In the last post I mentioned the “No Toca” sign; this afternoon I received a tiny flyer titled “Por un major Oaxaca” (for a better Oaxaca) that read: “No toco el claxon” (Don’t honk your horn).
There is a lot of noise here in general, and people do begin honking to try to get traffic moving just as many whistle to try to jumpstart a parade or a rodeo. It is as if Mexicans believe sound has adequate energy to instigate motion. (Dancing is strong evidence to support this belief.)
Not only is using a horn universal, but the trucks that deliver water and gas to the neighborhoods often moo repeatedly, even (I say especially) in the early hours of the day.
Moreover, most buses blast music as if they are rolling discotheques, people hang from them and yelling out a list of destinations.
And, sometimes there is so much music on the Zocalo that the sweet sounds of the marimba and mariachis and tunas and accordion players flood together to create noise.
Traffic often will not yield to ambulances that, attempting to navigate to the nearest hospitals, scream over the top of everything else.
Is not using the horn really going to make a better Oaxaca?
shewhodaresnothing 