Glide along the canals of floating Aztec gardens in Xochimilco

Xochimilco, south of Mexico City, is the sole pre-Hispanic watercourse that has survived. Colorful wooden trajinera boats cruise across the canals, through chinampas (floating gardens). Fruit, vegetables, and flowers grow on top of reed garden beds. Tenochtitlan, the magnificent Aztec capital, controlled from an island among linked lakes around 500 years ago. The Aztecs maintained a delicate balance of brackish and fresh water. Imagine Xochimilco in Aztec times, with gardeners tending to plot of green bean-vines, hairy purple amaranth, and plump chilis and tomatoes to feed the city, as it still does today, as you float by.

Xochimilco, designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and of exceptional universal importance, is the only surviving trace of traditional ground occupancy in the lagoons of the Mexico City basin prior to the Spanish invasion. Visitors may now tour the canals while floating on a colorful boat called a trajinera and learn about the Aztecs' innovative strategy for cultivating food on the fertile riverbeds of the pre-Hispanic rivers - the chinampas are still used today, but for growing flowers rather than food crops.