Mexico 2023 – blog day 4 –
Today was excursion day! Time to learn something about Mexican water management. Our day started at the university again, where we gathered in order to take the bus to the excursion that was planned for us today. The bus had been arranged by the university and was nicely on time. We had a quick coffee and some chat about the different projects and then we headed to Xochimilco. After the experience of some Mexico City traffic, we arrived at the starting point of our excursion about an hour later.
Xochmilco is known for the canals and islands build during the Aztec empire, as a land reclamation project. The area consists of artificially constructed long narrow strips of land used for agriculture, in what was known as lake Xochimilco. Currently it is the only remaining part of a very complex system of canals, agricultural production areas and small cities during the Aztec period. Nowadays most of the other lakes and canals are drained and are now part of Mexico City.
Xochimilco is now known as a tourist attraction and therefore we were able to get a tour on a boat (a traditional ‘’Chinampas’’). It was interesting to see how the Aztecs have already been working with water. A challenge that is still a hot topic in the city. Also it gave us the opportunity to spend some quality time together and have some fun on our trip. In between our journey to the highlights of the area, we exchanged some of the most important parts of culture, music! Now the Dutchies are familiar with Peso Pluma and the Mexicans learned ‘Brabant’ of Guus Meeuwis.
After our trip through the areas, we traveled back and enjoyed a well deserved dinner together. It was a exiting and inspiring day with lots of insights.
