Intro to Trainers de Xochimilco


Remote Year
Mexico City 2019







- Xochimilco is one of the 16 boroughs (alcaldías) within Mexico City. It is also home to the Canales de
Xochimilco (the canal system) where Trajineras (the boats) float around. 

- The borough is centered on the formerly independent city of Xochimilco, which was established on
what was the southern shore of Lake Xochimilco in the pre-Hispanic period.

- Xochimilco is best known for its canals, which are left from what was an extensive lake and canal
system that connected most of the settlements of the Valley of Mexico during Aztec times. 

- These canals are formed by artificial islands called chinampas and are currently still inhabited and
used for agriculture purposes. Today, this system of agriculture is an example of sustainability and
productivity: they provide five annual harvests of high-quality vegetables.

- The colorful gondola-like boats called “trajineras” came around in the late 1800s as part of a display
by ex president Porfirio Diaz to foreign visitors. 

- The canals are fed by fresh water springs, which is artificially supplemented by treated water. This
because water tables are still dropping and human expansion and filling in of canals is still occurring,
threatening to have the last of these canals disappear. To help conservation and enhance their historic
value, Xochimilco was declared a World Heritage Site by the Unesco in 1987. 

- You might run into the word Axolote or Axolotl or a cartoon of a creature that looks somewhat like
this: 




This creature has been rescued from extinction and is an essential member of the ecosystem in
Xochimilco. He is the only animal on the planet capable of regenerating damaged organs or tissue
including its medular spine (as well as limbs and tail).