U.S. Tourist Sues Mexico City Camotero for Hearing Loss

Piercing scream of sweet potato cart leaves tourist temporarily deaf

MEXICO CITY — Dylan Dawntreader, a 31-year-old U.S. citizen from Malibu, filed a lawsuit Monday that claims a Mexico City sweet potato vendor, known as a camotero, was responsible for his hearing loss after the shrill whistle from the salesman’s fiery oven on wheels caused him to go temporarily deaf for three weeks.

According to the lawsuit, Dawntreader was walking in the Juárez neighborhood of Mexico City and looking up directions to an overhyped speakeasy when Jesús Ortega, a 56-year old camotero, chose to let out the steam from his flaming oven within a meter of the plaintiff.

“Our client was trying to locate a bar where he could find people speaking English and upload photos of himself sipping overpriced drinks when Ortega, without warning, released steam from his fire pit from Hell that exceeded 140 decibels, a volume that can cause immediate hearing loss,” the lawsuit reads.

According to Dawntreader’s testimony, the ringing in his ears and trauma caused by the shrill death scream of the sweet potato cart lasted throughout the remainder of his trip in Mexico City, as well as for weeks after returning home to the U.S.

“Every time I hear an ambulance or a siren, I’m immediately transported back to that sound, that terrible, mournful, twisted, demonic sound,” Dawntreader said.

Ortega, in his defense, said camote carts are part of the charm and fabric of Mexico City, and argued that the megapolis has no active noise regulation in place.

“If you can’t take the heat, get out the street,” said Ortega, who was declared clinically deaf three weeks into his 22-year career as a camotero. “Locals run when they see my cart coming, but for tourists, I guess they just have to learn the hard way.”