Bugamundos en Mexico: Sunday. 1.16.11 Xochimilco

Today we went with the family to Xochimilco. It was a nice day out, to an excursion destination that is all Mexico! In the morning Paulita and the girls made tortas to take. When we arrived there, we first got down to check out prices and how it worked. Then went back to get our stuff, picked up some drinks and ice from the little store close by.
I’m not sure if they picked it out on purpose, but the boat we got to ride on today was named “Sarita.” And our “driver’s” name was - something really cool, but we’re really bad with names and can‘t remember. He was very nice, even though Josue kept messing him up at different times, when he was trying to dock, Josue would push us back off. “Ay Guero!”
So, basically Xochimilco is a series of canals, what’s left of “Lake Xochimilco.” The remains of what life was like here during the ancient Mesoamerica times. The canals run between the “chinampas,” which are small plots of land for growing vegetation. Anymore it functions mostly as a tourist attraction. The boats, that you ride on to tour the canals are so colorful and decorated so vibrantly, are all named after women or Xochimilco. They are quite comfortable with plenty of seating. They are wide and it’s a smooth ride, like a pontoon. The “driver” moves the boats forward and steers the boat with a really long wooden stick, that he uses to push off the floor of the canals, and steers it by positioning the stick on certain rafters of the roof of the boat to turn directions. Also, they push off of other boats when there are “traffic jams.”
The ride is really smooth, we’re drinking beers and the weather is nice - super relaxing. Then if you get hungry you could always flag down one of the many boats that are selling freshly cooked food. Since we brought tortas with us, we didn’t need to do that. But just for the “antojo” (craving) the kids did call over a lady who was selling “elotes” (corn on the cob), and since she was there Josue & I had to order a grilled elote.
Also, going by in their own boats are musicians selling you a song or serenade, if you want to be romantical - there were Marimba guys as well as Mariachis. The marimba has a cool sound, but for something like this, the mariachis just sound and fit so much better, it sounds more festive!
Perhaps, the closest thing to compare the experience of the canals to, it kind of looks like a more colorful version and bigger boats, to what the canals in Venice, Italy look like, if you’ve ever seen that portrayed on movies or in pictures.
Reminders of home - Tia Yola is our little Mexican version of “Peanut” - she’s so little and cute, happens to trip and fall a lot, and also messes up words and titles of things. Today, when we got here, Tio Arturo bought little Arturito a little toy bat, like the flying kind of bat. Bat=MURCIELAGO in Spanish, but apparently Tia Yola has a hard time saying it and gets all tongue tied, and her grandkids were having fun messing with her, making her say it again… she kept saying: “murcieGaLo.” And it seemed to click to me and Josue about the same time who she reminded us of.
Our tour took two hours round trip. It was nice and relaxing. Afterward, we took all the stuff back to the cars, then walked around the shops for a while. But first a fresh fruit stand caught our attention, where they were making fruit cocktails, or what they called salad of shredded cucumber or carrots or jicama. We got one with both cucumbers and carrots - which was doused in fresh lime juice and chile pikin (powdered chile). Soooooo good and refreshing! One of the best snacks to buy here in Mexico.
While I was walking around, “window shopping” - Josue saw a performance of these natives that climbed a pole, connected themselves to the top with ropes and played music while hanging upside down and swinging as they lowered themselves. I missed most of it, but caught the end. It looked pretty cool, they were called “Los Voladores de Papantla” (the flyers of Papantla).
After walking around for a while, we head back to the cars and wait for everyone to get back so we can head home.
On the ride home who knows what got it started, but something set my allergies off, to where my eyes were burning and crying and I couldn’t stop sneezing. Once back at home, Tio Arturo instantly crashed on the couch from a long day, Paula and her family packed up to go home, later Tios went to church, and we settled in to a movie.
It was a good day!