Job Discussion Forums

[sarahsmith70]

Ok, here's the thing. I like Mexico a lot. But I'm getting tired of being woken up by rude and loud neighbours almost every night. It seems to me that common courtesy would suggest people should be quiet after a certain time, say 11pm, so that others can sleep. I tend to get up earlier than most, and no one hears me. I try hard to be extremely quiet. I'd appreciate the same courtesy. I'm talking about running up and down the halls screaming, slamming doors, banging on walls etc. I live in a boarding house and some of the rooms are available for a night or two. The long term guests are not the problem. When I ask people to be quieter and 2am and they laugh at me and call me guerita, well, it gets on my nerves. I work early in the morning and need my sleep. What's so difficult to understand about that? The owners come when I ask and tell people to be quiet, but of course as soon as they go back to their own rooms, which are separated from the rest of us, the noise starts again. I'm not sure that moving is an option, as my friends, both Mexican and foreigners, seem to have similar problems. Any ideas?

[Samantha]

Mexico is a noisy country, no doubt about it, but it isn't reasonable that you should stay in that situation putting up with short-term partiers night after night and losing sleep. You didn't say what city you were in.

[cangringo]

Also do you mean moving out of the boardinghouse?? Why is that not an option?? I have to admit it's noisy here and we have one pendejo neighbor who parties on weeknights outside very loudly until 3 am or so. Other than that it's not that bad on weeknights. People usually keep their parties inside and not that noisy except on Fri and Sat but that's to be expected and we like to be noisy sometimes too.

Maybe it depends where you are?

Maybe you should make noise early in the morning when you get up, at least knocking on the doors and walls of the short term partiers?? Obviously you don't want to disturb the other guests so maybe this isn't possible but it's a thought. Find out their phone numbers??

[scottmx81]

You will experience noise no matter where you are in this country. If it isn't people running up and down the halls, it will be the roosters, barking dogs, gas truck and garbage bells in the morning, and my personal big pet peeve, the publicity cars that drive around in circles with their loud speakers.

A barking dog when it is otherwise dead quiet can really drive me up the wall, but I've actually become quite acustomed to sleeping with all of the background noise downtown in my city. I can sleep just fine now, even with the music blaring from the bar downstairs at 2am.

No matter where you go, you'll have to put up with this. Even if you have a very nice house, your neighbors behind you might not. In normal, middle class neighborhoods you'll have to listen to the roosters, and even in higher income areas you'll still have to deal with the dogs.

You have to realize that most Mexicans are so used to the noise, they grew up with it, that they are not bothered in the slightest by a their own barking dog or that of others at night.

A big part of the problem is that we, as Canadians/Americans, are socialized to think it is rude to be making noise at night. This gets on our nerves, and half the reason you can't sleep is probably because you are getting so worked up about how these people shouldn't be doing whatever it is that they are doing. You have to get over that, and just accept it as a fact of life, that it isn't rude or ignorant per se, and just learn to sleep peacefully and not give a damn about what is going on outside in the halls.

The upside, however, is that whenever you want to have a party till 3am, no one is ever going to complain to you about it either, or call the cops.

[danielita]

I concur with Scott. Mexico is just a noisy country. I wake up every morning to the ice delivery truck outside my house at about 5:30. I know it's them, there is nothing I can do about it, so I just fall back to sleep.
I need my sleep. I get whiney when I don't have it. If I am seriously lacking sleep I turn into a whiney *beep*. It's not a pretty site for anyone. However I have found that if I make white noise, I sleep better. Have you tried keeping a fan on at night? This might drown out some of the noise. Also, ear plugs can really help.

I do feel your pain sarah. Every weekend in the month before "la noche buena", the store beside my house would set up 2 sets of speakers 3m high and blast dance music and advertising from 10AM until 8PM when they closed. Shutting the windows in my house did absolutely nothing. I thought I was going to go crazy! We started to take off and go to the beach for most of the day just to get away from it. At one point, the school band across the street assembled on the sidewalk and started practicing as well. At that point, the only thing I could do is laugh....

If it gets too bad, perhaps you should look at moving again....

Good luck and sleep well...

D

[ls650]

The concept of noise pollution does not exist in Mexico. You can ask, beg, plead, threaten, etc. but the noise is not going to stop. You have three choices:
- get used to the noise
- learn to sleep with earplugs
- move.

[cangringo]

Ah yes I forgot about the incessantly barking dogs...we have two in our neighborhood that every now and then take it upon themselves to bark all night. You do have to get used to some things. Your situation sounds a little different than the other noise here though. That's why I suggest moving into a house perhaps or apt building.

You will still have the barking dogs, the blaring advertising, the pizza guy yelling, the kids screaming, the windows rattling from the blaring music etc, etc.

[Guy Courchesne]

Where do you all live that it's so noisy? I'm in Mexico City of course, fairly central, but it's quiet...or have I just grown accustomed to it? One gets the occasional honking horn or car alarm at 5 or 6 AM but it's not an all night affair.

Fireworks are another thing, but they don't wake me up.

Must be something to get used to. After all, Mexicans must sleep too?

[jillford64]

I get the feeling that Mexicans have no sense of "this might bother my neighbor" with regard to noise or anything else. My recommendation is to get a fan. I was about to come unhinged until I got the biggest, loudest fan I could find and placed it in a strategic location. It doesn't drown out everything, but comes pretty darn close. Of course, when I was in the US at christmas it was so excruciatingly quiet that I had to find a fan to turn on.

[kitkat1]

Ahhh the noise. It's a constant topic of discussion between me and my fiance as well as my family. I am back and forth between DF and the US every 2 months. When I'm in DF, I feel like I'm gonna lose my mind - the dogs, the roosters, the gas man, the water man, the garbage man, the chamote man, the man who fixes knives, the publicity cars, the man who sells corn "Senora, venga, solo cinco pesitos" and on and on. And if I'm trying to work and am on a conference call, it seems all of these people come at once and I cannot hear a thing!

I definitely agree that most Mexicans have zero sense of "this might bother my neighbor" - they just don't think about it. When my fiance was first living in the US, he could not understand why I constantly told him to turn the music down in the middle of the night because it would bother my neighbors - the concept was completely foreign to him.

I use a sound sleeper with headphones, ear plugs, and a fan. Next trip, I'm taking a small, loud air filter. Most of the time I know that while I'm there I'll be exhausted, and when I get home I'll sleep for days - no way around it.

[MamaOaxaca]

I used to live in the center of town, a town people tell me is particularly noisey for Mexico, I don't know if that is true or not. You just have to get used to it, or move.
Now I live in the country--in a delightfully quiet place, far from any church, disco, baile de feria, vendors, etc. When Mexicans come to visit me they often ask me how I can stand living there because it's so "sola" I just say, "I know, isn't it great!"

[Ben Round de Bloc]

[cangringo]

Our elotes with chile sauce and queso is about 3 pesos. That's on the cob though, I don't know what the cup costs.

It's noisy all day but at night it's really not bad. There are parties on Fri and Sat especially on long weekends but not all night. I like the noise except of course during a lesson when the student is trying to listen. Nothing can compare to the shopping carts down our back alley in Vancouver all night - and then the occasional crash, clink, clink...bang...smash followed by swearing. Well except the nights that the dogs bark all night.

Love the loud music and party atmosphere because when we want to party it's no problem. I have to admit that we got complaints occasionally in Canada for New Year's parties!!! I love to hear people having fun!! We always found Vancouver too stuffy about that stuff. The no fun zone... People complained about hockey playoffs because people were cheering at 9PM. I will take the bad noise with the good because I'd rather that than the no fun zone.

[kitkat1]

[hlamb]

The noise bothers me too. It seems like Mexicans just love noise and want everyone to share their joy in making it. I get strange looks when I tell my students about quiet hours that are legislated in many places in Canada. I couldn't sleep well in my last location because the police station was right across the street and they would sit outside playing cards and drinking (not sure what) all night during their shifts. Needless to say, they were loud. I find my current place comparatively quiet, by Mexican standards that is. I guess it's just part of life here.