SOUNDS OF AN AJIJIC NEIGHBORHOOD

Sombreros

     It's difficult to write a lot when there isn't the weather to complain about so I am looking for something else to write about.  As I sit here in our house, I hear a rooster crow.  A dog is barking out front.  It's is 5 pm now and soon the neighbor next door will arrive home and his dog will go just nuts barking.  They NEVER yell or tell the dog to shut up.  The dog just stops finally.  Probably when the master acknowledges it.  The children also greet the father noisily and happily.  Often, it seems as if he is chasing them around the yard in back and, of course, they are squealing happily.  The man on the other side calls out Spanish words and has his girls give the word in English.
     Later, after the comida, probably 8:30 or 9, all the kids on the block play in the street out front.  I don't know what kind of game it is but they have a loud time.  I never hear parents call them in, they just stop playing and all is quiet.
     It is lent now so the majority of the big parades and celebrations are over.  There is some sort of church located in back of us maybe the block that backs up to our back yard.  They begin singing (way out of tune) usually on Friday evenings and the preacher tells them all about something.  It is loud and passionate but in Spanish so I probably won't be saved this time by him anyway.  Then they sing some more songs.  This also happens on Saturday and Sunday.  I don't hear any "amens" or "hail Marys"  so I don't know what religion it is.  If I were my friend, Helen, I would have found them and joined in the chorus.  Maybe I will investigate more on Friday evening.........
     While the kids are playing in the street, the dogs are barking.  All of them, yapping little ones, big loud ones, barks that sound like they would like to eat you and barks that sound as if they are the ones that are being killed.  It would be annoying if they didn't just suddenly stop just like the children. 
      Did I tell you that it is rare to hear a baby or child cry.  It just is not something that you hear.  On the street, holding their mother's or father's hand, they talk and chatter all the time, but they don't seem to ever whine or cry.  Not that I have seen or heard.
     Other sounds of the neighborhood.....there are two mechanics and one carpenter located on this street.  There is no zoning against businesses.  Also located at the ends are very small stores that sell necessary things (beer, pop, snacks and I don't know what) and these stores are open late.  So, there are automobile engine sounds sometimes and sometimes the carpenter is sanding or something.  Plenty of noise from the local bus that comes by regularly too.  

     But this is Mexico............ and all of those sounds are just part of this warm lovely place.