5:34 AM and Still Awake

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At 2:30 AM, I was blasted awake by the music from the town a mile below me that was still in full festival mood. I described this music in a comment I made at the time as sounding like 1000 people singing a dirge. Not the usual banda music that I have more or less acclimated myself to over the 23 years I’ve lived in Mexico.  Granted, the music is less startling than the hundreds of LOUD cohetes* that had been going off since 5 AM yesterday morning, but at this point the cohetes had stopped and for Pete’s sake. It was 2:30 in the morning! 

People say if you can’t take noise, don’t move to Mexico, and I’m one of those people who say it. I could get up and look for earplugs. As a matter of fact, I had just located mine the day before as I spent a long afternoon organizing my desk clutter.  But it ended up being a shorter trip to just go to the two sliding glass doors that take up most of two walls in my bedroom and closing them. Problem solved. Music now muffled, I attempted (unsuccessfully) to sleep for  2 1/2 more hours!  That is how I find myself at 5:13 in the morning, still wide awake, writing yet another blog. Four hours from now, I have an English lesson to teach to Eduardo. At 5:30 PM, friends are coming to dinner. Will there be room for a nap in between? And why do I find myself fully awake after only 3 1/2 hours of sleep?

Recently, I read that the most important factor in maintaining health as we age is sleep. We can last longer without food and water than without sleep. Nonetheless, I find myself unable to sleep for longer than 5 or 5 1/2 hours.  During the day I am usually a bit dizzy and when I walk, a bit clumsy–having to touch things to maintain my balance. Is this a product of too little sleep? Is it time to give up my stubborn refusal to take sleeping pills?

For the past 3 hours, every time I have attempted to settle back against the pillows to try to sleep, I have experienced a ridiculous fear that my nasal passages and throat are going to close up and that I am going to suffocate. A few other times when this has happened, I’ve taken a blanket and gone out to the hammock to sleep—feeling the cool night air will help. And it has. But earlier in the evening we had a very heavy rain which probably blew in and soaked the hammocks in my open-sided gazebo, so I’m unwilling to risk the walk in the dark down to probable disappointment.

I could swim, as the water was hot enough before the rain to probably be perfect now, but going out to swim seems to indicate that I’ve given up on sleep, and 2 1/2 hours is not going to cut it for the busy day I have ahead. Dilemma.

5:31 and the first cohetes can be heard in the distance, followed by a dog’s insistent barks every two seconds for the past three minutes. Guess it is time to locate those ear plugs.

6:07 (That said, I believe the festival is now over, as the actual Saint Day for San Juan is on the 24th.) The sky is beginning to lighten. I think I will go out for that swim.

*cohetes de trueno ( thunder rockets)—aptly named fireworks loud enough to raise the dead!!!

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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.

17 thoughts on “5:34 AM and Still Awake”

    1. lifelessons Post author

      It is tradition here, Sadje. It is the church that sets off all the explosions and there is no way that is going to change. Advantages outweigh the disadvantages and I love living here.

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    1. lifelessons Post author

      No I don’t have apnea..This was just a very very noisy night of the main yearly festival in town. Mexico is like this. My husband had sleep apnea so I know it well.

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  7. Ana Daksina

    Am getting that your sleep anxiety is past life induced, and approaching it meditatively first, then perhaps funding a soul retriever might put that problem to rest.

    Tragic as it is, you’ve just pretty much described my own situation in this minivan on perhaps five of my last seven hundred nights. Saps your energy like someone had stuck a spigot in you, right?

    Hape things calm down 🙋

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  8. Ann Garcia

    i hate noise at night, other than our back yard woods noise. Coyotes. Owls, fine. I like the gentler sounds of nature. Even rain and during drought, especially rain. Sorry you’re having problems sleeping . I would too. I think people noise after 10 is, to put it nicely, very rude. Tony made a neighbor mad in Vegas. And he blasted us with a radio kept on 24-7 during our last 3 years there. That made it easier to move from New Mexico. Around here it’s a law not to make noise after 10. Fourth of July and New years don’t count. You do cope with everything, in good fashion. You’re so brave.

    ann

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  9. S Kumar

    It sounds like a restless night full of disruptions! Your description vividly captures the challenges of trying to sleep amidst festival celebrations and unexpected noise. Closing the sliding glass doors was a smart move to muffle the music, even though sleep remained elusive. It’s frustrating when external factors like loud festivities disrupt much-needed rest, especially with a busy day ahead. Hopefully, a refreshing swim in the early morning calm can provide a soothing start to your day despite the night’s challenges.

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