[May] Hi, friends! Jim and May here from Spanish and Go, your resource for learning real world travel Spanish. Today we're checking out Xochimilco. [Jim] Yeah, this place has been on our list for a long time and we're finally here. This is kind of like the Venice of Mexico right here. It's like the whole gondola experience with the Mexican flair, right? [May] Mm-hmm. (exotic upbeat music) [Jim] Xochimilco is located to the south of Mexico City's historic center and it's one of the city's 16 boroughs. [May] The name Xochimilco comes from the Nahuatl language and is commonly translated into Spanish as: "The flower bed", or "Place of the flowers." [Jim] So from where we're
staying in Mexico City it was about a 40 minute Uber ride and it was $250 pesos
or something like that? [May] Mm-hmm. Yeah, you can get here by metro but the thing is you
have to get on the metro and then get off and then take another bus. [Jim] A lot of transfers. [May] It's, yeah, well maybe not a lot but at least two and Uber is way better
because it's direct. So we took an Uber. [Jim] More expensive but easier. [May] Yes. So we got here, we didn't have much for breakfast but you can buy food here and you can take it with you on the little trajinera. You can have drinks, you can bring a cooler, you can even rent speakers if you want to listen
to music on the ride. So it should be really fun. Let's go look for food! [Jim] Do you want to eat something here quick?
[Waitress] Come on in, friend. [May] Good afternoon.
[Cook] What can I get you, miss? Good morning. [May] Do you have mushroom quesadillas?
[Waitress] Yes, friend. [May] Let's see. Huitlacoche quesadillas... [Waitress] I have this one, which is the small one... This one is the small. [Jim] That's the small one?!
[Waitress] Or the giant one is the "machete". (laughing) [May] Well, I'm going to get one like this one with... with mushrooms, please. [May] Waht filling do you want? They have huitlacoche, mushroom, squash blossom... [Jim] What are "sesos"?
[May] "Sesos"? Brains. [May] You don't want that, right?
[Jim] No. [Jim] It's going to be the same for me...
[May] Mushroom, too? [Jim] With mushroom, please. [Waitress] Small, too?
[Jim] Yes. [May] And then we'll also get something to go.
[Waitress] With cheese? [May] Ah, mine without cheese. (exotic upbeat music) [Jim] Did you order the brains? [May] Ah, ¡no! No, thanks. I ordered mushrooms. (exotic upbeat music) [Waitress] Plain mushrooms.
[May] Mmhm. [Waitress] Mushrooms with cheese.
[May] Thank you very much. (exotic upbeat music) [May] How delicious! I think we're even going to have left overs.
[Cook] Yeah, right? [May] Okay, now, how much do I owe you?
[Cook] Yes, it was two "machetes", right? [May] Mhm, and two small ones.
[Cook] And two small ones. It'd be two hundred, miss. [May] Okay. [Jim] Mhmm [May] If only you could see how much more he likes hot sauce than me. (laughing) [May] I do only a little, but he... [Jim] Thank you. (upbeat music) [May] What do you have there?
[Jim] A coconut. [May] You got thirsty after the quesadilla? [Jim] Yeah. [Jim] The cheese-less quesadilla... well, mine had some. (exotic upbeat music) [Jim] I'd like to return my coconut. (laughing) [Vendor] I have coconut water! Want some chili powder, white boy? [Jim] No. Just plain, please. (exotic upbeat music) [Vendor] Here you go.
[Jim and May] Thanks. [May] So when you're here if you're not with a big group of people make sure you find a group of people to join them on the trajinera because if you say that you're on your own, or with your significant other, or just with a friend, they're going to tell you that you have to hire a private service which is going to be $500 pesos. But it's going to be divided only between you and the other person with you. If you find a group of people then you can divide the $500 pesos by everyone on the trajinera. And it's $500 pesos per hour. You can choose if you
want to ride the trajinera for one, or two, or three hours. [May] Oh yeah, you can have them
decorate it for like your birthday or... yeah. [Brazilian guy] Oh, awesome. [May] Thanks a lot. [May] And when do we pay?
[Rower] Uhm.. What price did he give you per hour? [May] He said it'd be two hours for six hundred. [Remador] Alright. At the end.
[May] Oh, at the end with him. Okay. Great. (exotic upbeat music) [Jim] With nine embarcaderos and around 2000 trajineras including the ones used for selling food, snacks, music, and drinks Xochimilco is a great place to come and enjoy a smooth ride along the river and reminisce of old Mexico. (exotic upbeat music) [Jim] So getting out of here
is a little bit like "carros chocones", right? [May] Yeah, I feel like we're
at the fair. (laughs) [Jim] It's like bumper cars. [May] There was a lot of traffic
leaving the embarcadero but it looks like it's better now. [Jim] Mm-hmm. But it's really cool, they have all these little
boats floating around that will sell you elote, esquite... [May] Micheladas. [Jim] Yeah, they have floating bars basically. [May] Yeah, uh-huh. [Jim] You can get pretty
much whatever you want. Even a mariachi. - [May] Exactly! (laughs) (singing in Spanish) (cheering and clapping) (whistling) [Jim] There are many
reasons why Xochimilco is such an important
part of Mexico's history but the most notorious one is without a doubt the "Chinampería" which is an ancient Mesoamerican
agriculture technique developed and used by many
of the early inhabitants of the Valle de Mexico. [May] A chinampa is a man-made island built on the lowlands of rivers where people can grow trees, flowers and a wide variety of herbs,
fruits and vegetables. The "chinampería" has always
been a major source of food to the people of Mexico City. In the early 1900s, Xochimilco was connected to
the center of Mexico City through canals of the lakes
and lagoons of the area. These canals were used to
transport people and foods onboard of trajineras which are these kinds of
flat boats used in the area. [Jim] The Canal de La Viga was one of the main canals
that connected Xochimilco to the historic center of Mexico City. This once crystal clear canal was not only used for commercial purposes, it was also a tourist attraction and a recreational place for
the wealthy in the early 1900s. [May] Poor management of the
natural resources of the area led to the extinction of most
of these canals in the 1940s when the majority of these
canals were dried out and turned into roads. In 1987, the chinampas of Xochimilco were named a cultural heritage of humanity because of their important history. [Brazilian girl] Wow! Is that blue corn?
[Jim] Aha. [May] It's a "huitlacoche" quesadilla. Do you know what "huitlacoche" is? [Brazilian girl] No.
[May] ¿No? It's the fungus that grows on corn. [May] It's a blue fungus... it's like a plague. But here we cook it and we eat it and... [Jim] A delicious plague.
[May] Yeah. It's good. (laughing) (upbeat music) [Jim] That was really cool. What'd you think, May? [May] Yeah, it was really cool. At first there was a lot of traffic but after the first 20 minutes it was all very smooth. [Jim] Yeah, there's a lot of places
you can stop along the way to literally stop and smell the flowers or buy some. They had Venus flytraps along the way and snakes and other animals you could
get your picture taken with. [May] Mm-hmm. [Jim] We skipped that part because we're not into
zoos and captive animals but it was a really cool tour overall. [May] It would've been nice
to hear about the axolotl which is the animal, the emblematic animal of this area and it's endangered. I've never seen one in real life and she said they have some. I don't know how many but that you can take pictures with and pet them. But yeah we don't like doing that. [Jim] Yeah. They are really cool-looking animals. I think they're related to salamanders but they just have a
really exotic look to them, don't they? [May] Yeah. Along the way we also saw the replica of the "Isla de las Muñecas" which is two and a half
hours away from here. We didn't make it all the way there, but they made another one, a smaller one, not too far from here that you could just take pictures. I don't know the story behind
that "Isla de las Muñecas" but some people say it's
"encantada", "embrujada". [Jim] Bewitched, hunted,
one of those things. [May] Yeah, yeah.
(laughing) What else? They have a lot of "viveros", "invernaderos" because Xochimilco means
the place of the flowers. So they grow a lot of things here and it's believed that the waters are very rich in minerals. So plants love that and they grow very, very, very pretty. I was talking to a lady there and she was saying they also grow beans, corn, a lot of edible things that they take them to the market and then they sell them there. [Jim] So we ended up finding another couple that looked like they were
asking around for prices and we asked them if they
would be interested in getting on a boat together and splitting the cost. That was definitely the way to go. And this couple, they were bargaining, they were going around and what's it called? "Regateando"? [May] Mm-hmm. [Jim] And that's not something we normally do. We like to investigate and see what the price
of something usually is which here it's usually $500 pesos an hour. But this couple talked one of the guys who was selling the places on the boats for $300 an hour. So we got a two hour
boat tour for $600 pesos. Between four people that's pretty cheap. [May] $150 each person. Yeah, mm-hmm. And then we gave a little tip to the guy who was actually
taking us on the trajinera and then you do have to pay to
enter the "ajolote"... [Jim] The little zoo they had.
[May] Thing. Yeah, you have to pay I think she said it was $50 pesos and then you get to see
some other reptiles. They have, I think a crocodile she said? [Jim] Yeah, I heard that, too. [May] So it was $50 pesos just the entrance and the explanation, and another $50 pesos if you
wanted to take pictures. There was also a lady who
came with a bucket of drinks. Beer, juice, soda... and she left it with us.
[Jim] On the table. [May] Yeah, and she was like, "You
can drink whatever you want" and then, when you come back, I'll charge you for the drinks you have." That's a good option I think. [Jim] Yeah. [May] Yeah, if you don't want
to carry a bunch of things you can just come here and they'll sell you anything. We had another person selling jewelry, a bunch of things. [Jim] So if you're ever in Mexico City this is an awesome place to spend the day especially when you're with a bigger group but if you want to come
here with us sometime, you can join us on our
Spanish immersion retreat here in Mexico City. We'll leave a link in the
description of this video so you can join us for next time. [May] Well, thank you guys for watching. We hope you enjoyed this video. Don't forget to like and subscribe for more travel and Spanish tips and remember "El camino es el destino" The journey is the destination. See you soon! ¡Adios!
