Shereef’s Kiva Blog

The asymmetrical nature of development constantly creeps through my mind. Material wealth, infrastructure and opportunity tend to pool rather than flow. This holds true across urban and rural landscapes. Certain areas remain tranquil while others rush with the flow of commerce and ambition.

Hostal la Carmen, my current home, can be found on the south bank of just such a pool – Avenida Pedro Ruiz. I bear witness to the strident realities of urban economics every day…and every night.

5:30am, when empty streets make for better acoustics and that passing bus may as well have been inches from my face

My room is on the fourth floor and faces north, higher than any other building on this side of Chiclayo. Somehow a perfect acoustic dome is formed from street level to the corner to the right of my bed. And all night long, the city reminds me that although I may sleep, it remains very much awake. I could not capture pictures of these events, but I thought it might be more fun to write a timeline.

• 8pm – 10pm: Colectivo promoters chant to fill cars during the evening rush (pimentelpimentelpimentelpimenteLLL…)
• 8pm – 10pm: Circling vultures screech their beautiful macabre lullabies just before heading to the cathedral’s bell towers to sleep
• 9pm – 2am: Private security guards intermittently blow rape whistles to scare off potential robbers. After 2am they generally fall asleep in the doorframes of the shops they are protecting
• 12am – 3am: Gunshot man walks around firing off what sounds like a pistol into the air, but really it could just be some sort of firework made exaggeratedly nightmarish by the hour
• 12am – 4am: Dog packs hold epic battles for primacy over the empty colectivo lot and the stretch of Pedro Ruiz in front of it
• 4am – 6am: A mattress squeaking at varied but repeated rhythms from the building next door betrays the lovers’ perceived privacy of the dawn hour
• 5am – 6:30am: A lone garbage truck with a belligerent diesel engine slowly makes it way down the street with the driver banging a loud bell to alert people that he has arrived to take away their refuse
• 3:30am – 6:30am: Roosters sound at regular intervals possibly as some form of karmic retribution considering all the chicken I eat here

This nightly symphony has left me with a very comical case of insomnia. Last night I embraced the new reality and went to bed early in order to wake up for a run just after today’s sunrise. Ah sunrise, the perfect lull in noise that occurs when the nocturnal orchestra sets down their instruments before the swell of vendors, traffic and pedestrians can rise up and fill the quiescent void with turmoil.

sunrise heralds an hour of respite

**To those of you who automatically receive emails when I post: pictures and slideshows do not survive the transition from html to text. You have to visit the site in order to get the full content.

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