Xochimilco - Mexico City, Mexico
N 19° 15.946 W 099° 06.469
14Q E 488670 N 2130238
A popular Sunday get away for tourists and locals. Jump on a Trajinera boat and enjoy lunch or roam around the markets.
Waymark Code: WM5J70
Location: Distrito Federal, Mexico
Date Posted: 01/12/2009
Views: 14
Xochimilco lies 28 km south of Mexico City.
Its network of canals and artificial islands are all that remains of the lakes that Mexico City is built on.
The area is thought to have been first settled around 250 BC.
The inhabitants developed 'floating gardens' called chinampa which used small, rectangle-shaped areas of land to grow crops on the shallow lake beds.
The area was conqured by Cortes and his troops in 1521 and since then a large section of the lake has been reclaimed as land.
In 1968 the Cuemanco canal was used to host the rowing events during the Olympic Games.