Betcha I can tell ya where ya got dem shoes – New Orleans / 4

New Orleans photos: gallery - slide show

I made some research about the shoes thing.
Before carrying on with the story, let’s reveal the mystery.
It’s a very “smart” trick to squeeze money out of unwary people. Those guys I was talking about asked me to bet; I didn’t get it, because I didn’t understand all they were saying.
They come and tell you “Betcha I can tell ya where ya got dem shoes”. The unfortunate who takes the bet up and find himself forced to pay 10$ or so when the guy tell him something like “you got them on your foot” or “you got them on Canal Street in New Orleans”. Needless to say, it’s not advisable to walk away without honoring the bet once you lose it.

New Orleans is one of the poorest cities in the USA and it’s even worse after Katrina.
The economy is slow and corruption among politicians doesn’t help change course. New Orleans is a city where you can see poverty in the streets more than somewhere else, where poverty is less confined to the degraded areas, it mingles with tourists and “good people”.
New Orleans is a city full of weirdos who stop you in the street. Likethe guy who asked me if I was a local, and when I told him I wasn’t asked me to take a picture of him a bring it home; and then got down on his knees, smiling, with his hand on the chest, to “give me a good shot”.