Gunfire

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Does anybody know what gunshots sound like? 'Cause I swear, last night there was a shootout going on in the neighbourhood around our hostel last night. It doesn't make any sense at all, we're in what is probably Honduras' biggest tourist destination, a sleepy but prosperous little colonial town on the border of Guatemala, known primarily for being right next to the ruins of one of the major Mayan cities. We've been here for three days while Vanessa was recovering from a bit of fever, and the people here have struck me as leading as peaceful and relaxed a life as anywhere we've been so far this trip. I don't know, maybe it was the bikers.
See, last night there was some kind of fiesta going on in town. There was a little charity event just off the main square, where for ten lempiras you could go and look at about thirty motorcyles that were lined up on the street. Afterwards there was a concert of almost unbearable rock by a band that I gather is a big deal in Honduras, and had just returned from a US tour. Never caught the name, but the sound was atrocious.
Nevertheless, the whole town was out, adults and children alike, and seemed to be having a great time. We stayed and watched the crowd, had a few beers, but eventually headed back to the hostal early as we have become fairly accustomed to waking with the sun.
So after reading for awhile and having a smoke out in the garden, I was about to turn off the light (Vanessa had long since dozed off) when I heard in the distance a series of muffled popping sounds, two or three in quick succession. Not the staccato crack of firecrackers, but a little sharper than a car backfiring. I don't know, but this is more or less what I've been led to believe gunfire sounds like - not the extremely loud, sharp cracks of the movies, but a little muffled and a lot quieter.
Initially I disregard it as somebody engaging in that common, although to my mind rather dangerous, custom of expressing happiness by firing their gun in the air. However, a series of other outbursts occur, some seemingly on the street right outside my house, others probably three or four blocks away. Sometimes there are five or six shots in quick but irregular succession, other times just one or two. Each outburst is seperated by 30 seconds to 2 or three minutes of silence. Meanwhile, cars are circling in the neighbourhood, sometimes halting to idle for ten minutes right outside my window.
At this point, sleep is not even a remote possibility anymore. I've turned out the light, but mainly so that nobody will come to see who might be awake and watching behind our window. Stange scenarios are running through my head - that someone is being hunted through the streets, that the hunters will not take kindly to any witnesses, particularly gringo witnesses with out of place ideas regarding murder and justice.
Each shot, and particularly those nearby, sends another jolt of adrenaline through my body. When car headlights shine through our window, or when I hear quiet voices talking in the street outside, I seriously consider waking Vanessa up and hiding under the bed. Our window is at street level, and when a muttered but incomprehensible conversation is taking place just a few feet the other side of it, I practically stop breathing. But eventually, the cars stop rolling by, the voices go away, and no more shots are heard to send jolts of electricity through my veins. Gradually releasing the nervous tension, I drift off to sleep.
So we got up early this morning, and we're about to get out of town. I still have no idea what was going on in the streets last night outside my window, or whether the whole thing should be put down to an active imagination amplified by a certain tenseness, an overalertness and a hyper-awareness of everything that might constitute a physical threat to my or Vanessa's security, that has been with me ever since getting robbed, almost three weeks ago now.
So can anybody tell me what gunshots sound like in real life?

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Comments

[anonymous]

Gunfire
your trip sounds cool, keep us all informed. Gunfire can have many different sounds, but generally is a sharp crack and kinda sounds like crackers going off...so if ya saw no colourfull explosions in the sky then you had gunfire! :) - T.J

[Bryce]

gunfire
you described it well. depending on the kind of gun it is it will sound different, but a pistol, which that is most likely what it was, sounds kind of like a cracking sound, like lightning sounds at first. i don't know if that helps but you probably did hear gunfire. be careful. a friend of mine here in the dom. rep. just told me that murders are relatively frequent in Honduras. She knew two people who where murdered while she was there for the summer, the son of a lady she worked with and a guard, the husband of someone she knew. they only got a few bucks out of the people they killed, sounds like there are some desperate people there. i'm not trying to scare you, just repeating what my friend told me. take it or leave it.

[Genga]

Peaceful
Gunfire in Copan? Much more likely firecrackers. I lived there for a month last year, and I must admit I cowered under my bed sheets the first time I heard them, but they absolutely love them - any time of day or night, with any excuse. In Copan there's more reason to party than pull a gun. An oasis of calm in a troubled region.

[anonymous]

gunfire, hope for peace.
i am too confuse about that. i seem to heard gunfire. i also see the light of it. and now i am freak out. it is just a half hour ago, i am about to go outside. i am siting of the sofa when i hear a sound that seem like the gunfire. i look and see a light that flash and some small stuff that fall to the ground. it seem to be coming from the other appartment window. well, i don't know what to do, and i am freaking out. i don't know if it is really the sound of gunfire. i worried that the shooter was trying to shot me or something. what does gunfire sounds like? i just hope that is just my imagination... This country of U.S. is freaking me out. I just hate gun.