*WS52 ( re-post ) – the canals in Xochimilco, Mexico City, Mexico*
Let us go to the Americas for a few days!
First Central America.
Mexico City was built on swamps on a valley basin. During the pre-Hispanic days there were many canals. Xochimilco is a district at the southern fringe of the city proper where some of the old canals are still in existence.
In fact most parts of the district were shallow lakes before the pre-Hispanic days. After the Spanish took over the lakes were drained to create the present land form. The district still has some 170 km of canals. There are also small artificial islands called chinampas. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
We were here for a few hours in 2013. The district has become a tourist attraction with colourful gondola-like boats, called trajineras, plying the canals. We chartered a boat and plied along the matrix of canals, entertained by musicians and mildly harassed by hawkers on boats, tagging alongside your boat, 6th photo. These trajineras are 1-man-powered boats, 4th photo. It was a weekend. There were many local tourists.
The 7th photo shows a commercial flower garden on an artificial island. The soil should be very fertile. The last photo shows bananas being sold at a local market. Have you seen bananas being stacked like that? Wonder why the lowest ones not flattened under pressure?
No comments:
Post a Comment