The Sound of (no) Silence

This past week was brutal with a cold that I thought was never going to end.  I ransacked my Peace Corps medical kit looking for solutions for a high fever, severe ear aches, a sore throat, and a lethargy that was so extreme I had to rest after using all my energy to open my medical kit.  I ended up lying in bed for most of the past week, which gave me lots of time to observe the sounds of my town, so let’s talk about the good, the bad and the weird sounds of life in Mexico. 

Some beautiful, and quiet, places. 

It’s a never ending joke in my family that I have bionic hearing as I always listen to the TV and radio with the volume super low (I can’t help it if the rest of you can’t hear it at level 7).  I live in an idyllic pueblo of approximately 8,000 people that is super tranquil.  However, there’s a road that runs through town that takes people to the coast so there’s a fair bit of traffic, and it’s hot, so the doors and windows are always open.  That means that my sensitive little ears have experienced a bevy of sounds that compose the current soundtrack of my life.

The good noises:

• Horses walking on the stone streets (which is by far the best sound ever)
• Music playing at the central square
• The best mobile gas-selling truck jingle in town 
• Kids laughing while they play
• The sweet sound of rain that visits us almost daily

Noises that are different:

• Vendors riding by on bicycles with large umbrellas and trailers selling ice cream, corn, etc. while honking a horn. 
• Trucks driving by with loudspeakers selling water, gas or fruit, or collecting used appliances and other items. 
• Cars driving by with loudspeakers announcing community events and meetings, or sales at local stores. I can tell you that every 2 weeks an eye doctor from Guadalajara will be in town to see patients until 3 PM on Sundays. I know this because I heard the announcement enough times over the weekend that even I eventually interpreted the Spanish. 

Van and loud speaker announcing a weekend event. 

One of many roaming water trucks. 

Noises that are not my favorite:

• Trucks that roll by my window at 7 AM with what sounds like a jet-powered fan rattling a full load of metal (I keep trying to jump up in time to see WTH this is because it sounds like a hurricane).
• Celebratory “cannons” that shoot off at all hours for different celebrations, usually related to a church event or a special saint’s day.
• And last but not least, there are the birds that live in the tree outside my bedroom window.  I love birds and I work in the environmental sector but my least favorite way to wake up is to the sound of birds chirping – I’m a paradox, what can I say.

The rainy season has arrived with almost daily downpours and thunderstorms, which means the sweet sound of rain can always be found.  I love the smell of rain and the ability of a good thunderstorm to drop the temperature and the humidity for a few hours.  There’s only one downside to the rain and that is the flies. I’ve had flies buzz into my ears, my eyes, my hair… there were literally hundreds of flies in our office last week.  They were climbing on counters, computers, cups, walls, people, and even the floor.  We had two fly swatters in the office and a three country competition on to see who could kill the most, but it was never enough and the carnage was not pretty.

Points tally for our office World Cup. 

However, this week, a miraculous thing happened: Cindy, the other Peace Corps volunteer, installed two temporary screen doors, and I could have hugged her were I not worried I would transfer my viral germs. The difference in the office was like night and day.  Gone was the nonstop flapping of arms to shoo away flies, gone was the non-stop sound of plastic slapping every surface in the office, and gone was the massive fly graveyard.  Sure there were cannons shooting off in celebration of something again today, but I was not fighting flies, and that made all the difference. 

The power of a screen door.