Sounds of Cyprus

It’s 4:00 am and I’m sitting in my bed listening to the sounds of the night in Polis-Chrysochous, Cyprus. I’m jet lagged.

I started the night with earplugs in hoping to silence the mosquitos in my room and to create a little bubble where I could recover from jet lag and get some rest from the din of a Cypriot village. I woke up a 2:30 am and the silence was disorienting, and I felt like I was being smothered in a vacuum.

So I took the ear plugs out and the let the sound of the village wash over me. Lying still I could hear dogs warning anyone who would listen, distant car tires slipping on the asphalt, frogs, bugs, the wind, a disoriented bird or two, the strange sound of water as well as the irritating buzz of the mosquito.

It was really amazing how much sound and hearing shaped my late night (early morning?) experience. The air was suddenly cooler as I heard and felt the breeze, the air was lighter too. I felt like I was immersed in the world.

(And now I have to find and kill that fucking mosquito.)