Noise

It's a noisy neighborhood. The chief contributor to the racket is the cobblestone street at the bottom of the hill. It is a thoroughfare to the back side of town and there is a dark, narrow tunnel just beyond our building. Therefore, one should drive as fast as possible on the approach.

Buses and trucks are loud enough on their own, but many also have shrill brakes and grinding gears as bonus sounds. Other vehicles come equipped with active horns, sirens and/or stereos. Parked cars have burglar alarms. Burglars don't seem necessary for activation. A breath of wind will do. Vendors outfit their rigs with bells, whistles or the simple technology of the shouting man. Listen for the water truck. There goes the gas guy. Do you need some bread? I just heard the pan man.

When we have the windows open, we can hear the children playing and the birds singing. With the windows closed, we can still hear the rooster and the burro in the morning and the bells from the church a few blocks away. We haven't figured out why the church might ring the bells 27 times at 0642 but it might be something as simple as "We will start Mass without you. Put on your shoes and get down here." And we always hear the barking dogs, day and night, night and day.

A good snowfall always muffles the normal noises of a town. We can't expect any snow, though, and I guess that is one reason why we are here.