The Zocalo

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The Zocalo in Mexico city is heart of its culture, and my first moments spent walking down its enormous avenues that surround it were used in keeping  rhythm with it's overwhelming pulse.

The Zocalo is the center of the city where everyone comes to demonstrate, to see the sites, or just watch everybody else in constant motion around the  massive expanse of the ancient plaza, which itself has some of the most vital aspects of the Mexican culture all clustered into one place.  On one side, there is the massive Catedral, which the Spanish built from the same stones from the Templo Mayor  (just behind the Cathedral) when they destroyed the ancient Aztec city of Tenochtitlan and built Mexico City over it's ruins.  On the other side across the way (looking away from the cathedral towards the left of the plaza) is the Palacio Nacional, where the President of Mexico resides.  This is of course the center of a boiling political hotspot, and many people come to the plaza to demonstrate their views within close proximity of the jefe de gobierno. In fact, the political scene in Mexico City promises to be a buzzing hornet's nest of activity in the Zocalo itself this year, as a new president of Mexico will be elected on July 2.  Which ever candidate is chosen, there is predicted to be massive demonstrations either way, and of course, the Zocalo will be there to host the events.

for a moment, you stop breathing and lose yourself in what is actually before you.

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The rest of the buildings around the plaza claim a governmental purpose, though there are massive departments stores and hotels.  But all of these structures are perhaps only an accent to encapsulate the most dominant feature in the very center of the plaza--the mammoth flag.  No words I could use would give justice to its enormous size, but I will say that it`s something bigger than you or me.

As I said earlier, the Zocalo is the heart of the city, and perhaps even (I would venture to say) the heart of Mexico. I have been there many times, but every time I return I feel something different, like a connection that pulls me with a massive force of a culture`s identity.  Even  if you have never been here or have no Mexican heritage, you can't help but feel overwhelmed when you come to the Zocalo in Mexico City. It's like stumbling upon some mythological Titan: for a moment, you stop breathing and lose yourself in what is actually before you.