Walking to a place where the air is cleaner

In the neighborhood where I live, even though it’s a fairly densely populated apartment complex, you can always find the occasional tree here and there that brightens your day—because in an area so full of buildings, houses, and the like, it’s not very common to find green spaces. However, several years ago, a fairly large plot of land remained in the farthest section of this complex.

They had many plans for this lot; in fact, I heard about countless projects they were going to carry out there, until finally—after some time had passed, even years—it was decided to build a fairly large soccer field and install some exercise equipment. So all of us in the housing development—which is actually quite large, with six different sectors, each containing a lot of apartments—share this big park that we call “el campito.”

​The thing about this “campito” is that whenever there’s simply nothing else to do, my first choice is to walk over there, so when I’m feeling anxious or something like that, my husband and I go for a short walk to this spot, which, as I mentioned, is at the far end of the housing development. Although this place used to be very well-maintained, the truth is that the equipment is a bit run-down these days; even so, since it’s a completely open space with several trees and other features, I like going there.

In this area, the neighbors who live nearby have taken it upon themselves to keep the plants looking beautiful and well-maintained, so it’s nice to walk by here and enjoy the scenery—even though sometimes the underbrush grows quite thick because of the rain and other factors. It’s usually not very crowded because people play sports here on the weekends—since it’s an open field, there’s a softball field in that area, and further back, on the soccer field with artificial turf, people play soccer.

But those of us who don’t play any of these sports simply decide to walk over there to hang out during the hours when there aren’t any practices. There are some benches, and since there are trees, there are areas with plenty of shade where you can sit. Places like this are very necessary, and I’m surprised by how many people—even those used to living in the city—suddenly say, “I need to clear my head,” and their first choice is to go to the little field because it’s the greenest area in the neighborhood.

​In my case, when I go there, it’s to think or have a deep conversation with my husband after a walk to calm my anxiety. We all get by as best we can, and in an area so full of concrete, finding a spot with some greenery and other colors is truly therapeutic. So my way of coping with living in a place where I have to be for now is to hold on tightly to all those places that remind me of where I’d rather be.