Waking up in Mexico

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I awaken abruptly at 6:30 AM in spite of the fact that my alarm is set to 7:30, awakened by nature’s own alarm clock. Roosters in Mexico do not cock a doodle doo. Their LOUD, hoarse, shrill screams (Ah Ah Ay’ oooooh) split the air precisely at the first hint of light each morning and continue for a good hour or so—long enough to insure that no human sleep survives their onslaught.  It is as though nature, unaware of the invention of alarm clocks, has taken on the duty of awakening the world. And if this isn’t enough, it invented the fighting cock, which doesn’t limit its crowing to the hours around sunrise but instead crows off and on all day.

I once had a neighbor who, in desperation, offered to buy all of his neighbor’s fighting cocks and then to gift them back to him if he would just move them to another location. The neighbor took him up on the offer, but a few years later when  the friend and his wife moved back to the states, I’m unsure if his contract with his neighbor passed on to the people who bought his house or if any warning was even given in their rush  to exit Mexico. Perhaps the neighbor who owned the fighting cocks, realizing the old contract had ended, collected again from the new buyers.

I started this post at 6:30. It is now 7:30 and my phone alarm has started its 7:30 wake-up trill. I press the “Stop” button, but seconds later, I hear the stubborn succession of a cock’s crow and a dozen answers. After one hour, the chorus shows no signs of ending, but has instead been joined by a myriad of other bird calls with a dozen or more town dogs providing a descant .

Good Morning, Mexico.

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About lifelessons

My blog, which started out to be about overcoming grief, quickly grew into a blog about celebrating life. I post daily: poems, photographs, essays or stories. I've lived in countries all around the globe but have finally come to rest in Mexico, where I've lived since 2001. My books may be found on Amazon in Kindle and print format, my art in local Ajijic galleries. Hope to see you at my blog.

33 thoughts on “Waking up in Mexico”

  6. Martha Kennedy's avatarMartha Kennedy

    My neighbor in Descanso got some chickens. One was a hermaphroditic rooster/hen. It didn’t know WHAT it was, but it would never lay eggs. I think the idea was chicken and dumplings, but it ended up that she and I both loved that strange bird. One morning he CROWED. It was the strangest crow sort of “ER uh ER uh huh?” but he did it again with more confidence and thenceforth (always wanted to write that) every morning, always doubtful, but always determined. I secretly named him Eddie Gizzard. He lived a long time and succumbed to old age.

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  10. Venkat Acharya's avatarVenkat Acharya

    Wow! That’s a good scenario to enjoy. It was in my childhood that I had those beautiful melodies of cock and hens. Now, it is only a childhood memory for me. No more natural symphonies. But, nowadays, I can enjoy the beautiful environment filled with green trees, plants, and colorful flowers in Bangalore where I live now.

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    3. lifelessons's avatarlifelessons Post author

      Okay I looked it up and it says all roosters crow at times of day in addition to sunrise. “It’s true, roosters crow all day long. It is not simply a dawn alert. They crow anytime the feel their power threatened (like when you enter the coop, when they hear a car start up, when the dog barks, when another rooster crows, when the radio turns on.)”
      It may be that fighting roosters crow more because they are challenging other fighting roosters.. or are challenged by them and so feel threatened. Another myth dispelled.

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        1. lifelessons's avatarlifelessons Post author

          Yes I can’t find anything that says fighting cocks crow more, but it does say the more dominant cocks crow more so I would think the fighters would be the most dominant..At any rate, the explanation in Mexico is that the fighting cocks tend to crow more consistently all day long..Luckily, none in my neighborhood here! ;o)

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          1. koolkosherkitchen's avatarkoolkosherkitchen

            Yep, my friend complains about the incessant sound; he can’t even hear his own cello playing. I have suggested that Enrique might like singing with cello accompaniment and Robertino simply follows the Alpha male.

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