30.05.2010: Xochimilco

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The sound of the lemon squeezer woke us up at 8.30am. Mama Annette made fresh juices at least once a day for us. Orange-Mandarin juice or apple-carrot juice. And slices of juicy mango on top of it. Vitamins galore! How healthy! And delicious! Our tired bodies came alive instantly.

It was Sunday - one of the best days to see the floating gardens in Xochimilco.

500 years ago Xochimilco was the agricultural hub of Tenochtitlán, a metropolis of 235,000 inhabitants. In the Náhuatl language of the Aztecs, the name Xochimilco means 'garden of flowers.'

It is believed that the Xochimilcas invented the chinampa and founded the city of Xochimilco. It has also been suggested that it was just an improvement to a technique previously introduced; the technological peak was achieved during the 11th and 14th centuries thanks to Nahuatlacas tribes. Chinampa is an agricultural practice originally from lake regions in the centre of Mexico. They were built by staking large reed mats and fencing them with wattle, piling mud gathered from the bottom of the lake at low tide, and planting willow trees, which grew fast and put down deep roots, to anchor them.

The Xochimilco canals, all that's left of the extensive chinampas, are now a popular tourist attraction whose shores are crowded with houses and docks. The canals are particularly popular on the weekends and during public holidays, when many Mexican families and tourists rent boats complete with musicians and food. These boats, or "Trajineras", are propelled with a long wooden pole that is thrust into the canal bed and pushed in the desired direction.

We loved the colourful life at Xochimilco and enjoyed the daring performance of the Voladores. We have seen them performing the act already years ago in El Tajín. This ancient ritual - a test of courage - is possibly the forerunner of the modern bungee jumping. No safety net or rope for the musician on top of the 50 metre high pole. Amazing! Here´s the video of the performance:


Voladores

To see the floating gardens you can either go on a 50-people boat (15 pesos per person) or you can hire your own boat for 200 pesos an hour. The big boat "Britannia" (Helen would have loved to go onto this one!) didn´t have enough passengers for the ride and the waiting time was long, so we decided to get our own boat for an hour. It was wonderful to watch Mexicans partying, eating or just floating along the canals.


Floating Gardens in Xochimilco

Annette loves marimba music and called a boat over. It cost 30 pesos per piece of music and Annette was in heaven. Helen´s fingers started to itch. How about switching boats and playing along with the two guys? Si, claro! Helen has never played the marimba xylophone, nor did she know any of the music. But she was shown where the C was and it didn´t take long for her to work it all out. Watch the video of her amazing performance.


Helen plays marimba

Wow! If we ever need to earn some money you know where to find us. Helen on the marimba, Kirsten on the pole (not that one!).

Xochimilco is also famous for the miniature horses and the famous flower market. We strolled along the stalls for an hour until the heat got to us. Well worth a visit!

We visited Annette´s son Darie and his girl friend Veronica in the afternoon. They have an 8 month old son - Darie Junior. Veronica was flying to Salzburg that night to see her Mexican mother for three months over there. Darie is a surgeon and will follow them in August.

We took it easy the next day. Slept in late, Annette provided us again with lots of vitamins and served a fabulous omelette filled with cream cheese for breakfast. Yummy, yummy!