Mexico City

Travelers' Takes

Rates and Deals

Xochimilco

More Photos
katja
katja
First Reviewer
3 out of 5
Avg. Member Rating
3
Reviews
2
Photos
Sort by: Most Recent|Positive|Negative|Most Useful
1-3 of 3

Xochimilco

  • July 24, 2006
  • Rated 3 of 5 by Sabina315 from Athens, Ohio
Our group visited Xochimilco on a beautiful summer afternoon and enjoyed our cruise around the area. Staff on our boat explained how Mexico City was built on a swamp and these rivers used to be the best way to get around. The boats are beautifully decorated and as you cruise around other boats come up with things like cold drinks and mariachi bands.

From journal Mexico City

Editor Pick

Xochimilco

  • May 26, 2006
  • Rated 4 of 5 by JesusW from Mexico city, Mexico
Xochimilco

The technique of growing food and plants on the Chinampas was the idea of the first ruler of Xochimilco: Acatonalli, who invented the procedure to take advantage of the abundance of fresh water (there are springs in the area) and to make compost out of mud and bird droppings.

The "chinampa" the floating garden, was built by laying some canes or sticks with mud from the bottom of the lake and plants residues, adding layer after layer the barge made with the canes slowly sank to the shallow bottom and created artificial islands with very porous and fertile soil, which creates the perfect environment to get two or three crops a year.

The Ahuejote tree is normally planted on one end of the barge to create an anchor point which attaches the barge to a permanent spot by means of the deep roots of the tree and at the same time provides shade.

Some of the main crops were the maize, beans, chile, cabagge, and other produce, which gave the local farmers a surplus to sell to Tenochtitlan and other towns around the lake. That´s where the trajineras came into the equation, the first boats were small ones to travel around the chinampas, but later as commerce increased the size of the boats and their designs changed radically to accommodate larger loads and different needs. In the 1960s and 1970s it was normal that the decoration of the trajineras was changed every two weeks with fresh flowers, nowadays they are made of paper or cardboard and are permanent.

More about this on the municipal government website:
http://www.xochimilco.df.gob.mx/turismo/chinampas.html

From journal The Town of Flowers - Xochimilco

Xochimilco

  • August 5, 2001
  • Rated 2 of 5 by katja from New York City, New York
Xochichan was kinda fun. It is about a half hour away from the city, and you go on a large gondola style boat and go along a river and through the floating gardens. As you are on the boat, sellers of flowers, corn-on-the-cob with mayo and cheese toppings, drinks/beer and sometimes mariachi bands will play a song for 50 pesos. It is a nice family getaway for Mexicans - they bring along the whole family and rent a boat on have a family picnic. It was fun.

From journal A Few Days in Mexico City

Sort by: Most Recent|Positive|Negative|Most Useful
1-3 of 3

Compare Mexico City Rates

1. Enter travel information

City

2. Select websites to compare rates

Each selected website will open a new window.

Helpful Mexico City Links

Mexico City Travel Deals