My ramero (boat rower) and I
I visited Xochimilco yesterday, a neighborhood in the south of Mexico City. The community lives around a network of canals and a large lake — the way many others used to live in pre-colonial times.
Indeed, all of Mexico City used to be one huge lake, before the water was diverted away by canals and gradually the lake was covered over by cement and houses.
Yesterday, I walked to one of the town’s nine jetties (embarcaderos) and got a ride on a boat called a trajinera or lancha. I had trouble resisting a serenade by mariachis floating by.
Here (in the below video), they sing a rendition of “Mexico Lindo,” a traditional and very popular mariachi song. Sorry for the shakiness. The singer invited me to get up and dance with him in the middle of the song. I kind of got into it. And we were on a boat after all!
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