Sounds of my Ecuadorian life

I feel like I am starting to become less of a stranger in this originally foreign land. The sounds, the movement, the tranquility of everyday life, I am taking in and learning to adapt to. Although I do not understand some of the cultural differences and am still being challenged to live outside of my comfort zone, I am finding a way to manage the discomfort and opening the doors for peace to hopefully settle in.

Silence. It doesn not exist here, and to escape that endless drumming of noise took a while. It took a bit of stubbornness and lessons learned, and now I am finally starting to appreciate its uniqueness.

Sounds of my Ecuadorian life:

• the constant low hum of crickets
• tropical birds chirping
• the chopping of a machete as the workers cut down caña bark to use for constructing houses.
• my host brother, Jose Abel, sprinting down the stairs every morning trying to make the bus for school
• bzzzzzzzzzz…the flapping of wings zipping by my ear as some sort of tropical bug zips around my head.
• chickens crowing in the morning…and at other random hours of the night. (I swear sometimes it sounds like these chickens are ill or going through pubrity) You can close your eyes, but you can’t close your ears.
• big exhaust blowing busses charging down the single road in my community sounding their horns as they pass. (The busses run every 15 minutes)
• loud high pitch motorcycles zipping by. (I essentially live next to what they consider to be their mini-highway) I must say, I am getting good at identifying what type of automobile is approaching just by the sound of the engine.
• GOOOOOOOAAAAAAAALLLL! Stomping, clapping and cheering rush the air as Ecuador scores the first goal in a crucial league game against Chile. (I use to never really like soccer, but it is starting to grow on me.)
• alien sounding chants as Jose Abel tries to speak English. He then proceeds to ask.. “What does that mean? What did I just say?” and I respond with a puzzled look. (*Side note: he just came up behind me and gave me a “noogie” on my head…I seriously don’t know when the last time was that I got a noogie from someone. I imagine it was when I was still sporting side ponytails, oversized t-shirts and jelly shoes...Oh, what a fond experience it is to get to see what it is like to have a younger brother. End of side note*)
• clamoring of pots and pans as I walk past houses around noon and mothers are preparing lunch for their families are gathering to have lunch together.
• old grandpa like men whistling as they leisurely ride their bicycles to work in the morning
• salsa, cumbia and meringue music playing while the Latin women tidy up their houses and execute a mini concert to Tranza (a famous Latin band) with their brooms as their microphones.
• some noises I can not identify nor find the animals and bugs that are making the sounds

The diverse sounds of Ecuador remind me of one of those relaxing jungle sounds CD that people like to fall asleep to. The unusual harmony of the high tenored bird calls accompanied by the bass of the car engines, a percussion of pots and pans and a rhythmic rustling of leaves make up the rich sounds of this Latin symphony.