We loved our apartment in the La Floresta part of Quito. The views from our many windows were amazing, but the windows were not sound proof. Even though we were on the 12th floor, we could hear the sounds of the city as if we were on the street. Now, I haven't lived in downtown Chicago, but I'm familiar with the sounds. General street noise to me consists of honking cars, ambulance or police sirens, music, or people talking. Quito street noise wasn't like that.
I started to analyze it a bit more when I couldn't sleep. I'm generally a light sleeper and moving from city to city acclimatizing to different settings impacts my ability to sleep well. First there are the seemingly nonstop car alarms. I'm not sure if it's me, but I don't hear too many car alarms these days back in the states. Alarms seemed to be in vogue in the early 90's. Everyone has an alarm system on their car, but it seems they use it more to find their cars in large parking lots. When they do go off, they seem to get ignored like when you accidentally set off an alarm in a grocery or convenience store and no one responds or they just casually wave you through. In Quito, the car alarm circa 1990 with the five sounds starting with the familiar slide whistle, was the alarm of choice. I'm not sure if there are faulty wires in the cars, or if there is a really bad thief on the loose, but at one point the alarms would go off every 10-15 seconds. At some point, you just get used to it.
The other prevalent sound was barking dogs (and I swear I heard a rooster in the city too). The funny part was that the dogs mostly barked loudly at night. Maybe they were all communicating, but it seemed a little ridiculous, as if they were nocturnal.
Of course, there are always sounds of people. Again, I was surprised I could hear people so well on the 12th floor. No surprise it was quite loud on the weekend nights. The interesting people sounds were the monotone melodies of women trying to sell oranges, apples or clothing. This was more in the old town, but every now and again, someone would try to sell something in the early hours. What made this odd was that they would drive through town in their pickup truck with a bullhorn and I think they were looking for scrap metal. I'm not sure because at first we had no idea what that noise was...it sounded like a call to prayer in Mecca. By the third or fourth time, we spotted the pickup truck.
We are truly enjoying Quito. There is so much to do and see (and hear), so we better get to it.
Double set of windows, allowing for amazing views, but also more sounds of Quito.