Sounds: Michael

We’ve conquered the peak
Before, but today the peak
Triumphed over us.



Sounds: Wednesday, May 20, 2015

One of my major concerns throughout my life has been noise. When a neighbor had a loud party it wasn’t my mom calling the cops, it was me, her teenage son. And age has definitely not mellowed me out in that regard.

But the sounds we enjoy, are willing to tolerate, ignore, or feel like are torture are a very individual matter. To me, a bird call that resembles a dripping faucet is  beautiful. Whereas an actual dripping faucet feels like Chinese water torture.

Since moving to Volcan, Panama, I have noticed that it is a very different auditory experience here.  In Southern California, unless you’re rich, you’re going to have neighbors, maybe a bunch of neighbors. I always tried to minimize this potential problem by living in a building where I only shared one wall with a neighbor. I was also fortunate enough to have quiet neighbors.

Here, we live in a cottage with our landlord as our nearest neighbor. She’s very quiet. There are a few other houses scattered nearby. The house behind us has been unused for a few years. An elderly gentlemen lived there but has recently moved a couple houses down back in with his family.  The house across the farm road from us is only used for the occasional family gathering by a wealthy doctor who owns the dairy farm adjoining our cottage.

On just a few occasions, on weekends, we have heard fireworks and music from a distant party. When we walk into town we notice that, just as in the states, some people enjoy listening to very loud music.  So when we do build our own place here we’re going to have to be selective about our location. If we were willing to live out in the boonies, we could buy enough land to isolate ourselves. But I’m not a misanthrope. I just want quiet and respectful neighbors.

There are natural sounds that are common to both L.A. and Panama. Birds are everywhere. But there are definitely a greater variety of birds here. I like the sounds they make, even the roosters who purposefully ignore the fact that they’re only suppose to crow at sunrise. These roosters crow sporadically whenever they please. There weren’t any roosters where we lived in L.A. but they’re pretty a common sight here in Volcan.

Dogs are another common animal in both countries. I don’t like the sounds they make. Fortunately they don’t bark that often around here. We like dogs. If we ever have any they won’t be constant barkers. A polite “You have company, sir.” will suffice.

When we walk through the rainforest we sometimes get to hear howler monkeys. I’m sure I never saw a wild monkey in L.A. I love the sounds they make, but I’m not sure I’d want one for a neighbor.

There are man made sounds that we almost took for granted in L.A. that are rare or don’t exist here. A siren is rare. There are no helicopters circling over head. There are no beep-boop, beep-boop street crossing signals. People do use their car horns here, but rarely do they lay on their horn L.A. style. It’s more often used with a light quick double tap as a friendly greeting.

And then there are the sounds like my jump rope and bicycle that I create and hope to take with me wherever I go. I do miss my guitar and should pick up my native flute more often to help fill the void until I can retrieve my guitar from the states.

When I asked Kimme what sounds she missed from the States she said she missed the sound of the phone ringing.  She received a lot more phone calls from her friends when we lived in the states. It’s difficult to figure out how to call us, so we make the calls.  But I do agree that I miss the sound of our phones ringing and hearing the voices of my friends and family.