Xochimilco

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The possibility of traveling through time is an endeavor best left to philosophers; however, visits to places such as Xochimilco present us with the opportunity to imagine the former character of this region, which was the main water catchment area for Mexico City up until the 19th Century. The tamed wilderness, or the country in the city, are two of the likely descriptions which can be applied to this lake which struggles to survive against the encroaching urban mass.

This struggle actually became an armed rebellion during the pre-Hispanic era and during the Conquest of Mexico, resulting in a certain aloofness among its present-day inhabitants. The cultivation of flowers and trade in market produce for Mexico City gradually led to prosperity for the region. These circumstances have led to present-day celebrations such as the Feast of the Candelaria (February 2nd), during which the communal blessing of figures of baby Jesus takes place, or the Flower Fair (Tuesday during Easter Week), when the different neighborhoods from the entire region compete in ostentation and graciousness. The epicenter of these celebrations is, as could be expected, the church. The parish of San Bernadino has not only a beautiful exterior, but its interior houses one of the most ancient and best-preserved altarpieces in all America. It is easy to transport oneself back to the 16th Century when the Franciscan monks oversaw the building of the convent and the carving of the facades, where it is possible to make out both the laborious chiseling and the finely detailed masonry. Epidemics and heartache decimated the native population in those early years, but new flows of immigrants more than made up for the numbers lost. Today, in fact, it can be quite overwhelming to pole along the lake in one of the colorful punts on a busy weekend, but a sense of excitement accompanies the smaller vessels that carry floating groups of musicians or succulent snacks that join visitors as they drift along the innumerable canals in the shade of towering cypress trees. The presence of water has a dual significance in Mexico City: on the one hand it is fought against like a plague that floods and destroys all manner of constructions, while on the other it is sucked out of distant pristine springs in insatiable amounts. Xochimilco lives among these cyclopean struggles but shows, at the same time, its kinder face.