Mexicans have this very special kind of whistle that’s used to call for each other... guys use it to call for their friends... and mothers use it to call for their children. It’s shrill and loud... very loud. What amazes me is that guys recognize each other’s whistles and children recognize their own mother’s whistle! In the middle of playing a game in another neighborhood, one little girl out of ten will stop when she hears her mother’s “call,” say adios to her friends and run home!
One of the coolest days from my recent trip to Mexico was when I had occasion to run down one of the cobblestone streets in my daughter and son-in-law’s neighborhood.
Dogs can be barking and the music can be up loud... but my 3-year old granddaughter, Amaya, can hear the tinkling bells of the ice cream truck from blocks away.
One afternoon Amaya and I were busy playing cars, and suddenly her eyes lit up and she said, “Ice Keam Tuck!” We quickly jumped up and rushed down the path through their garden to the street and opened the gate. But no ice cream truck! We heard the bells again and ran down the street, trying to follow the sound. When we turned the corner, the ice cream truck was going through the intersection up ahead of us!
Laughing and giggling, we ran and turned at the corner, with several men standing by watching a fair-skinned gringa grandma and her little nieta running as fast as they could, chasing the ice cream truck... which was continuing down the street oblivious to the fact that we were trying to catch it!
Instead of laughing, the men let out that famous “Mexican Whistle” and the ice cream truck stopped dead, then backed up to meet Amaya and me!
Little smiling Sami, who looked like he’s spent 80+ years in the sun, lifted Amaya up so she could look inside to pick the flavor she wanted. We gave him some pesos and thanked him for coming back to us.
Walking back to the casa with one of Amaya’s hands in mine and her ice cream cone in the other, I realized that even though I couldn’t get a photo of the scene, it will forever be a picture in my mind... running through the cobblestone streets in Mexico with my granddaughter... chasing an ice cream truck!!! An experience that won’t be found in the tour guides.
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