Sounds of the City

The first thing I noticed about Mexico City is the sound. I've never been immersed in so much unrelenting and varied sound.

There are the usual city noises -- car horns, people shouting, children crying, sirens and engines. But then there is the music. The expected mariachi bands, busking on the street corners. The unexpected rhythms of hip hop and rap, accompanied by cheers for the sidewalk break dancers.

Even on the subway, from one stop to the next, the loud blaring of rock and roll music from the modern version of boom boxes. At each stop a new person got on and the last one got off. The style of music changed, but the pattern was the same -- very loud, and only a few bars played before the song switched. Were they assuming we all loved their music as much as they did? We heard 60's rock, Mexican folk, Spanish ballads.

And then the drums, accompanying the native dancers, re-enacting the ancient dances of the Aztecs.

And the bells. I watched the man high up in the Metropolitan Cathedral bell tower move from one bell to the next, ringing them in a dance of sound.

And finally, the people. Thousands of people everywhere, filling the streets, overflowing the sidewalks, crowding the parks. From the rooftop restaurant, there are people moving in all directions as far as I can see, like so many small ants moving in a river of purpose. The impact is made larger by the fact that most are speaking in a language I can't fully understand, and the sounds come together in a cacophony of joyous noise.