New Orleans / Houston

Wednesday morning arrived and it was all go in our room. The other five had to get the car packed up and head back north. I used the time to have breakfast and upload some photos on to my external hard drive. The last thing I wanted was to lose my photos, Jess had had her camera stolen on Sunday night and I had dropped my camera yesterday and cracked the screen. I was hoping that it would last me for the rest of my trip, I wasn't ready to buy a new one just yet as I am still not sure what kind of camera I want to buy.And also I am still worried about my budget, although it looks like I should be OK.
I was a little sad when I split up from the others, I did enjoy having someone else to hang out with and everyone I had met told me that I shouldn't go to New Orleans by myself. Of course the added bonus was being able to stay in a downtown hotel for $30 a night. My first job of the day was to find another place to stay and I walked to the hostel I had in mind. As has been a hallmark of this trip I hadn't booked anything and the hostel I wanted to stay in was full. I paid to use the internet there and found another hostel, I immediately booked it and then booked the next nights accommodation in Houston. I didn't book my Greyhound bus to Houston, I'd buy my ticket at the station the next morning. I caught the trolley car and bus to the next hostel, dumped my stuff and went into the French Quarter. I finally had Beignet at the Cafe Du Monde. The cafe is 24 hour and a Nola institution, Beignet are fried pieces of dough covered in icing sugar, they are so good. On the way back to the hostel I stopped at "Mothers" for dinner, this restaurant is another Nola institution and famous for it's baked ham. It was good but I prefer the meat sandwiches in Montreal. I went to bed around 8pm as I had to catch the bus at 6am the next morning, there was no point in staying any longer. I had done most of what I had wanted to in Nola. Nola feels like a city that is trading heavily on it's past without any clear idea of where it's future lies. I would question if it even has a future. If the city can save itself with it's own funds then that would be up to the city people. However if the city has to rely on the Federal government and tax dollars from other states, that's a different question.
When I got up the next morning all the toilets in the hostel were busy and there were people everywhere. I wasn't sure if they were leaving or if they had just come in, I didn't care, I just wanted them out of my way. When I got to the bus station there was a huge queue at the ticket counter and a small one for the bus. The guy in front of me suggested that I drop my small bag in the bus line behind his mother. It turned out to be a smart thing to do, there were people in the queue who had tried to leave the previous day and had had to stay an extra day as there was no space available on the buses. I got my ticket, which was lucky as about ten minutes later the staff started making announcements that the 6am service was sold out. Then a group of about twenty people walked into the station, I recognised some of them as the people I had seen that morning in the hostel. It was a group of French students and they were catching the bus to Houston too. I was even luckier than I had thought, the French group boarded the bus first leaving only another twenty five seats free, I got #11.
The bus ride was uneventful and I arrived in Houston to a beautiful sunny day. I got to my hostel easily enough and went into town to the visitor info office and then to the public library. I had a few things on my list to do in Houston but I figured that they could wait as I had given myself three full days to do them before going off to San Antonio to see Moraya. I dropped my bag off at the hostel and went back to downtown and wandered around as per normal. That night I was so happy as I had a room to myself and it was so warm I was able to sleep with the window open. That turned out to be not the best idea I've had.