Noise...

Now everyone you will meet in Mexico, whether Mexican, American, European or Swahili, will freely admit to you that Mexico suffers from an extraordinary abundance of noise pollution. Dogs tied on roof tops bark at passing strangers all day and sometimes all night. Cohetes (rockets) go off to celebrate religious events erratically day and night, sometimes series of them, dozens of them. Trucks lack mufflers. Bamba music is ubiquitous, and sometimes an eventos (club) can spring up right next door and pump out the glory of that until 5AM!!!  No-one can ever take for granted a peaceful night. We do the best we can where we are, but during fiesta season when music and bamba noise (I consider them separate species) float out across the water, even our home reverberates and makes sleep a "mission impossible"....

And yet, there is one kind of noise that honestly, I have almost never heard. I never hear babies cry. I never hear toddlers scream. The world of distracting, annoying, spoiled brats is completely alien here. If it happened, we would definitely know, because the streets are teeming with families and babies of all descriptions, sizes, ages and genders. Babies are present in places and at times you would never see them at home, day and night. Mind you, sometimes it is hard to know FOR CERTAIN that they actually are a baby, because you can't see a single hair on their head.  Mama is transporting around town a large sausage size parcel wrapped in a blanket...could be a baby...but then could be a 10 pound load of bread. Who's to know?? 

Babies are fully integrated here. Families march down the sidewalks, proud papas and mamas holding the little ones' hands, all the children dressed immaculately, the boys' hair slicked  down like Dick Tracy...the girls in frilly frocks. But there are amazing things to notice. First of all, these wrapped up parcels in their mama's arms are always motionless and noiseless. Without knowing otherwise, how can one know if they are even breathing, I wonder?? Once in a while the mama lifts a well folded corner and peeks underneath. Satisfied that baby is still there, she smiles with contentment and goes back to leaning languorously against the brick wall in the middle of the busiest street in town chatting casually away with a girlfriend/relative who probably also has a baby, whether swaddled in her arms, or standing patiently by her side clutching her clothes, or perhaps several in various positions all silently and quietly watching mama and listening intently and exhibiting NONE of the usual baby or toddler behavior we in El Norte have come to think of as "normal". I do wonder how they do it. But I have a theory. Babies here are coddled. They live in their mothers' arms. Day and night I am sure. When baby cries, out flips a breast or two and the need is addressed. Mind you, I have seen that event happen because all of these babies are sleeping contentedly. I can only ASSUME that is what happens. In between feeds, if mama isn't there, then an aunt is. Or an older sister. Or even better, grandmama! Grandmamas love to spend vast amounts of casual time rocking a blanket wrapped bundle or two. 

These little bundles become active toddlers. But they are very different from ours. As soon they can walk, and especially if mama has had another bundle by this time and has no free hands, the little toddler walks along beside his mama clutching on to her side. Now keep in mind that mama is walking along an irregular, narrow, roughly cast sidewalk only inches away from cement trucks and motorcycles and buses throttling through town. And yet larger baby is on the vehicle side, and no-one shows any particular alarm. Will older baby let go and tumble off?  Never happens. Sometimes you see mama straddling a scooter or quad, one baby dangled under the left arm, another elder one clutching onto the right side, or sometimes a mid-range size of baby (one who can sit but not walk) will be sitting in front of mama who is driving with one hand, the other hand clutched around the precious baby. Do these babies fall off?  Never happens.

On the side streets where houses abut each other and traffic is slowed to a crawl, these babies know how to dodge it, and how to play near or even on the street without ever getting run over to the best of my knowledge. And here is another thing I have observed. They never stray from the area directly in front of their own homes. It is as if there is an invisible line drawn along each property line into the middle of the street. Old people love to sit on the sidewalk in front of their house and watch the happenings outside, but they too, never stray from the area directly outside their front door. Children stay inside this domestic boundary with grandparents and only when they reach a certain indefinable age do they stray further...

All observations conclude with the fact that Mexicans have some secret knowledge that allows them to rear their babies in such a way that reduces stress or anxiety. We, apparently know NOTHING about rearing ours....