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.