San Andrés Mixquic sits on the southeastern edge of Mexico City, in the borough of Tláhuac, and it feels like a village despite being part of one of the largest cities on earth. It is famous throughout Mexico for its Day of the Dead celebrations, when the cemetery around the church of San Andrés fills with marigolds, candles and families who keep vigil through the night of 2 November, and the whole town turns into a festival of altars, music and food. The rest of the year, Mixquic is a quiet place of canals, chinampas and vegetable fields.
Chinampas are the artificial islands of mud and vegetation, anchored by willow trees, that the Aztecs and their predecessors built in the shallow lakes of the Valley of Mexico to grow crops, and they are the reason Xochimilco and its surroundings were listed by UNESCO in 1987. The system is incredibly productive, and some of the chinampas around Mixquic are still farmed, producing lettuce, herbs, flowers and vegetables for the city's markets. The canals are home to the axolotl, the strange salamander that has become a symbol of Mexico City and of the struggle to save its wetlands.
Riding to Mixquic means riding through the dense, chaotic traffic of the southern city, with buses, microbuses and taxis competing for space, potholes and speed bumps everywhere, and drivers who treat traffic rules as suggestions. Once you leave the main avenues, the roads become calmer, running along canals and fields, with views of the volcanoes Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl on clear days. Mexico City has driving restrictions based on license plates, the Hoy No Circula programme, which can affect vehicles from other states, so check the current rules before you go.
Mixquic has fuel stations on its access roads, small restaurants and street stalls selling tacos, quesadillas and tamales. A boat trip on the canals, either here or in Xochimilco itself, is a relaxing way to see the chinampas. Tláhuac and Xochimilco have more services, and the historic centre of Xochimilco, with its market and church, is a short ride away. Plan your visit for the morning, when traffic is lighter and the air is clearer.