Yesterday we took a field trip in the afternoon to the archaeological site of Cacaxtla (Ka-KAKS-la) in the Mexican state of Tlaxcala (Tl-ux-KA-la). The site is a mini-city under the second-largest roof in the world. What I mean is, there’s a roof built over the whole thing to preserve it. You can walk all around the ruins, and there are ORIGINAL murals dating back thousands of years. The view from the top of the hill where the ruins are is of a vast agricultural valley with amazing acoustics; from the ruins, I heard a mass being chanted in a town to the east, and, later, another mass being chanted in ANOTHER town to the west. Photos soon.

Ths brings me to the subject of sounds in Mexico. Here are some of my favorites:

Horns honking … People honk the horn often, sometimes just to let everyone know “I’m coming.” In a traffic jam, everyone involved honks the horn. A very passionate, expressive people.

The beeping of cars backing up … I don’t know if this is a law or what, but everything from a big delivery truck to a compact Nissan sedan beeps when backing up.

The gas trucks … These are trucks that carry the containers of gas people use to heat their homes. They play recorded songs over a microphone, a lot like the ice cream man, except with gas. My favorite one is like a polka-ish song with a recorded voice that shouts out the name of the company—HiDRO!—every thirty seconds or so.

TVs. People here like ‘em LOUD.

The cheers from the windows every time someone made a goal during the futbol games.