Musical torture

I´ve been meaning to sort out some photos to post on the blog with a nice email about the beauties of Turbo and Turbeñan life.....

BUT there is something I just have to get out of my system or I will explode into thousands of reggaetonified pieces of atomic dust. Before coming here I was prepared for an small, isolated, remote town and had been warned that in Turbo it is difficult to disconnect because there is a very limited social life outside of the PBI house (plus security issues mean that we can´t travel to certain places at certain times....). However, nobody warned me about the music. Reggaeton. Technosalsa. Dodgy drum and base.

All of the above I can deal with, even in large quantities: these are the sounds emmanating from every single bar, house, shack in Turbo. What I cannot deal with is the VOLUME. Yesterday, yesterday night and all today (still continuing now) our beloved neighbours have been having a kind of "party". They are all sat outside their house in red plastic chairs, drinking Aguila and aguardiante and listening to the above mix of music. Music at an ULTRA HIGH, EAR SPLITTING, BONE- CRACKING VOLUME. It is such that all the doors and windows of our PBI house (as well as the desk upon which this computer rests) are constantly vibrating. It is such that it actually hurts my ears and my chest when I open the front door.

I have had the misfortune to be in the house all day because I am managing the emergency phone and am on-call. So there has been no escape. And it´s so incredibly invasive - there´s no getting away from the noise, no corner of the house that can provide sanctuary. I can´t help thinking that all the people sat next to the speakers (I forgot to mention that our neighbours have errected large speakers outside their house) must be deaf or certainly on their way to being deaf....perhaps that explains in part this aspect of Turbeñan culture. Apparently these neighbours have "interesting" connections (you never know who is who in Turbo) and I can´t help but see this punishing volume of music as some kind of ridiculous display of power, a way to let everyone in the neighbourhood know who´s in control.

All I know is that I´m finding it hard to concentrate on anything or even to know what do to with myself. Plugging in my ipod doesn´t cut out the sound, reading a book is difficult and sleeping isn´t an option.....mmmmmm.......Funny how I´ve never really appreciated how important and wonderful SILENCE is.........................

But I´d like to make it clear that I´m not complaining. I will be a martyr to the cause until the bitter end!!!!!! I´m sure I´ll look back on this in a year´s time as a test of will power. Lets see what my ear drums are really made of.....