so the sign for Delta Queen was actually pointing to River Queen Street. Talk about confusion. She said the mail always goes to the wrong houses.

I'm including some pictures from the Mardi Gras parades that we went to last
weekend. On the second picture, you can see Blanca going up to the float to ask the people for bigger beads. She's very brave.