At present in society there is a fixation on “experiences” travel fits very neatly into what most 9-to-5ers and weekend warriors define as “experiences”. Accumulating these “experiences” earns humans points which upon death may be traded for upgraded status in the Afterworld.

The problem with experiences is the best ones have to be organic and true to a certain degree to earn these life points. Being authentic is hard and the experiences that made having an experience a popular thing to do in the first place are not easy, some are even arduous, literal or metaphorical mountains which must be bagged if one is to enter Valhalla or be prayed out of purgatory.

Some places have an air about them that hangs heavy and regal in the air when someone mentions them: “Everest” “The Vatican” “Maldives”. Xochimilco is decidedly NOT one of these places but it Is a UNESCO recognized site, although it is definitely at the low end of these and has been threatened to have its status removed. What it may lack in fastidious homage to its origin as part of the network of canals in Teotihuacan, it more than makes up for in the verve and energy that still flow through the place. Because Xochimilco is not a manicured tourist Mecca or a quaintly neglected “natural” site but rather one that is a destination mostly for domestic visitors and is unabashedly interwoven with modern city life it will be unlik any other you have visited. If you love Mexican culture you must not miss it.