Xochimilco - Flat Boats on Canal

 

My favorite stop on the tour was Xochimilco. (This is a long blog with photos & videos)

 

It took me all week to learn to say the name (Zoe-chee-mill-co). Xochimilco is characterized by the existence of a system of canals, (think of Venice, Italy!)  which measure about a total of 105 miles. These canals, and the small colorful flat bottom boats float among artificially created land called chinampas and are internationally famous.    

 

These canals are all of what is left of what used to be a vast lake and canal system that extended over most parts of the Valley of Mexico, restricting cities such as Tenochtitlan (Mexico City) and Xochimilco to small islands.  This system of waterways was the main transportation venue, especially for goods from the pre-Hispanic period until the 20th century.  

In the pre-Hispanic period, parts of the shallow lakes were filled in, creating canals. Starting in the early colonial period, the interconnected lakes of the valley, including Lake Xochimilco, were drained. By the 20th century, the lakes had shrunk to a system of canals that still connected Xochimilco with the center of Mexico City. However, with the pumping of underground aquifers since the early 20th century, water tables have dropped drying  some canals, and all that are left are the ones in Xochimilco.

The canals are fed by fresh water springs, which is artificially supplemented by treated water because water tables are still dropping, human expansion and the filling in of canals is still occurring, threatening to have the last of these canals disappear despite their importance to tourism.

So the following are some photos and 3 videos of our tour at Xochimilco.

 As we were getting ready to board the boats (way wider than the

 Gondolas of Venice, Italy), each of the ladies were given a rose.

The men were given the OPTION of having a free shot of Tequilla. Curtis passed!

This is our boat, named Carmelita.  The people sitting on the right side were from Brazil. They loved their beer and drank a lot! We had water. There were two oarsmen (back in blue and white shirt) who took turns shoving a long long pole to push and guide the boat along the canal. They did not sing or say "Oi Oi" as went along as they did in Venice. Our guide took this photo.

The photo above was amazing. These roots are left from the original Aztecs who built the city (started in downtown Mexico City called Zocallo) and all the way out here. History came alive! They planted trees and then would add dirt and fill as the roots took hold. The entire lake was islands interconnected with canals.

This is the entrance to the canals. It was a traffic water way. You can see each boat had a name and was decorated brightly. Then there were other boats (much more narrow) that were merchants trying to sell you wares, food, play music for you. I told Curtis "imagine Nogales on water!"

 We knelt at the back end of the boat to be in the sun for this photo. We hung onto each other, we didn't want to fall in! It was about 12 foot deep. I didn't want to swim!

 This was one vendor who was trying really hard to sell me a tablecloth or blanket. They were $45 US dollars. I had enough at home already. We did take this photo - that was what prompted his attention and persistence!

 Our guide did say that the roasted corn was wonderful! So we waited until she saw the vendor she liked and we all bought for 20 pesos (about $2.50 US dollars) a white corn on the stick. It was roasted - with butter and lime on it. It was a ONE TIME thing to try.

This is the video Curtis took as we started out on our 1 hour boat ride. You can see how the mariachi's play hoping you will ask for a song. It was 100 pesos ($12 US for a song).

 Finally on our boat ride back, we decided to all pitch in money and buy one song. The oarsman whistled and they moved their boat next to ours. The singer hopped over to our boat and sang (this is my version of what was sung "eye eye eye eye, I am the frito bandito" or that is the tune). Listen and you can hear it.

At the half hour mark on the boat ride, we pulled alongside a greenhouse. We were given a tour of all the plants and herbs growing. They were beautiful and amazing! One plant was called the "sensitive plant". When you touch it, it closed up and shrunk away from you. Reminded me of the flowers in Avitar. Watch the video and you will see it.

These following 3 photos are just some of the beautiful flowers we saw. Curtis took pictures of them all! But these are some interesting ones.