Is that a car alarm? No. There aren't any cars here, just a small handful of Toyota Landcruisers. At 10pm, half past midnight, Markounda time. I never needed earplugs to sleep until I came here. Unbelievable, the sounds that can come from a (almost) completely isolated village, in the very middle Africa - The children sing and the drums play until 10 or 11, 4-5 nights a week, I haven't figured out the schedule.
The roosters start crowing at about 2am, unreasonably eager for the sun to rise. No one ever said, and I've little reason to believe that chickens are particularly reasonable. There's argument among the team as to whether they say "kokoriko" or "kikiriki," and I'm the only one who thinks they say "cock-a-doodle-doo" which everyone thinks is hysterical - and wrong. Cows are usually quiet but when they decide to say something, everyone hears it.
Crickets and birds, songs unmuffled by the hum of traffic or computer fans or refrigerators.
If tension is high, or my imagination get's the better of me, sometimes a door or something banging in the wind starts to sound a little like gun shots in the distance. Or mortar fire. Once or twice there was a gunshot and you can tell the difference, but still - that damned imagination. The other night, I heard a jet flying over. Like, regular commercial jet, 30,000ft. Perfectly normal at home. Here, I got out of bed and went and looked.
The guards talk all night, which is good because if not it means they're sleeping.
And once in a while something unexpected, like a car alarm. But turns out it's not. Just some dude, laying on and off the horn on his motorbike. No drums tonight, must be Wednesday. Put in my earplugs anyhow, the roosters will be up sooner than me.
The roosters start crowing at about 2am, unreasonably eager for the sun to rise. No one ever said, and I've little reason to believe that chickens are particularly reasonable. There's argument among the team as to whether they say "kokoriko" or "kikiriki," and I'm the only one who thinks they say "cock-a-doodle-doo" which everyone thinks is hysterical - and wrong. Cows are usually quiet but when they decide to say something, everyone hears it.
Crickets and birds, songs unmuffled by the hum of traffic or computer fans or refrigerators.
If tension is high, or my imagination get's the better of me, sometimes a door or something banging in the wind starts to sound a little like gun shots in the distance. Or mortar fire. Once or twice there was a gunshot and you can tell the difference, but still - that damned imagination. The other night, I heard a jet flying over. Like, regular commercial jet, 30,000ft. Perfectly normal at home. Here, I got out of bed and went and looked.
The guards talk all night, which is good because if not it means they're sleeping.
And once in a while something unexpected, like a car alarm. But turns out it's not. Just some dude, laying on and off the horn on his motorbike. No drums tonight, must be Wednesday. Put in my earplugs anyhow, the roosters will be up sooner than me.
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