June 10, 2018
After leaving Coyoacán, we headed south to visit Xochimilco, "The Venice of Mexico." Like Coyoacan, Xochimilco is one of the alcadias, or burroughs of Mexico City. It is best known for its 110 miles of canals, remnants of the extensive canal system built by the Aztecs.
In 2011 Xochimilco was designated one of Mexico City's twenty-one "Barrio Magicos," or Magical Neighborhoods. (Incidentally, the city center of Coyoacan is also a Barrio Magico.)
This is another city that I visited 40 years ago, and in the intervening decades, tourism here has increased dramatically. Dozens of boats were lined up at the dock waiting for passengers.
Victor purchased our tickets and we boarded our boat, "Puros Cuates," which I think means "Pure Friends" (Pals? Chums?)
Many of the boats are named after girlfriends or wives: Adriana, Lupita, Victoria, Julietta, Carmelita, Andrea, Conchita, Maria Cristina . . .
There is a definite party air out on the water, and most of the passengers when we were there seemed to be Mexicans out having a good time with family or friends--very few gringos besides us. (Maybe that was partly because it was March.) There was plenty of food and drink, both brought along by the guests and being sold by boats passing by, and where there is food there are mariachis, playing for tips. Sometimes they played from floating docks along the way . . .
. . . and other times they were on their own boats on the water or boarding the tourist boats. I'm rarely impressed by the voices and almost always impressed by the trumpet player.
There were plenty of places to pull over for snacks and cervezas or sodas, and "clean up boats" (that sounds nicer than "trash boats" or "garbage boats") took the empties away and kept the water relatively clean.
The boats are moved along by a man with a long pole pushing away at the canal bottom, similar to the boatmen in Venice. However, these are bigger, heavier boats that can hold quite a few more people than the Venetian gondolas, and quite a bit of muscle power is needed to push them along, not to mention to dodge other boats.
Eventually we began to break away from the packed docks.
Plastic dolls and stuffed animals?? It looks like something out of a horror movie!
Passengers can disembark and hang their own dolls in the woods.
It was fun to re-experience Xochimilco with my sweetie.
We were very, very tempted by this lamb barbecue. In fact, I can't believe we passed it up.
They must roast the lamb in these large banana plant leaves:
And how about this mobile bakery? This man has true talent.
After leaving Coyoacán, we headed south to visit Xochimilco, "The Venice of Mexico." Like Coyoacan, Xochimilco is one of the alcadias, or burroughs of Mexico City. It is best known for its 110 miles of canals, remnants of the extensive canal system built by the Aztecs.
In 2011 Xochimilco was designated one of Mexico City's twenty-one "Barrio Magicos," or Magical Neighborhoods. (Incidentally, the city center of Coyoacan is also a Barrio Magico.)
This is another city that I visited 40 years ago, and in the intervening decades, tourism here has increased dramatically. Dozens of boats were lined up at the dock waiting for passengers.
Victor purchased our tickets and we boarded our boat, "Puros Cuates," which I think means "Pure Friends" (Pals? Chums?)
Many of the boats are named after girlfriends or wives: Adriana, Lupita, Victoria, Julietta, Carmelita, Andrea, Conchita, Maria Cristina . . .
There is a definite party air out on the water, and most of the passengers when we were there seemed to be Mexicans out having a good time with family or friends--very few gringos besides us. (Maybe that was partly because it was March.) There was plenty of food and drink, both brought along by the guests and being sold by boats passing by, and where there is food there are mariachis, playing for tips. Sometimes they played from floating docks along the way . . .
. . . and other times they were on their own boats on the water or boarding the tourist boats. I'm rarely impressed by the voices and almost always impressed by the trumpet player.
The boats are moved along by a man with a long pole pushing away at the canal bottom, similar to the boatmen in Venice. However, these are bigger, heavier boats that can hold quite a few more people than the Venetian gondolas, and quite a bit of muscle power is needed to push them along, not to mention to dodge other boats.
Eventually we began to break away from the packed docks.
Many of the boats were filled with young people having a really fun, really noisy time. Hey, what is that hanging on the tree in the background?
Plastic dolls and stuffed animals?? It looks like something out of a horror movie!
This is the "Island of the Dolls," a nightmarish clearing in the woods filled with toys of various levels of disrepair, placed here, supposedly, by a hermit who discovered the body of a young girl and her doll floating in one of the canals. He would hear anguished wails at night, so he hung her doll from a tree and then additional toys to appease her.
Passengers can disembark and hang their own dolls in the woods.
Very, very creepy.
After an hour or so we turned around to go back, and as we neared the docking area, we met up with all of the other groups.
It was fun to re-experience Xochimilco with my sweetie.
On the way back to the car we saw the biggest bougainvillea plant we have ever seen:
Of course, there were thousands of Frida-themed kitschy souvenirs. I passed them up too.
And how about this mobile bakery? This man has true talent.
On our way to our next stop, the home of Dolores Olmedo, the woman Diego Rivera spent his last few years with after Frida's death, we passed the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). Dating back to 1551, it is the oldest university in Latin America. With over 350,000 students and multiple campuses across the country as well as four foreign campuses (two in the US), it is also the largest university in Latin America and one of the biggest in the world.
It's a very exclusive university--only 8% of applicants are admitted--and all three of Mexico's Nobel Laureates (Peace Prize, Chemistry, and Literature) were either alumni or faculty at UNAM.
This is its main campus, a UNESCO World Heritage site designed by Mexico's top 20th century architects. The most iconic building is the Central Library, opened in 1956. The tiled mural, entitled Historical Representation of Culture, is by Juan O'Gorman, who, coincidentally, also designed the house Frida and Diego lived in before they moved to La Casa Azul. The windowless library holds almost 1.5 million volumes.
Fun information about the university and library I'd not known. I'm not sure if I liked Xochimilco or not. I'm glad I was able to see it, particularly the canals as a sample of the past, but the party atmosphere and colliding boats got old fairly quick. Like you, I can't believe we passed up the roasted lamb. It looks really good right now!
ReplyDeleteXochimilco has turned into kind of party place but it is a very important reminder of Mexico City's history. It is a living example of how people used to get around the city. The old city didn't have roads, it had canals. Also there are some really cool nurseries in Xochimilco because the soil is very fertile.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was there in the 1970s, I think remember there being boats full of flowers. That would go along with what you are saying about the nurseries. Is that an accurate memory?
DeleteYes, there used to be a lot more flowers in the 70s. There are still some today, but back then there were a lot more.
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