Atchafalaya Basin, Louisiana

With the advent of shows like Swamp People, I think Cajun Louisiana gets a bum rap. To be fair, I’ve only seen one episode of the show, in which Cajuns were portrayed as backwoods hillbillies with funny accents and an affinity for disgusting swamp creature delicacies.

I’ve been to Cajun country more times than I can count. My ex-boyfriend and his family are Cajun and over the course of our four-year relationship, I traveled to the Lafayette area for holidays, short trips, work trips, and horse races. I really fell in love with the area. It’s really amazing to me that a culture like the Cajuns continues to exist in such a homogenous country. When I traveled there, it often felt like I was entering another country–signs in both English and French, hearing “comme ci”, trying to decipher strong accents, and more.

One of my favorite places in the whole area is the Atchafalaya Basin, the largest swamp in the United States. I had the pleasure of going out on a boat on the basin to see the oil rigs, Cyprus trees, and Spanish moss up close and personal. I’d never actually seen a swamp in person and I was kind of shocked by how taken I was with it. It has a special breed of beauty and a sort of Southern charm that I wasn’t accustomed to.

I can’t say as though I’ll ever be back to the area since I no longer have a reason to go there, but it really did begin to feel like a second (or third) home for me.