Yesterday we spent the day in Xochimilco, a borough of Mexico City in the south, famous for its collection of canals. The canals are what is left over from the lake and canal system used during the Azteca times. The whole ancient Aztec city of Tenochtitlan (modern day Mexico City) was built on islands as demonstrated below. The Aztecs developed a system that used lake resources and they successfully grew important crops such as maize and had a diet highly dependent on fish, ducks, herons and other aquatic birds, frogs and snakes. This is why Mexico City has such unstable foundations and why it is so affected by earthquakes. Xochimilco nowadays is a World Heritage Site and the “trajineras” (Mexican gondolas) can be rented out for tours or parties (or just getting drunk).
Tenochtitlan (ancient city where modern day Mexico City is built)
Xochimilco
There were many people celebrating birthdays and young people throwing parties
Our sexy Mexican gondolier
There were floating taco sellers, beer sellers and all sorts of other little bits and bobs
There were even floating mariachi 🙂
21century mariachi
The gang-spot the non-mexican
When the Spaniards came and enforced Catholicism in Mexico, they had to adapt their crosses for the indigenous population of Mexico. Many of the traditional images of Catholic crosses show Christ pinned to the cross and bleeding. For the indigenous population blood meant weaknesses and they found it difficult to worship a God which they saw as weak. So the Spaniards initially adapted their cross to show no blood and often used strong colours to get on board the indigenous people of Mexico.
The Mayas believed that a large forehead showed great power and the larger and flatter the forehead was the more powerful the individual. They used to stick large stones to the foreheads of their babies and tie them there so that their foreheads would turn out that way
Many indigenous tribes thought the most beautiful women were those that had enormous hips and bums!
The Mayas were one of the first cultures that had books.
The original Aztec Sun Stone (Aztec Calendar) is on display in the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City
An original Olmeca head. The Olmeca were the first civilization in Mesoamerica and formed between 1500 and 400 BC. The Olmeca were the first to develop a style of stone sculpture.
This crazy little thing is a musical instrument. Can you believe it, designed BC!! Amazing 🙂
The Maya were very fierce warriors and often made rituals to their gods. For the God of harvest, one individual would peel their skin off to imitate the act of peeling a corn ear
Nothing special about this monkey I just love him!
The Xoloitzcuintle dog is native to Mexico and was the Mayas' and Aztecas' best friend. Many indigenous peoples had the dog as home and hunting companions and they believed the dogs were sacred because they would help guide their masters' souls to the underworld. On the left you can see a modern day relative of the Xoloitzcuintle we saw on the street and on the right a representation of the original from the Mayan times from the museum