Culture at Midnight

So over the past few weeks we have been adjusting pretty well to living in Cuenca.  The one obstacle that we have yet to completely overcome is nighttime noise.  Leah figured out in the first week that she could play music from the i-pod to get Lena to sleep at night, and for that I am grateful.  When we moved into separate rooms in the apartment that we got to rent right next door to Travis and Alicia's, Lena took the music with her into her room.  We managed to sleep at night by alternating between plugging into our i-pods via headphones and using ear plugs.  The ears just didn't cut it.

The didn't cut the noise volume of the four dogs that surround our apartment.  The random fireworks still broke the silence in the wee hours of the morning. The ear plugs didn't drown out the mini-school bus that parks across from our place or the 3/4 tonne truck that parks next door.  And they had no effect on the confused rooster that lives somewhere in the neighborhood and feels it is his duty to warn everyone at 5 am that the sun will be coming up at 6!  Last week, Travis and Alicia took us to the only store they knew of that could help us answer our noise issues.  For $30 we purchased a sound machine that has a number of drown-out the noise, relaxing sounds.  We replaced the i-pod docking station in Lena's room with sounds machine and tried out some of the sounds over the next few nights.  The 'rainfall' track is the clear winner.  Lena sleeps better at night and we get to play music that helps us catch a few more "z's."

However, last night there was nothing that could drown out what we heard at midnight.  With no warning, loud Spanish music started blasting through the neighborhood and it sounded like it originated right outside our apartment.  I went outside to have a look.  As I was tracking down the origins of the Mariachi music I came to a spot just across from Travis and Alicia's apartment.  A large, solid iron gate prevented me from seeing who playing, but a young lady who had stuck her head out of the second floor window clued me in to the fact that band was playing in front of her complex.  Between songs the lead singing would have a little commentary and then they fire up some more tunes--trumpets, violins, backup singers and all!  I returned to bed and tried to sleep.  About the sixth song, I recognized the trumpet line, "Happy Birthday to you, happy birthday to you..."  What?  Someone had hired a live mariachi band to play happy birthday songs for a friend or family member at midnight!  And as best as I could tell, the neighborhood embraced it.  I never heard any police sirens or loud yelling.  Something tells me my neighborhood back home might not react the same.


What an interesting cultural experience.  One I'll never forget because boy am I tired today :)