| | |  Puerto Vallarta Real Estate | June 2009 
Guanajuato Real Estate: Buy on Impulse or Rent and Have a Look Around! - Part 3
 Doug Bower - PVNN
The Noise Factor
I believe this is the most underestimated issue, and is one potential American expats simply "do not get." Mexico has got to be the noisiest place on earth. Try to imagine living in American cities where "noise ordinances" reign supreme.
Then try to imagine moving to Mexico where noise levels, magnified to the power of infinity and beyond, are the norm. Where we used to live, Overland Park, Kansas, one would swear the city was full of dead people compared with living in Mexico.
There are seemingly no noise ordinances in this country. That fact is being demonstrated even as I write this article. Our neighbor, whom we have dubbed Violin-boy (because he practices the violin, quite badly, with his door and window open,) is taking a small respite from his violin practice to play Marilyn Manson at earsplitting decibels. It is loud enough for people ten miles away to hear.
It is normal for this to happen all the time and everywhere in this city. Mexicans simply do not regard noise the same way as Americans do. I cannot emphasize this enough. I fear you will think I am exaggerating. I swear to you, if you buy a house on impulse, The Noise Factor will come screaming at your door like a wild beast wanting in to devour you.
I have an expat friend who actually took his Mexican neighbor to a legally binding arbitration judge over the neighbor's insipid, always-barking, yippy dogs. These dogs were (and still are) terrors who will not stop barking... ever. And what do you think my friend's Mexican neighbor said to the judge?
"I do not know why these Americans cannot be more tolerant of a little noise like we Mexicans are."
Mexicans do not get that we Americans were not reared on the daily noise of hydrogen bombs going off. And if you think that is a bit too hyperbolic, just listen to this:
Mexicans set off what they call fireworks all the time. They will explode them for any reason or for no reason. Is there a new birth in the family? Let's set off some fireworks. Did someone get a new job? Fireworks it is. Holidays (or just any day) are occasions to explode some fireworks at all hours of the day or night. Remember, since there are no noise ordinances, they literally will explode fireworks at all hours.
Here is the deal: what a Mexican calls a firework; we Americans would call a weapon-grade bomb.
When I say "firework," I mean an explosive device so powerful the concussion sets off people's car alarms all over the city. I swear to God this is true. They set these off, using some sort of rocket launcher, and not only do they concuss you out of bed, rattle the windows, cause dogs to faint, make children cry, but they also light the darkened sky.
This is The Noise Factor with which you, the potential American expat, will have to contend.
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