Around The Zocalo


Most people relax at the spa, on the beach or by doing yoga. The similarities with all these activities are that everybody does them alone. Nobody thinks that relaxing is synonymous with going around or walking around one of the most populated cities in the world, but I do. Every time I went to the Zocalo, I got something unique. Every single time I walked around the Zocalo in the imperfect Mexico City I could exercise and relax at the same time. I moved to Chicago two years ago, and I have found many restaurants from many different cuisines. However, I haven’t found something similar like the Zocalo.

One of the most interesting aspects of the Zocalo is its gatherings and multifaceted place. It is an extraordinary place where people gather for any interest. For example, when some groups want to pretest against taxes, earnings, violation against women, insufficient resources for the countryside and any other cases they go there to gather and have a big protest. Also, the most important concerts or events are there, so almost always the Zocalo is busy. Although there are some gathering places around Chicago, but people are quitter. It’s like some Americans just don’t like to protest. In addition, I don’t know about how to find free events in Chicago. There are no more than Richard Daley Plaza in Chicago which is smaller, and it doesn’t have the same variety of angry people around this country. On other hand, I don’t hear too much about that they usually do march or reunions like in Mexico.

Moreover, around the Zocalo everybody can find any kind of food, stores, museums and street shows. It seems like chaos, but everything is organized by small squares. They are two streets for each product. For example, if anyone wants to find clothes, they could go to that specific section where are a lot of small stores which owners are also sellers. When I lived in Mexico City, I used to buy a lot of kinds of cheap things for my home. I found some cute paintings and nice furniture for my house. Sometimes I didn’t have money, but that never was an obstacle to have my relaxing tour. I haven’t found those kinds of stores in Chicago. I have seen a lot of franchises where the attention is less kind and unlovable. The attention always could be better it was their own business. In addition, the stores around the U.S. look exactly because there are from the same brands.

Aside from the protest place and shopping, the most delightful aspect from Zocalo was my memorable walking. The problem never was what we were going to do any weekend because even if I just went on my walk which lasted like eight or six hours, I enjoyed it. Sometimes I ended in the popular cantina singing with some strangers that I met there. Sometimes, I went with a couple of friends, or my ex-boyfriend, and even if they didn’t have similar interests as each other we could always find something different to do or a new place to go. Now, when I try to go out with my friends, I spend at least fifty dollars which is too much for me. If we don’t want to spend money, we have to stay at home. Those walks are something that I really miss from my country. Downtown in Chicago is an opened place, so I don’t see me myself walking around in the downtown in Chicago while It is snowing, or the weather is cold. In fact, I haven’t made a lot of friends here, and my life changed. Now I just go out with my sister her husband and my boyfriend. I just have one African friend. We always go to the restaurant, or bar or go to the cinema. These are my options. I’m not sure If I miss the country or the person that I used to be.

I am writing a new history for myself in this new city. Maybe the next time I will be writing about my adventure of living in Chicago. There are a lot of good things that Chicago has given to me. I met my boyfriend here. It is a fact the next time I talk about Mexico, it will be without sadness. I know US is better than Mexico in many ways. That is the reason I am here. Maybe I just have to find other ways to relax. I could drive around the country making my own lunch and walking around the new cities that I will be visiting listening to my favorite music. I’m going to find the way to be relax every weekend again as I used to do around the Zocalo.  







Comments

  1. barbrahtunApril 11, 2020 at 1:59 PM

    I hope you find the suitable ways to be relaxed and I agree that relaxing is very important because it release your stress and you felt good afterwards.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AilingApril 11, 2020 at 9:18 PM

    Hi Adriana, Except for the sadness, you have a lot to be happy about. You met your boyfriends here, and you got a better living condition. I think that you will get used to it soon.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Gulnur ZhanibekApril 21, 2020 at 10:16 AM

    It was interesting essay. I am happy that you have close people around you. There are many beautiful places in Chicago that you can relax. Hopefully, you can go after all this over🙂. I couldn’t understand the Zocalo. Is this restaurant?

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Miracle of Han River

Image
Miracle of Han River              Nineteen ninety-seven was a meaningful year for my family. It was the year I was born   and there was a big crisis in Korea called The International Monetary Fund (IMF). Korea owed millions of dollars to the U.S.   and it did not have enough dollars to pay them back. As a result, Korea’s economy had plunged. At that time, Koreans were feeling desperate, so many donated a lot of gold to the country to help the debt even though people did not have money. At that time, my father was working at a small company. , But my parents could not earn enough money to make a living because of his low salary. That was a tough time for my parents to raise my brother and me. The IMF crisis influenced my parents to realize about danger and importance of money. As my parents learned, they taught me about my own money management.              One of the effects that my parents taught me about is saving money. If I wasted all of my money, I would be in tr
Read more

Part of Life

Image
       Transportation is vital to everybody’s life. Without transportation, no one could go to school or work efficiently, and most people can’t even buy food. I have lived in Chicago almost three months. With the development of China in the past three decades, transportation has become more advanced and the transportation in China is generally better than Chicago’s.  I was missing the convenient and efficient trains and buses in Guangzhou. To begin with, the convenience of transportation in China is more efficient. The means of transportation in China is fast and efficient because they are newly made and there is a large quantity. Therefore, whatever buses people choose can operate quickly and the interval is short. It means if some emergency happens, people can take a bus or subway easily and quickly. In my three months in Chicago, if I miss a bus or subway, I may waste a lot of time waiting for the next one, which may cause me to be late for school. Due to this, people always s
Read more

Golden Ingot

Image
Golden Ingot          Dumplings are a traditional food in China, which has 1800 years of history. In northern China, dumplings are very popular, and people eat dumplings as their daily food.   The shape of dumpings is similar to Chines golden ingot. Therefore, in ancient China, people ate dumplings because they believed dumplings represent luck. They thought they were going to be lucky in business, families, and love. Most families in the northern provinces make dumplings at home weekly or when celebrating festivals. Homemade dumplings played an important role in my life and Chinese culture, yet I haven’t made homemade dumplings since I immigrated to the U.S. four years ago.          Homemade dumplings have different flavors, and there are different ways to cook them. Dumplings with different stuffing are all popular. Chinese dumplings are made with various ingredients like pork, beef, chicken, vegetables, and they attract people from all over the world. Some people like beef
Read more