The Mija Chronicles

Mexican food and culture, on both sides of the border

The sounds of a typical Mexico City street

by

For a long time, I’ve been wanting to record some of the crazy sounds you hear on the street here. Finally, finally, I got my little Olympus tape recorder and captured a few.

At 7 a.m. outside our window, there’s a guy who calls “Aguaaaaaa!” Or at least I think that’s what it is. Thoughts?

The way everyone always talks so wistfully about the camote man’s whistle, I thought it’d be a charming, toot-toot kind of thing. But no. I heard it at 10 p.m. on a weeknight and it scared me.

Also, kinda late for sweet potatoes.

My favorite is the disembodied Oaxacan tamale-seller voice. You hear this throughout the city, blaring from the speakers on different tamale carts.

The interesting thing is that no one knows exactly where the voice came from. You hear it in three different neighborhoods and think, “Is this the same vendor, biking everywhere?” (Forgot to mention, these tamale vendors are on bikes.) But it’s not the same guy. Just the same voice, saying over and over, “Hay tamales Oaxaqueños, tamales calientitos.” Maybe I’m a little obsessed with this voice.

But so is everyone else. It’s even on YouTube.

There are so many more sounds that I haven’t recorded yet, but I want to. The screechy bike horn that signifies tortillas. The ding-dong of the trash man’s handbell. The speedy tweet-tweet-tweet of the parking attendant, who whistles while he waves someone into their parking spot.

If you have a favorite sound and you live here, let me know what it is. I’m fascinated.

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Comments

  1. First dude is saying “Gas” — just you know, rhyming with “us” in his pronunciation.

    Lovely post, and I wish I had the capability to record our various street sounds, especially the musicians.

  2. Great post! Here in Guadalajara, our local knife sharpener uses the same whistle as your camote guy. I love these sounds – MUCH better than the Mister Softee trucks in New York. (Hated those!)

  3. I have to second these comments, really great post. Although once on Rivington in NYC I heard a Mr. Softee truck that had some sort of remix. There were whistles and it was fabulous.

  4. I hate that whistle, it used to wake me up every morning back in Mexico city. Now I kind of miss it.

  6. Lesley, I’m quite taken with the street sounds of our village, starting with the gas trucks and their sometimes musical announcements; the Saturday menudo seller, and the naranjas dulces truck.

    While in Oaxaca, we heard the eerie sound of what I thought was the camote guy, but it turned out to be quite unpleasant tasting roasted plátanos, covered with leche condensada or crema, or both, como te gusta.

    I’ve not uploaded those sonds, due in part to laziness and in greater part to slow upload speeds on our Internet connection.

    Saludos y hasta pronto,
    Don Cuevas

  7. I think you’re on to something here…more audio posts! 😉 I love the tamale audio. In Korea (back in the day when I was growing up), vendors selling anything from watermelon, corn, and various vegetables would drive their open trucks at a slow pace through various neighborhoods all the while speaking through a speakerphone. Even to this day they still do that from time to time, albeit rare! That’s what I love about different cultures. It’s the little things.

    • Thanks, Aimee. I’d actually read a story about the guy several years back; I don’t remember where, but it could’ve been the Letras Libres article the Chilango piece links to. Appreciate you linking it here.

  9. We are new to Mexico and were dismayed and terrified when we heard the capote whistle the first time. We shamefully yelled obscenities out the window…. Then I did some research and found your post. Thank you for that!

  10. So great that you also love the tamale voice!! When I first heard it in Mexico City I had no idea what the hell they were saying! I thought maybe it was a protest! Haha