The New Floating Garden

Many visitors to Mexico City are familiar with the so-called "Floating Gardens of Xochimilco", a network of canals and islands on the far south side of the city.  They are a remnant of the "chinampa" system of agriculture used by the Aztecs in which man-made islands would be created for farming in the shallow waters of the lake which once covered most of the Valley of Mexico.

Today however, the city boasts a newly-opened elevated, lineal park called the Floating Garden of  Tlallipan.  It runs a little over a mile from the southern edge of the Historic District south to the Chabacano Metro Station.  Line 2 of the Metro emerges from underground, and the Floating Garden is built above the Metro tracks.  The name comes from the fact that the route follows that of the pre-Hispanic causeway which ran from the Aztecs' island capital of Tenochtitlan to the lakeshore town of Tlalpan.

I wanted to check out this new project.  I took the subway to the Pino Suárez station.  Exiting the station I then walked a short distance outside and then climbed a flight of stairs which led to the beginning of the Floating Garden.

Work is still continuing on the project, and there were crews of gardeners planting more plants.

The gardens on either side of the walkway are quite attractive with a variety of flowers and other plants.

Dahlias, the national flower of Mexico

A cactus in bloom

There are several fountains which are enclosed in capsules to prevent evaporation.

The gardens are decorated with figures of animals that are native to Mexico.

The axolotl, the salamander-like animal that inhabits the canals of Xochimilco and which has become a trademark of Mexico City.

A soccer-playing axolotl

The xoloitzcuintle (xolo for short) is a breed of dog that was venerated by the Aztecs.

We know it as the Mexican hairless.

The Tlaloc frog, named after the Aztec rain god, is an endangered species.

(It doesn't really wear a pre-Hispanic headdress.)

A hummingbird

Another hummingbird, formed from succulent plants

A cocomixtle, an animal similar to a small racoon

A teporingo, a tiny rabbit-like animal which inhabits the volcanic slopes of Mexico

There are also a large number of figures of dogs, among them the rescue dogs Proteo and Frida who gained the status of heroes for their work in finding survivors in the wreckage of earthquakes in Mexico and around the world.

The gardens include playground areas for the children, stands selling organic vegetables, and even tables for playing chess.

The path passes right through an upper level of the San Antonio Abad Metro station.

After more than a mile, the park comes to an end at the Chabacano Metro station.

The Chabacano station is very large and busy.  Three Metro lines intersect here, two of them above ground and one below ground.  One of the stops on the underground line is within walking distance of the apartment, so returning home was very easy.

The station has been completely renovated.

I was very impressed with the Floating Garden.  I think it will be a very nice asset for the city IF... (and given the way things work in Mexico City, it's a big if)... IF the park is maintained and not allowed to fall into disrepair.  Fingers crossed. 

The Drainage Problem

Whenever there is a heavy rain in Mexico City... a frequent event during the rainy season... many of the streets flood.  Some become impassable, and cars are stranded along the inundated thoroughfares.  Sometimes the water enters homes and businesses.  The flooding wreaks havoc with the pavement and leaves the streets full of potholes. 

Near the Pino Suárez Metro station I saw this banner posted by someone who is obviously fed up with the situation.

  "ENOUGH of flooding!

Renovation of the drainage network, paving and pothole repair

in the borough of Cuauhtémoc"

Without a doubt a thorough repair and renovation of the drainage system should be a priority with the city government.  However, there is another side to the story.  Unfortunately, there is a portion of the population who have no qualms about being litterbugs.  They think nothing of throwing trash in the street.  Then when it rains, the refuse flows to the storm drains and clogs them.

 A sign posted by the government says,

"This does not go here.

Your rubbish in the street obstructs the drainage."

An Old Chapel

Near one of the exits of the Pino Suárez Metro station, I saw this small church which I do not believe I have noticed before.  It's called the "Capilla de San Lucas" (Chapel of St. Luke).

The door was open, so I went inside.  Although the painting around the mural appears to be a recent addition, the wooden beams of the ceiling would seem to indicate that the chapel is very old.

There was a lady at a counter near the entrance selling religious objects.  I asked her how old the church was, but she didn't know.  So, I had to do some research afterwards on the computer.  

In the 17th century, this neighborhood was the slaughterhouse district.  The butchers and meatcutters were not welcome in the nearby Church of San Miguel Arcángel, so a new parish was established here in 1690.  The chapel was dedicated to St. Luke, the patron saint of butchers and was originally called San Lucas Cuezcontitlan de los Carniceros.  (Cuezcontitlan was the Aztec name for the neighborhood, and "carnicero" means butcher.)  The church was rebuilt between 1698 and 1701 with money donated by the local butchers.

A Heroine of Independence

In recent months I have been seeing quite a few tile plaques in the subway stations that commemorate events or people from Mexican history.

In the Pino Suárez station I saw this plaque honoring an historic figure I had never heard of..   Altagracia Mercado.

Mercado was born in the town of Huichapan in the state of Hidalgo.  When the War for Independence against Spain broke out, she used her own money to form a battalion which she herself trained and led into battle.  They won several battles against the Spanish Royalist troops.  However, in 1819 her battalion was defeated.  Her soldiers were killed or had scattered, but Mercado stood alone, continuing to fight.  The Spanish colonel was so impressed by her bravery that he commanded that she not be killed.  "Mujeres como ella no deben morir," he supposedly said.  "Women such as her should not die."  She was sent to Mexico City where she was sentenced to prison."

Her leadership and bravery were later used as an example as to why Mexican women should be granted the right to vote.   

More Soccer Art

I suspect that some of you are probably tired of posts dealing with soccer, but the World Cup has dominated Mexico City this summer.  Even weeks after the tournament's end, "fútbol" is still omnipresent.

I was recently in the Pino Suárez subway station, and came across an exhibit of soccer-related art there.  The paintings are by a contemporary artist named Erik Rivera.  I wasn't able to find out a lot about him, but he goes by the nickname of "El Niño Terrible" (The Terrible Child).  The characters in his paintings, even the adults, have large, child-like eyes.  Many of the works in this exhibition are painted on old cardboard boxes.  I do not know the significance of the eyeballs on many of the soccer balls.

A clever idea...

a painting of soccer shoes inside a shoe box.

The Rebel Novice

I wrote in an earlier post that we had tickets for a stage production of "The Sound of Music" (known in Spanish as "La Novica Rebelde"... "The Rebel Novice").  Last Saturday we attended the performance at one of the theaters in the Plaza Centro Cultural.

It was a full house, which in a way surprised me since this production was in English.  (At either side of the stage there were screens with subtitles in Spanish.)  It was a road company that has been touring the U.S. since last year, and it was performing in Mexico City for just one week.

It was a very professional production.  The actors all had very good voices, and the stage settings (even if they could not match the spectacular Alpine cinematography of the movie) were impressive.  The show followed the original Broadway musical of 1959, which means that there were numerous differences from the 1965 movie.  There are a couple of songs in the stage play that were omitted from the film.  The placement of some of the songs is also different.  In the movie, "My Favorite Things" is sung by Maria to calm the children when they are frightened by a thunderstorm.  In the original play it is sung by Maria and the Mother Abbess before the former leaves the convent to take her job as governess.  During the thunderstorm Maria sings "The Lonely Goatherd" to the children.  The marionette scene in the movie does not appear in the play.

All in all, it was a very enjoyable performance.  However, at the risk of sounding like a grumpy old man or a crabby schoolteacher, there was one annoyance.  I was seated next to a brat that was constantly fidgeting, bumping me and turning on his cell phone.  He was probably eleven or twelve years old, so he was old enough that he should have known how to conduct himself at a performance.  His mother was oblivious.  If I were his parent, I would have told him to sit still and turn off the damn cellphone! 

Police Music

It seems to have become a regular event at the "Glorieta de Insurgentes", a transportation hub with a subway station and Metrobus stop.  As I passed through, once again the mariachi band of the Mexico City police department was giving a concert to the public.