Let´s have a blast!

We Mexicans love our noise, er, I mean music.

Folks who want to play music in their homes love to share with the entire town.

A Mexican stereo knows two positions: Off and Full Blast.

Our next-door neighbors once threw a party for one of their adolescent relatives. They erected in their small backyard a sound stage that would have been appropriate at an Elton John extravaganza in the Superdome.

Thankfully, this party began in mid-afternoon and ended around 10 p.m. We had to flee the house for most of that time. The din was deafening. The walls were shaking. Our heads pounding.

The plaza, a block and a half away, is sometimes the scene of similar events, but on a grander scale. And they can run into the wee hours of 2 a.m. or so. We sleep with earplugs on those nights.

On New Year´s Eve, some of our neighbors put huge speakers outside their houses, and blast music all . . . night . . . long. Yes, past sunrise the following day. Without a pause.

We leave town on New Year´s Eve.

Fireworks: And then there are explosions! This takes the form of things that are launched into the sky to explode. The preferred hour for this is 6 a.m. or so.

However, the explosions can happen anytime, anywhere. Often there is live musical accompaniment.

It´s always a good time for a blast.

On occasion, one hears of clandestine fireworks factories erupting with near-nuclear force, wiping out entire city blocks.

One must suppress an unkind chuckle.