<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
</head>
<body text="#000000" bgcolor="#f9f9fa">
<p> </p>
<div id="toolbar" class="toolbar-container scrolled"> </div>
<div class="container" style="--line-height:1.6em;" dir="ltr">
<div class="header reader-header reader-show-element"> <a
class="domain reader-domain"
href="https://mexiconewsdaily.com/opinion/sarah-devries/in-mexicos-cities-daily-life-is-marked-by-a-plethora-of-charming-noise/">mexiconewsdaily.com</a>
<h1 class="reader-title">In Mexico's cities, daily life is
marked by a plethora of charming noise</h1>
<div class="credits reader-credits">By Sarah DeVries</div>
<div class="meta-data">
<div class="reader-estimated-time" dir="ltr">6-7 minutes</div>
</div>
</div>
<hr>
<div class="content">
<div class="moz-reader-content reader-show-element">
<div id="readability-page-1" class="page">
<p><img
src="https://mk0mexiconewsdam2uje.kinstacdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Garbage-bell-CDMX.jpg"
alt="Garbage bell CDMX"
data-old-src="data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20850%20550'%3E%3C/svg%3E"
data-lazy-srcset="https://mk0mexiconewsdam2uje.kinstacdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Garbage-bell-CDMX.jpg
850w,
https://mk0mexiconewsdam2uje.kinstacdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Garbage-bell-CDMX-565x366.jpg
565w,
https://mk0mexiconewsdam2uje.kinstacdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Garbage-bell-CDMX-768x497.jpg
768w,
https://mk0mexiconewsdam2uje.kinstacdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Garbage-bell-CDMX-479x310.jpg
479w,
https://mk0mexiconewsdam2uje.kinstacdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Garbage-bell-CDMX-200x129.jpg
200w,
https://mk0mexiconewsdam2uje.kinstacdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Garbage-bell-CDMX-100x65.jpg
100w"
data-lazy-src="https://mk0mexiconewsdam2uje.kinstacdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Garbage-bell-CDMX.jpg"
width="850" height="550"> In Mexico City, one noise you
might hear in your neighborhood is the trashman ringing
these 'bells' to alert residents to impending trash
pickup. </p>
<div>
<p><a
href="https://mexiconewsdaily.com/opinion/sarah-devries/if-you-like-a-nap-mexico-is-not-the-best-place-to-be/">As
I’ve written before</a>, Mexico is a very noisy
country. And at least in urban settings, it’s not
conducive to that loveliest of institutions, the <em>siesta</em>.</p>
<p>But no matter! All that noise is just something to be
expected down here, and since I’ve been feeling
charmingly perplexed — a state of mind I don’t always
manage to find — by what seems like even more noise
lately, I’d like to dedicate this week’s piece to
examining what exactly some of those noises are.</p>
<p>What might be the source of these noises, you may ask?
For the sake of efficiency, I’ve decided to divvy them
up into categories (yes, there are enough to make
categories).</p>
<h3><strong>Services</strong></h3>
<p>For the entire first year that I lived in Xalapa, I was
completely bewildered by the frequency with which I
heard a certain song blaring through the neighborhood on
a vehicle as it raced by. “What the hell <em>is</em>
that?” I’d ask my compatriots (to be fair, those were
the wrong people to ask). The answer was finally
revealed to me one day when I heard it and then saw my
host-mom run to the front window to wave down the source
of the music.</p>
<p>If I’d been able to decipher the lyrics with my
fledgling understanding of Spanish, I’d have figured it
out earlier: “¡<em>Ya llegó Gas Express!/¡Gas Expess ya
está aqui!</em>” (“Gas Express arrived!/Gas Express is
here!”). Gas delivery!</p>
<p>In my defense, it doesn’t occur to most North American
foreigners that LP gas is something that must be
delivered by a company rather than pumped through pipes
or wires magically like water or electricity. But by
far, it was the greatest mystery to me for the better
part of a year.</p>
<p>Another sound that you might hear, at least where I
live in Xalapa, is a cowbell. That’s right, a cowbell!</p>
<p>The role of the cowbell, which is rung by a person
literally running up and down the street, is to let
people know that it’s time to take their trash out to
the designated area for pick-up roughly 10 minutes
later.</p>
<p>If you miss the cowbell and trash pickup only happens
once or twice a week (as it does in my neighborhood),
then you might be able to catch a few independent trash
collectors who walk through the neighborhood shouting “Q<em>uiere
basuraaaaaa</em>” (literally, “want traaaaaash”). Walk
out of your house and wave them down! You can give them
your trash bags for a few pesos.</p>
<p>Finally, there’s a high-pitched whistle used by the
person who rides around offering to sharpen your knives.
It’s almost like a train whistle but much airier and
higher. So, if you hear it and have some dull edges,
wave him down and take your knives out!</p>
<h3><strong>Things for sale</strong></h3>
<p>This is also a big category, and the biggest part of it
by far is food. The way to tell what exactly is for sale
is, of course, to sharpen your listening skills or take
a peek outside as they’re passing. Most people can
understand <em>tamales</em>, but <em>camotes</em>
(sweet potatoes), <em>elotes</em> (corn with mayo,
cheese, and chile pepper), <em>verduras</em>
(vegetables) and <em>pan</em> (bread) might get past
some people if they’re not used to it.</p>
<p>Sometimes there’s a recording that blares out of
speakers affixed to the top of a car, but often the
vendors have simply sharpened and perfected their loud
calls to announce their presence in your neighborhood.</p>
<p><em>Agua</em> (water) is another word that gets
announced on my street a couple times a week. They’re
not talking about water from the faucet, but rather <em>garrafones</em>
of water, those five-gallon clear containers of purified
drinking water. This is what most people drink from in
their homes, as the water from the tap is officially
suspect for regular consumption. (I once asked a chemist
friend who worked at a water plant about that, and she
explained to me that the water wasn’t so much the
problem, but rather the outdated pipes that it ran
through).</p>
<p>Another frequent noise that I think is more about
buying than selling is for <em>fierro viejo</em> (old
iron literally, but mostly they mean any kind of old
large appliances that don’t work anymore and that you’d
like taken off of your hands). They’ll “buy” it from
you, though I’m not quite sure for how much.</p>
<h3><strong>Miscellaneous</strong></h3>
<p>The first thing to go under this category is animals,
of course: barking dogs, of which there are sometimes
many, top the list. After that — at least in cities like
mine whose <em>pueblo</em>’s past isn’t too far removed
from the present day — are … roosters!</p>
<p>In the farm animal children’s books of my youth,
roosters only crowed at sunrise. Not so in my
neighborhood! Roosters (apparently) crow to establish
dominance and territory, the habit more closely
resembling dog barks than a once-daily sunrise ritual.</p>
<p>There are roosters on my street that crow at me every
time I walk by … perhaps my gait looks like a
threatening strut? They are not persuaded of my
intentions by my repeated “Relax, dudes,” so it’s just
something I’ve come to expect. I think I’ll start
telling myself that they’re just saying hi.</p>
<p>This is not a complete list by any means: there are
rockets and fireworks on pretty much any saint’s day,
and when we hear them, we pray that they actually<em>
are</em> rockets and not bullets. Partying neighbors
(complete with old songs sung in unison by 20 very drunk
people at 2 a.m.) are also a common occurrence.</p>
<p>The general attitude seems to be that noise is simply
something everyone makes and therefore something
everyone has to live with. You can always tune out the
sounds with a good pair of headphones, but why try?</p>
<p><em>Sarah DeVries is a writer and translator based in
Xalapa, Veracruz. She can be reached through her
website, </em><a
href="http://sdevrieswritingandtranslating.com/"><em>sdevrieswritingandtranslating.com</em></a>
and her <a
href="https://www.patreon.com/sarahdevries?fan_landing=true">Patreon
page</a>.</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div> </div>
</div>
</body>
</html>