Cuicuilco and Xochimilco

Cuicuilco is a site in Mexico City, a residence of the ancient Olmecs(?), according to some sources, which was buried by lava during the eruption of the volcano Xitle in 200 B.C. It is now a favorite haunt of new-agers.

Our guide was a young woman named Gisela; also with us was an intern, Gabe. Gisela was very pleasant and was intent on improving her English vocabulary, so that, for example, she took out a notebook and added the word "sod" to it.

Our entire tour group consisted of one tourist besides us, a businessman from the Netherlands. After visiting Cuicuilco, we spent some time on boats painted with flowers (trajineras) at Xochimilco, the last remnants of the lake on which Mexico City, and before that the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan, was built.

Linda, Gisela, Gabe at Cuicuilco.

A (small!) site to climb.

An example of the trajineras at the floating gardens of Xochimilco. The smaller boats are poled by vendors, eager to sell food, beverages, or live music to passengers on the trajineras. We may have been the only tourists there, as this is a popular family pastime in Mexico City.

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