Ajijic´s annual fiestas patronales invariably arouse a barrage of complaints about the dint of ear-splitting fireworks that are ignited at all hours throughout the nine-day celebration.

Mexican and foreign inhabitants alike flood social media with gripes about the volume, frequency, timing and sheer number of sky rockets that are blasted off, shattering normal sleep patterns and putting nervous pets in a frenzy to run for cover. It’s all in vain, because the noisy pyrotechnic devices called cohetes or cuetes are so deeply ingrained in local fiesta culture that even a ban by presidential decree would probably not suffice to halt the practice.

That point of view was affirmed by a slew of comments posted on a Facebook site run by native Ajijic inhabitants.

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