Health and recreation: walking is a good physical activity that will make you happy.

Every time I see pictures of nature I sigh again and again, it is something inevitable, nature is everything to me, I would not feel good if I am not surrounded by it. Since I was a child I lived playing among the cows, horses and my favorite hobby was to be climbing a tree like a monkey.

But now I live in the city and here it is very difficult to be in direct contact with nature, everywhere there is pollution, garbage, concrete jungles that occupied spaces where before there were fields of flowers, fields of sugar cane, banana and much more.

For many years the population in the capital of the country has been growing and it was necessary to build an alternative city that would provide or generate living spaces for families. That is how the two twin cities called Guarenas and Guatire were born.

Sixteen years ago I bought an apartment in Guatire and moved in with my family and we have built a community. Actually it was easy for us to adapt since my two sisters Maritza and Gloria have been living in this area for years, so I quickly met new people, made friends, we had school and also participated in sports and cultural activities.

But, there is always a but, I needed to be among my trees, rivers and mountains. As time went by I got to know many areas where people can go mountain hiking.

In the last year people have dedicated themselves even more to this exercise, not only for recreation but also for health. We are not far behind, we have formed a very nice group of people, especially women who go every day from 5:00 to 6:00 pm to a sector of the mountain called "La Siria". I like this route very much because it is very popular with people who are also passionate about nature and sports.

There are also many groups of cyclists, among them my son Israel.

On Friday we went for a walk as usual and we passed by looking for our friend Aracelis and the surprise was very beautiful when we saw our little friend Juan David, 5 years old, who that day was encouraged to walk with us with the firm promise that he would not get tired.

Behind that promise was another promise that we were going to take him to the river so he could put his feet in for a while. But guess what? As soon as that little boy felt the water he started to play and

Then there was no one who could get him out. My friend Juan David infected me with his adventurous spirit and I got in too, but only my feet. After having walked so far it was impossible to be so close and not cool off a bit while Juan David enjoyed his walk. My friend Sabrina, who is Juan David's sister also accompanied us in this madness, while the others watched us and laughed at our witticisms.

I wish life was like that all the time, fresh, fun, active, without so many thoughts and worries. That half hour was definitely an energy recharge that we were missing.

Going out in the afternoons with my friends, talking, laughing and exercising is something I wouldn't trade for anything. It's an hour for us and nothing else.

Today we went again, but without children, so I walked very fast, my friends told me that I had them in tow; actually it was not my intention, I just felt light, the route was easy and what I wanted was to move forward.

I told them that they were not the first people who told me that, and my way of walking comes from the habit I took or adopted from my beloved mother, since she always walked super fast. I also acquired this habit since I lived in Caracas, a metropolis city where everyone runs. For example in Caracas if you didn't run you were locked out of the subway or if you didn't run you didn't take the bus, worse yet, you ran so they wouldn't close a government office.

Many times I ran to get home early to see my babies, so it's not my fault, it's just a habit, but it's good that I was made aware of it because this way I can go at their pace.

Well friends, thank God today went well, there was a calm sun, we enjoyed good conversation topics while we were walking and we had a great time. That's the idea, so if you still don't practice sports I invite you to do it, because I can attest that it is very good for your health. Since I've been walking I don't get tired as much, I have energy, I feel agile, I have stamina and my body doesn't hurt as much as before. Another point in favor is that I have decreased the consumption of medicines to calm the pains and at night I sleep very well, here I could sit here telling you thousands of positive things that generate the fact of doing a physical activity but I better leave this invitation for you to check it out for yourselves.

I say see you later, take care of yourselves and remember, "smile it's free".