Bruits de fond - Fly me around the world

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Dans le paragraphe précédant vous reconnaîtrez:

- Les voitures qui avisent qu'elles vont traverser
- Les voitures qui pressent les autres voitures d'avancer
- Les sifflets des polices de circulation
- Les cris des jeunes assistantEs de chauffeurEs d'autobus qui recrutent les passageÈrEs
- Les feux d'artifices de pratique pour le jour de l'an
- Les pétards de protestation et/ou de joie
- Les vendeurSEs de rue qui annoncent leurs produits

Brefs, les quelques petits bruits de fond de La Paz.

Comme un parent avec les pleurs de son bébé, on apprend vite à reconnaître quel bruit signifie quoi.

Puis, ils deviennent si familiers qu'ils s'effacent presque.

Put a blindfold on me, fly me around the world for twenty four hours, and deposit me in La Paz, and I will be able to identify it from the sound alone.

It's the cars. In the microcentro there are curb to curb vehicles. Almost all of which are taxis, microbuses, and minibuses. Public transportation. Public transportation as far as your eyes can see.

But it's not their engines, or their mufflers, that I hear non-stop. No. They honk.

When the light turns green and the front car doesn't move, which it never does because the intersection is already filled with stationary vehicles, they honk. From half a block away, they honk.

And when they do manage to cross an intersection? They honk as well. Always when crossing on a red light, but often when crossing on a green as well.

Add this to their honking when a pedestrian is on the sidewalk, but too close to the road, and the sound is a bit like being in a casino, but with honks instead of bells.

Of course, some of you right now are saying that many cities feature constant honking. "Not like this city," I reply. "Yes, like that city."

But that's ok, because La Paz features a second distinctive sound. Firecrackers. Big firecrackers. Firecrackers launched from what, from a distance, could be mistaken for a rifle.

And the people of La Paz launch them in celebration, like when the local fútbol club The Strongest won the final match of the Apertura, but more often in protest. And protests, in La Paz, are a daily occurrence.

So you've flown me around the world, blindfolded, and you're surprised by my ever widening smile as I turn my head from one side to another, leaning out in one direction then the next, and the reason is, is that you neglected to plug my ears.