Music and Sunlight

Right now it is 7 p.m. and I hear some music off in the distance, and clapping. It makes me think there is a celebration going on somewhere in the town....the music carries for a distance. Now I hear people clapping and exclaiming their delight in the musicians. One big difference in living in Mexico, is that whether you like it or not, you will share in the celebrations of local people, just because you hear them! There are a lot of windows in my house, and they are screened, and the sound carries quite well. Some mornings, very early, just before sunrise, I have been awakened by loud music being piped on loudspeakers from a house a few blocks up the hill from me. Fortunately, the music is pleasant usually. During a week long religious festival, they played music loudly every morning before sunrise. And I mean loud. For everyone on this hill to hear.....loud enough, so I could not go back to sleep. But for some reason, I don't mind too much, because the music is so pretty.

Other times, I hear a neighbors's music and it is opera music. I will never forget the first ime hearing opera in Mexico, a few years back. It was when we drove to the Yucatan Peninsula from Minnesota in February. We lived with a woman in her home for two weeks for a Spanish immersion experience. The next door neighbor, whose house was a couple feet awaly, played opera music frequently. How lovely, for I do happen to like opera, at least what I was hearing. It relaxes me, and makes me feel like I am back in time, or living in Europe or experiencing something out of a movie,,,"other worldly" . I don't know, it just isn't something that would have happened to me in Minnesota. And definitely not in the winter, when we are all closed in and insulated and isolated from others.

Here in Mexico, we are exposed to others just due to the fact it is warm all year round, and we don't close our windows, ever. And there are no enforced ordinances on noise rules. A few weeks ago, (we were forwarned by our neighbor Rosa and Manuel)the neighbor had a celebration. They set up tarps in case of rain, on the street in front of their house. We were warned about the band and that it could play loudly and we may not be able to sleep, and it could go on late into the night. Yes, at 7 p.m. it started.....and it was LOUD, because it was a house just about next door. We could not hear out television,,,,at least I like the music mostly, being Banda music. But then, it was karaoke time, and a young person came to the mike to sing, and he couldn't sing, he was off key....and others did the same, and it was painful to hear. I had to find a room in my house farther away....

Yes, Mexico is different from the U.S.in many ways. Generally I can handle it, the loud music, (thank goodness it isn't rap I am hearing). But one morning, very early, at sunrise, the noise I heard was a marital fight going on outside, and it was next door. A lot of screaming and crying....very painful to hear. We went out on our deck to see if anyone was in danger of being harmed....for they seemed to be on the street.

The other wonderful thing about Mexico is the light. From December to June or July is is pretty much sunny most of the time. Around July the rainy season begins. But it isn't rainy or cloudy all day long. It may rain in the evening, or in the night while you sleep. It could rain some in the morning....but even if it does rain, it is sunny usually part of the day. I think that the effect of sunlight is a good thing, I don't see how one could remain depressed for too long living in a sunny climate. The beauty of Mexico where I live is everywhere: the light, the sky, the sunset, the green from the rains, the flowers everywhere, the ocean, the island, the colors in the buildings, the clothing of the people, the music, the people.