Oh! What a Night...

As Christmas gets closer, there are more and more parties and ferias taking place in the various barrios. Our neighborhood is no exception! Last night there was a party of some kind, pretty much all night long. No, I'm not kidding. All night long.

I went to bed at about 11:00pm and even though I had my iPod playing through an external speaker, I could still hear the party. In fact, it was often punctuated by the sounds of loud firecrackers -- like M-80s or something. They even had a live band. Eventually, I fell asleep while listening to Top Chef on my iPod.

A few hours later, at 2:30am, I woke up to what I first thought were gunshots. Nope. More large, loud firecrackers. Then I realized that the band was still playing, so I listened for a while. To me, it sounded like a blend of mariachi, ranchero, and high school marching band. Boom! Boom! More firecrackers, actually, these were fireworks and I could see the flash through my window. Eventually I fell back to sleep.

Up again at 4:30am. Yup, the band was still playing. Loudly! In fact, it almost sounded like it was outside my house. I was just too tired to get out of bed and check it out. I listened to the music for a while more. Hey, that trumpet player's not too bad! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! More fireworks. And still more. Yes, these Hondurans really know how to party!

My alarm went off at 5:30am and I initially thought that the party had finally ended. Wrong! It had just moved a bit. As I got up and went into my bathroom, where the windows are open, I could hear the band and the fireworks/firecrackers. By 6:00am, though, it seemed that the party was over. I mean, people have to sleep sometime, right?

So, I'm sitting here at my table now, listening to another party. This one is using a stereo system not a live band, and they're not playing mariachi or ranchero music. For that, I'm thankful! I'm also thankful that I'll have my iPod at the ready again tonight to drown out the sounds if the party is still going on when I decide to go to bed. I'm taking bets...


>>>I was just getting ready to hit the "post" button when the ranchero music started up. LOUDLY!! It will probably be a long night. Again.