Rotterdam (or Anywhere)

I came back from a week in Mexico City last Friday night, and am still trying to adjust to being back in the cold north 🙂 It was wonderful having a week of summer in the middle of winter, and I really enjoyed spending time with friends there. I took a lot of photos of course, and I won’t be able to post them all at once. So this post is about the first trip we did: to Xochimilco. It was Tanja’s birthday and we wanted to do something festive.

Mexico City used to be located on an island, and there were many lakes around. The canals in Xochimilco (an area within the city) are the only remains of what was once lake Xochimilco. This area is also referred to as the “floating gardens” (or chinampa’s), as originally they took the mud from the bottom of the lake to create fertile islands to grow crops. Nowadays, you can hire very colourful boats here! 

On weekends, it’s a very popular spot and the river is full of boats, some with people playing music and selling food. We were there on a Friday and it was very quiet… it was beautiful though, such a peaceful break from a busy city! This was the first day we were all together, as Nicole’s flight was cancelled and she arrived a day late – so it was a perfect way to relax and catch up 🙂

There weren’t many other boats out, we only met a few. These ones were being moved by a kid who had to work hard to keep going! After the boats we walked around the centre of Xochimilco – one thing I really like is the amount of Volkswagen beetles in Mexico City! There are lots of these green-and-white taxi’s but you also see a lot of other beetle’s driving around. They were still made in Mexico until five years ago – the last place where they were produced.

We went to the market, such a wonderful mix of exotic fruits and vegetables 🙂 The colourful dolls behind up are modern versions of piñatas, they are used at (children) party’s and when you destroy it you are rewarded with sweets that are hidden inside.

There was a big flower market too, so we bought some flowers for Paola’s mum. We spent some time relaxing in their garden, very nice!

In the afternoon we had a nice lunch outside, and after that we left Paola to do the last preparations for her wedding (the next day!). In the evening we went to a small restaurant just across the street from our hotel, for some birthday cake for Tanja – they had very good cakes!!

Ok, that’s all for now! More soon, I hope. My sister is also coming to visit on Thursday, so it’s a busy week!