Advertisement
Published: September 11th 2010
Edit Blog Post
Flowers for Linda
from the street market, stargazer lilies that last 2 weeks Xochimilco, now a suburb of Mexico City, is located some 27 miles south of Mexico City center. THE PLAN: meet at ASF school at 9 a.m., bus to Xochimilco, visit and buy plants, then a canal ride, and then back to ASF school by 2:30. Tracy, whom Linda gets a ride to school with every morning, offers to pick us up and take us to the school Saturday morning. Great, beats taxis or the Metro. So I offer to cook breakfast and Tracy joins us at 7:45 for eggs, sausage, toast fruit and jams. 7:45 breakfast meant that we were able to have a big sleep in until like 7 am, remember, we are used to 5:45 am. We arrive at school a little before 9, and being polite, we wait until 9:30 to leave because we wouldn't want to leave anyone behind. The bus is full and everyone is happy. The trip is being sponsored and paid for be the parent association, and we are informed that they will even have a van at the plant market to transport any plants we buy right to our doors. Sweet, definitely eliminates one of our main concerns as we plan on
Michiladas
good business going for a Saturday morning buying plants.
Xochimilco has been inhabited since approximately 200 B.C. and was situated on the shores of Lake Xochimilco, one of a series of lakes that have now disappeared due to the practice of Chinampas. Chinampa is an agricultural practice originally from lake regions in the center of Mexico. Large reed mats were staked down and fenced 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 eventually establishing a base that is very fertile. Unesco declared Xochimilco a World Heritage site in 1987 as all that remains of the lakes in this whole valley are the canals of Xochimilco.
Back to the plan. We arrive at Xochimilco and the organizers decide that because the sun is shining NOW, we maybe should do the canal tour before doing the plant shopping. Hey, we're in because it's 11 am, the sun is shining, we are going on boats propelled by pole and gondliers, down canals while being serenaded by mariachi bands. And, to top it off, we are told that the very best Michilatas in the whole world are here. So there
On the dock
all these boats waiting for passengers we are in line again; Michilatas are a liter of beer with lots of fresh squeezed lime juice and chili sauces. Thus armed, we make our way onto these incredibly brightly coloured flat bottom boats and away we go. Once into the canal, they tie our 3 boats together, a band comes on board and we are royally serenaded as we float down a beautiful flower lined canal. Tiny boats come alongside and tempt us with wares, and of course we buy, oh, and more beer of course! Then, another boat came alongside and delivered box lunches provided by the school cafeteria for us all. (They really don't want the staff to get sick) We were a happy group disembadking a couple of hours later.
Then, off to the plant market, where we are told we only have 45 minutes to shop and then the bus leaves. Now, because we had so little time, we did not get a chance to take many pictures. It is hard to imagine, each vendor has a space about 20 feet wide and 50 feet deep, each one filled with all types of plants, shrubs, trees and all green things imaginable, many of
follow the leader
there is only one way to go which we ahd never seen before. The vendors occupy about 5 long blocks down, then another 5 long blocks back up on the other side. Thankfully, they have bathrooms in the center, remember the very best Michiladas, though it does cost 4 pesos if you want to use said bathrooms. Good thing the Michiladas were cheap.
All too soon, we were told to put our address on all items we bought, we hired little wagons to bring our stuff to the van, we loaded up and returned to the school. The van delivered our plants to our apartment within the hour and we are set. We bought 11 plants and 4 clay-mirror lined pots. Our apartment is now homey and green, we are trying to figure out which ones need more sun. Our maid, we are told, has a green thumb and she helped us tranplant just today. We then joined friends for supper at a restaurant about a 15 minute ecobic ride from here and then called it a day.
Sunday turned out to be a rainy day so we didn't go to the art market where we have 2 pictures waiting for us. It will have to
leaving the dock
michaladas on the table, boat being poled along and the band on the way! be this coming Sunday. We did brunch with friends and got some fresh produce from yet another market.
Another week in school for Linda, and I was off to Puerto Vallarta for 4 days where the weather was terribly hot and muggy. They have had torrential rains there this year, washing out bridges, and while I was there, a huge rain caused flooding so bad, a sport utility vehicle was actually swept off the street and into a canal. I saw a picture of a bus pushing water up to his windshield, it was a diesel with the engine at the rear. It 's nice to be back home in Mexico City...it's just nice here.
Linda had her first "earthquake drill" at school today and found it quite amusing. I had a hard time keeping a straight face while the students hid under their desks while I stood in the doorway waiting for the signal to go down 3 flights of stairs. When the signal came each student had a book over their head to ensure that their heads were somewhat protected. I could feel the giggles start inside but I kept it together till I was outside
and that's with Michiladas
Fran and Joanne have invited us to join them in Huatulco for a weekend and saw 950 kids and teachers standing away from the building with a book on their head. After standing around for 10 minutes or so we went in and attempted to teach. Thus, my first earthquae drill!
School is settling down. With all the assistance from computer coaches, spanish teachers, team leaders and course specialist, I find my self without homework for the weekend. Of course I want to go exploring, but Maurice just got back from PV, so we'll check out a couple of markets for furniture and art, ride our bikes around and get in on other sight seeing opportunities right here in Mexico City.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.039s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 6; qc: 24; dbt: 0.02s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb
Mallory and Warren
non-member comment
Fantastica!!!
Enjoying reading your continued adventures!! What a great weekend field trip!! We actually had a sunny day yesterday and today in Saskatoon, highs of 16 degrees!! Other than that continues to be cool and cloudy!