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Louisiana Gumbo Gumbo is the official dish of Louisiana, but its inclusion in this book goes beyond that distinction. The dish uniquely symbolizes the state’s ethnic diversity. Gumbo can include virtually anything: seafood, chicken, mixed meats, rice or potatoes, and a variety of vegetables. It’s a melting pot of ingredients, a blend of flavors, a…

There is no city in the Western world more associated with occultism than New Orleans. It is the capital of voodoo, magic, and spirits. Voodoo arrived in Louisiana with the hundreds of thousands of slaves brought from West Africa. Strange traditions of this religion also seeped into New Orleans from Haiti. The first slaves arrived…

Hunters When I set out for Louisiana to gather material for my next book, I decided to spend some time in the swamps with someone who had spent most of his life there. My guide was Bruce Mitchell, known as the “Alligator Man” from the TV show Swamp People. “Alligator Man” is his marketing nickname.…

Life in the swamps is a choice, a state of mind, a lifestyle. There are people who work in the city but live in the swamps. They function in settlements consisting of a few, sometimes a dozen houses. All the families know each other. They form tight-knit communities. Visiting is done by boat, even if…

The essence of life is suffering. Matt Clark was born in 1962 on a ranch in Utah. This is a state the size of two-thirds of Poland, which at that time had a population of 900,000. He grew up on a farm in a poor Mormon family. To this day, most of Utah’s residents identify…

For several years now, we have been witnessing a true exodus of Californians to Texas. In Austin, the second Silicon Valley, tech giants such as Google, SpaceX, Oracle, and Hewlett-Packard have opened their offices. The “Lone Star State” attracts Americans with its business opportunities, affordable housing, and a quality of life that, according to statistics,…

Texas has a subtropical climate. Depending on the region, it can be humid, temperate, or dry. That’s the theory. In practice, the residents of Texas face every type of weather. Tornadoes and hurricanes are common (the largest hurricane in U.S. history occurred at the beginning of the 20th century in Galveston, Texas, along the Gulf…

In February 2021, Texas was hit by unprecedented cold temperatures not seen in modern history. The temperature dropped to 0 degrees Fahrenheit, or minus 18 degrees Celsius. The paralysis caused by the cold not only resulted in discomfort for people, with power and water outages lasting for days, but also for animals. Domesticated animals and…

The mission at Alamo was founded in 1718 as the first mission in San Antonio and one of the oldest Spanish missions in Texas. It was established, among other reasons, to educate the Native Americans who were being Christianized. After several decades, in 1793, it was secularized and abandoned. Over the years, it primarily served…

An innumerable number of books and articles have been written about them, and many films have been made. They are an inseparable part of American culture and the myth of the Wild West. They participated in the capture of Bonnie and Clyde, prevented assassinations of two U.S. presidents, and today they deal with the most…

  Todd Anderwald, despite his German-sounding surname, belongs to one of the sixteen Polish families that settled in Bandera in the mid-19th century. He is already of retirement age and looks just like a doppelganger of Santa Claus—an open, friendly, jovial man with a long white beard. On a daily basis, he works laying bricks,…

Johnny Walker BBQ If I had to choose a food product that most reminds me of Texas, the answer is clear: beef! It doesn’t matter in what form—steak, brisket, ribs, Mexican cuisine specialties, or Tex-Mex. Beef reigns supreme in Texas. The best I’ve ever had, because the cows live semi-wild and graze naturally. Many of…

A few years ago, near Bandera, in Pipe Creek, there was another rodeo, in addition to the one in Mansfield Park. The owner of the arena and organizer was Bill Rivers. Bill is 72 years old. He was born in Nebraska but grew up in Missouri. Then he moved to California, where he spent most…

The scenic route through Big Bend National Park forms a loop from Marfa to Presidio, Lajitas, Terlingua, and then further north to Alpine, from where you can drive back to Marfa. Against the backdrop of Lajitas and Terlingua, Marfa lies further to the north, about 100 km from the border. It is a popular starting…

Presidio has only 5,000 residents. It is the smallest in Texas, located in the middle of the desert, 100 km from the nearest city, with a border crossing to Mexico. The border in Presidio runs through the middle of a bridge connecting both banks of the Rio Grande River. It is a concrete structure with…

Texas has over 2,000 kilometers of border with Mexico, while the entire U.S.-Mexico border is just over 3,000 kilometers. The vast majority of the border lies in Texas. Like New Mexico, Arizona, and California, Texas is on the “front line.” This is where the smuggling routes for people and drugs pass through. On the border,…

Route 66 is the most famous road in the world, known by Americans as the “Mother Road.” The goal of its creation was to establish a convenient road connection to the West Coast. There was nothing romantic about it. Millions of people set out westward in search of a place to live, new opportunities that…

Not necessarily someone born in Texas. I’ve met dozens of people who embody the Texan spirit despite having moved there later in life. As a popular saying goes, “They moved to Texas as fast as they could.” Texas is a state of mind. Who chooses to move there, and who can truly feel at home? Undoubtedly,…

Route 66 With a high degree of probability, it can be said that Route 66 is the most famous road in the world. Who hasn’t heard of the legendary route stretching nearly four thousand kilometers from Chicago to Santa Monica, California? Americans call it the “Mother Road” – Drogą Matką. Construction began at the end of…