the Vagabrothers, and you're watching the first video

in a new chapter of our travels.

That's because for the next couple months, we are

trekking around America, and we're

starting in one of its most unique cities,

New Orleans, Louisiana.

We're here during the biggest celebration of the year:

Carnival, known locally as the Mardi Gras

Founded by the French, traded to the Spanish,

and bought by the Americans.

New Orleans, Louisiana sits at the mouth

of the Mississippi at the intersection

of European, American, and Afro-Caribbean cultures.

New Orleans, or "Narlins"

as locals call their city has always

been a place where diverse influences mix and melt

to produce new forms of culture found only here.

From jazz music to Cajun cooking

in the city's most decadent celebration:

Mardi Gras.

Where are we going? We're going to New Orleans.

Mardi Gras 2014

What was that?

Why not?

We've been back home two months.

We're between San Diego and Los Angeles.

We're working really hard. We're trying to pitch a television show.

At heart, we're vagabonds; we're travelers.

We can't sit still for very long.

So, it didn't take much convincing for us to go to the

biggest festival in America:

Mardi Gras.

I'm pretty excited. I have never been to the American

south. I've never been to Louisiana. Never been to New Orleans

On the airplane we started to find out what makes

New Orleans so different.

It's got this blend of cultures you don't find anywhere else.

First and foremost, this was not always part of America.

It was part of France. It was part of Spain.

And America purchased Louisiana

in the Louisiana Purchase in 1803.

It's actually more of a Caribbean city than anything else in America.

It's a very cool place, and it has this tradition of

Mardi Gras, which you will not find anywhere else in the States.

We knew there was a lot more to Mardi Gras

than just Bourbon St, beers, and beads.

And boobs.

We were on a mission to find out more about Carnival,

learn about the city's history and traditions

and also check up on New Orleans a decade after

Hurricane Katrina, one of the worst natural disasters

in American history.

We got off the plane and got right into it.

We made it to the house of our hosts, Leslie and David.

They weren't there. They left us a key,

and basically told us to come meet them at the party.

Thanks to our friend Cassidy and her family

who are hosting us here. The house is under

reconstruction, but they're letting us stay upstairs.

So, we're going to find our room, drop our bags,

and hit the streets. Let's go.

So we hopped on a streetcar and headed downtown

to the French Quarter.

New Orleans has streetcars, which

are some of the oldest in the country.

When we got on, they were full of drunk partiers

from around the United States.

So we met up with Leslie and David, saw our first

parade, caught some beads, and then did what every

other tourist does when he comes to New Orleans

for Mardi Gras: we headed to the French Quarter on

Bourbon Street. Total chaos.

How you feeling?

Pretty good.

One night down. Four more to go.

The next morning Leslie and David told us

that as fun as Bourbon Street is, that's not what

Mardi Gras is about.

It's about family and it's about community.

So, they invited us to a house party where

we ate local homemade food

and checked out a parade, known as

a Krewe.

local community clubs that organise the events every year.

Amidst the parades, the noise

the music, the screaming, the beads,

we found a convent,

full of nuns, where Sister Rita invited us in

to tell us a little bit about the Catholic roots

of Carnival.

The idea of Mardi Gras, itself, was a chance to let off

steam and have a good time before Lent started.

Finish off the meat, eat all the stuff that you weren't

supposed to eat during Lent.

Is that what Carnival means? Yes.

It means "levare" was to cut off.

To cut off the "carne," the meat.

The whole idea of cutting off the pleasures of the flesh,

not just eating flesh meat.

It's comical here in New Orleans because we're

right here in the seafood capital of the world.

So as soon as Lent starts, which is supposed to be

a term of penance, all the restaurants are advertizing

the wonderful Lent and seafood menus.

After the convent, the parades rolled all afternoon

and deep into the night.

After two days in New Orleans,

we spent most of our time in the French Quarter

and Uptown. That's called the Sliver on the River.

It's one of the only elevated parts in New Orleans,

and it escaped Hurricane Katrina

relatively undamaged.

This wasn't my first time in the city.

I came here in 2008 as a volunteer, shortly after Katrina.

We came to rebuild houses

because huge sections of the city were totally destroyed

including the Lower 9th Ward,

which is where the levies actually broke

and flooding was the worst.

I wanted to go back to the 9th Ward to see

how the reconstruction process has been going.

So we headed over to Common Ground,

which is an NGO that came one week after

the disaster, set up shop,

and has been rebuilding the 9th Ward ever since.

So to put it all in perspective, we climbed up

the levies, the concrete barriers

that are supposed to protect the lower parts

of the city from flooding. I'm going to climb up there

and see how the neighborhood is doing.

I guess I have to climb up one-handed

with the tripod. Where's the help, Bro?

Walking along the levy

and looking at the Mississippi there

and trying to imagine what it would have been like

with this entire neighborhood under water.

That's enough to break the will of

any city. Standing there you can see that there's been

a lot of recovery in process.

It's nowhere near done. There's still so much work to be done.

But, the culture's still there.

People are still proud, and they're coming back to

their homes.

Mardi Gras. The big day.

7 am wakeup call.

Dudes are out there in the middle of the street,

playing drums, drinking beers, and

the day started off very cold,

and unfortunately, it started pissing rain.

But locals were out in full force

in a number of parades. But we made

our mission more specific,

to find one of the most unique and interesting traditions

in the city: that of the Mardi Gras Indians.

Mardi Gras Indians are African Americans

who dress up as indians

totally decked out in the most

elaborate costumes. We didn't know much about the

Mardi Gras Indians, so we were curious to find them

and tell us their story. The problem was finding them.

It was cold. It was wet. It was raining,

and we didn't know exactly where to find them.

We thought, where is it going to be dry?

How about under the I -10 freeway?

I don't even know how to say it. There was just a tunnel

of parties, barbecues, music,

food, beer. And in the distance........

feathered head dresses.

We found them. And next thing you know,

dance battle.

Why are you dressed the way you're dressed?

We were in the Lower 9th yesterday, and we know

there was a lot of damage during the hurricane.

How do you feel the city is doing now?

It's come back tremendously.

Are you going to be an Indian one day?

I was. You were?

Hearing the story of the Mardi Gras Indians made

me realize that the city has a long tradition

of people coming together to help each other

out during hard times.

After Katrina, a lot of Americans wrote the city off as

finished. But that's not true. it's very alive.

And that's because what keeps a city alive

are the communities that make it up

And New Orleans is blessed to have such a strong

community spirit. And that is what we see on display

here at Carnival. It's been a crazy couple of days

and one that has really opened my eyes to

the amount of cultural diversity we have right here

in America. I'm just so beyond pleasantly surprized

with what I found here in New Orleans,

and we will most definitely be back.

Hopefully, you've enjoyed our take on New Orleans

Mardi Gras. If you've been here or you're from here,

let us know your favorite thing about the city in the

comment box below.

Also find us on social media @Vagabrothers

and as always, we'll see you on the road.