Sounds of Mexico

My casita. 

I wake to the loud tick of the clock and the quiet chirp of the birds.
The lizards skitter into the lush undergrowth along my sidewalk, the cicadas buzz and more birds sing.

That "tree" is a poinsettia. It'll turn red in the winter. 

I walk to school to the sound of roosters crowing, turkeys gobbling and an occasional put-put of a mototaxi or motorcycle.  Both modes of transportation use about the same size engine but one is a taxi cab for two or possibly three (friendly) people.

The gas truck comes by and signals its presence with a series of great moos- like a tortured cow, followed by loud radio news and music, blasting from the driver's open window.

The music doesn't bother the burros. This is the road to town, past the field behind the school. What you can't hear is the buzz of insects and what you can't feel?  The itch of mosquito welts!   That doesnt't seem to concern the burro either. 

The smell of fresh ground chocolate is much better than the sound! 

Lots of construction noise in Mitla's central square. All this dug up by hand. Took a handful of men less than a week with pick axes for the concrete and shovels for the trench. Amazing workers.

Behind my casita is a field hidden behind a screen of tall prickly pear cactus and green trees. One century plant sticks up, a flagpole topped with tiny gourds.  Somewhere in that secret field is a man with a deep, guttural cough/hiccup that he uses to signal the cattle and move them from area to area.  That took me a week to figure out. I can't see anything until the cattle are around the far side of the field, down by the laundry room. Ahh- it's a man herding cows and he's making that very weird noise.

Ok- so it's not cows. I told you...the cows are hidden. The goats are by the other fence. And they have their own sound of maa...ing.

There is usually a thrum of music except at night when the thrum becomes the throb of a full-blown brass band with Mariachi crooners.  Can't capture that in a photo!

But my favorite sound weaves them all together. From most homes and business echoes the clacking of weavers at their looms. Foot operated timeless machines create the backbone industry of Oaxaca- beautiful, handmade textiles.

This man is creating the threads for the looms. He'll wind the threads onto the rack in the foreground and feed it onto the loom in the background. There are two looms back there. All a very labor-intensive process. 

I'll miss the sights...and sounds of San Pablo Valle de Mitla, Oaxaca. Mexico.