Xochimilco

5 bottle openers on one boat

Yesterday we went to Xochimilco! We met at the school for a review session for our test this coming Monday, then left from there. The trip over was super long, and it started raining as we exited the second train and started walking toward our destination. We got to see a different little part of Mexico, so that was really fun. When we got to the lake, we were immediately told to stand under the covered trajineras so that we didn't get rained on anymore. 

We ended up walking across the trajineras (gondola like boats) to two other ones adjacent to each other so that they would attach the two together. Jenny, our local coordinator, went away for a while and came back with two large buckets full of Corona and Victoria. The group was split into two at this point, and the group on the other boat had been trying to claim that they were the "fun group." Turns out, they did not have a single bottle opener while, between various pocket knifes and key chains, we had five. When they asked to borrow one, the guys started teasing them, saying that they didn't need them since they were the fun group, and of course refused to share. It was all very entertaining. Then we were off. 

Trajineras are basically exactly like the gondolas in Venice in that you've got a guy standing at the front with a long pole, moving the boat by pushing off of the bottom. However, they seat 16 people and are colorful, big, and covered with a table in the middle.

View out the back of our trajinera

Photo credit to Many for most of these pictures, my phone camera was not working and my real camera was making everything blurry from the movement of the boat.

More trajineras

The trip was about two hours long, and we just sat around telling stories and hanging out the whole time. A man floated by selling elote, a type of maize that you eat that can be cooked in different ways. I tried mine roasted with lime, salt, and chili. It was a bit harder than the boiled corn we are used to, but in a good way, and the flavor was awesome.

Corn seller

Elote asado with lime, salt, and c hili

We also got to hear a little bit about Xochimilco while we were there, including one of the creepiest things I've ever seen. You guys know I hate dolls, dummies, clowns, mannequins, etc. if you know me at all. So of course we went by this replica island of the dolls. The legend goes that a man found a doll floating in the canal, so he cleaned her up and made an altar to her. He began to collect more and more dolls, and his collection grew. One day he came home to find all the dolls burned, decapitated, and destroyed. He cleaned them up and fixed them, but it just kept happening. Then the original doll appeared to him in a dream and told him that she wanted to be the only one. *Shudder*. He put all the other dolls on the original island, which has only dolls. This replica has other stuff too, like Winnie the Pooh hung in a tree. It's terrifying.

Creepy dolls

But then we got serenaded by a mariachi band so I felt better.

Our lovely musicians

Another view of the canals

I only wish I could have seen an axolotl, which live there and look like little happy water monsters.

We got back very late, at like 8:30, whereas they had estimated that we would get home at 5. Margaritas son, daughter, son in law, and grandson were all over, so I spent some time with them and then went to bed, which is why I am only just now posting this. 

Today we go to the basilica of Guadalupe I believe, so stay tuned for more later!