Xochimilco, Mexico City

A ride in Xochimilco is an absolute must, any cares, concerns, stress, etc. will melt away!! We went pretty early in the day, during the week, so it was not crowded nor very loud. The ride lasted about 45 minutes or so, but I am not sure since I was completely oblivious to the real world!! Make sure to check out the "doll house" along the canal--the home of a man who rescuses abandoned dolls and displays them on his trees!

Beware not to fall. 'The trajineras' are small barges with a front arch beautifully decorated with flowers. Some of the canals that you'll go through were once part of the Aztec canal system of transportation. This is pretty much all the remainings of it.
You can see mariachis playing on the other trajineras. I don't doubt you'll have a great time.

A boat ride on a very busy canal. I took a Grayline tour and there was one other person on the tour that day. We had the boat to ourselves, along with the pole guider. Soft drinks, water or beer are offered for sale by the pole guider. Some boats have food to sell to tourist. The Mariachi bands are in their own boat but will tie up their boat to yours and jump on to sing. Silver merchants jump into the boats with high hopes you will buy their jewelry.

The floating gardens were built by the Aztecs. It is kind of unique to see and enjoyed the brief ride.

There is also a flea market which sells both goods and food. Very good food too.

I set out to Xochimilco taking the Metro to the end station Tasqueña, and catching the Tren Lijero (an additional 2 pesos) to the end stop, Xochimilco. It was about a 10-minute walk to the Embarcadero, where you pick up the trajineras (boats) that the boatsmen will push you through the canals if desired. I foolishly didn't bargain down from 300 pesos for the ride; however for the magnificence of the experience, it was worth it to me.

Xochimilco was founded in 900 A.D. and spoke the same language as the Mexica, Nahuatl. Much of the Valle de Mexico during the Classic and Postclassic period was lake. To create fertile ground, the Xochimilca built floating gardens called chinampas using damp-resistant wood from the ahuejote tree, mud, lilies and stone. Builing these chinampas, the Xochimilca created a systems of thousands of canals, that would allow easier access by canoe to these fertile gardens of vegetables, fruit and floriculture. Although the Xochimilca fought battles themselves, they were morphed/allied to the Mexica empire that used their agricultural technology in the Mexica capital of Tenochtitlan.

Anyhow, riding the trajinera, I just felt such peace and joy. People in smaller canoes would offer goods from jewelry, cloth to elotes (corn) and enchilada. I had lunch as a woman prepared a chicken enchilada in her canoe, which she attached to my trajinera. Other trajinera, with groups of maybe a dozen or 15 Mexicans, would invite a band of 8 mariachis to play/sing for them; I saw some couples dancing on the boats to spirited mariachi music; a marimba (wooden xylophone?) played well and energetically for another group of couples; a cellist sat in boat waiting to be called over. I felt such inner happiness at the beauty and joy surrounding me. My trajinera boatsman Marco made 2 stops, one at a market, the second at a garden; each boat is colourful and has a name overhanging. The whole experience makes me smile in remembrance and I have never experienced anything like it in my 33 years.

Xochimilco (pronounced So-Chi-Meel-Co) is one of, if not the most interesting thing you can do in Mexico City. For this reason, it is best that you go when it is in full swing - on a Sunday afternoon.

To visit the gardens, you rent a boat for the afternoon. While the boats used to come in various sizes, you now have to rent one size regardless of the number of people in your party. For the five in our party, the 20 person boat was excessive in size, but not in cost - I believe it was about 14 dollars.

The drivers will take you on a slow journey through the canals that make up the gardens. You will pass other boats filled with poeple, bumping into many of them in the traffic jam-ridden areas. Many boats have food on them - just pull up next to them to buy something. Others have bands, and for a dollar or two the band will ride next to you for a song!

The hardest part about this trip is getting there and away. While most taxi drivers know where the docks are to get on the boat, many do not go there without a passenger - in other words, if you don't arrange for a taxi to come pick you up after your trip is done, don't plan on getting one! There are no reliable taxi stands anywhere near the garden either, so you will not just get lucky, unless you are REALLY lucky, which our 1.5 hours of searching proved we were not.

This is an incredible experience - do not miss it if you can help it.

Xochimilco is a favourite destination for fun and relaxation 20 km south of downtown MC. It is known for its canals, which give you an idea about the former character of this region which was the main water catchment area for the city.

We made the long trek out to Xochimilco to ride a boat through the last remaining canals in Mexico City. When we boarded our very own trajinera named 'Beatriz', we knew that this experience was worth the extra effort. We took an hour-long ride on the canals for 140 pesos and left from the embarcadero Nativitas. This embarcadero is a further walk from the others, but the prices are posted and are cheaper than the prices the guys closer to town were quoting us. We bought beer and some food to take with us on our ride.

We passed people in boats selling everything from tamales to mariachi songs. Also, there were various plant nurseries along the banks open for business. There were other tourists on boats and entire families having grand parties with the mariachi boats that they had hired. Our oarsman, Sergio, told us that it gets busy on the canals on the weekends.

I had no idea that the canals existed in Mexico City and recommend this experience to any visitor.

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This place is called Xochimilco, where in ancient times, was a commerce-Lake where people used to trade their mercancies in small boats called "Trajineras".

Now, this trajineras, which are nice decorated with colourful flowers, are used as Party-vehicles. =)

Xochimilco is now a traditional place to make great parties while taking a ride through the lake, and having some drinks, buying food, handicrafts or even asking the Mariachi-trajinera to play a song.

There can be around 20-30 people in a Trajinera (so it gets cheaper) and you can buy everything (drinks, food, etc) before jumping in, in small grocery shops outside.