The Colorful Boats and Canals of Xochimilco
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| Boat dock, Xochimilco, Mexico, January, 2016 |
South of Mexico City's historic center (an hour by car, two by public transport) is the borough of Xochimilco. Here lies the "Venice of Mexico," a system of over 100 miles of canals. If that sounds like a lot, know that what remains of the canals is a tiny fraction of what was once the major transportation network for all of Mexico City, not just Xochimilco.
Today, the canals are not used for transportation, but are an attraction for both tourists and locals. If you go on a Sunday, you'll be sharing with water with what seems like half the population of Mexico City. Apparently, it's quite the party.
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| Boat dock, Xochimilco, Mexico, January, 2016 |
We weren't there on Sunday, so it wasn't nearly as lively, but it was still a good time. When you arrive on the dock, the first thing you notice is there is no ticket office, per se. You negotiate a price with the boat owner. There's lots of boats and they're all competing for your business, and the price you negotiate will be based on how long a trip you want. You can go for 2, 4, or 6 hours. We opted for 2 hours which was long enough for us.
I ended up paying a bit more than I wanted because we were the only two people on the boat. If you go, I would recommend having a bigger party to split the cost, or making friends and joining their group.
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| Our boat captain, Xochimilco, Mexico, January, 2016 |
Once you get out on the canals, you'll see all the islands along the way. These chinampas were built 1,000 years ago by making rafts of juniper branches (you'll see lots and lots of juniper trees) and piling them with mud and soil and planting crops on them. Eventually, the rafts would sink, more rafts were built on top of them, and the process was repeated until an island or chinampas was created.
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| A Chinampas selling plants, Xochimilco, Mexico, January, 2016 |
And there are not only tourist boats along the canals. Enterprising folks set up stoves on their small boats and sell food. There are also people selling souvenirs and a bunch of boats have mariachi bands that will sidle up to your boat and play you a song. Everything is negotiable and the vendor may or may not be willing to make change, so bring small bills.
And, you can bring your own food and drink, but I doubt you have your own mariachi band to bring along.
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| Mariachi band, Xochimilco, Mexico, January, 2016 |
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| Food vendor, Xochimilco, Mexico, January, 2016 |
One of the most famous parts of canal is the so-called Island of the Dolls, created by Don Julián Santana Barrera. It is just what it sounds like, a chinampas with dolls everywhere, tied to trees. But beware, there are lots of fake Islands of the Dolls, so if you want to see the real thing, be sure to talk to your boat owner before embarking. We saw one of the fake islands, and I gotta say, is there really a difference? I mean, look at the picture, there's tons of dolls tied to trees on a canal in Mexico City and it looked pretty darn cool, authentic or not.
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| Faux Island of the Dolls, Xochimilco, Mexico, January, 2016 |
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