A few days ago I went to witness the sunrise in Xochimilco, a recommendation of a YouTube video I saw, if I imagined that it would be very nice, but the truth is I did not imagine that much.
Here I will tell you how the experience was, how much it cost, who I went with, what were the not so nice aspects and everything in general, so you can take note and live this great experience.
Of all the sunrise experiences available, such as Trajinera at sunrise in a group, sunrise in a canoe, camping or sunrise in a kayak, I chose the latter because it was the one I felt most integrated with nature.
Xochimilco in the dark
I arrived at about 5:40 a.m. I had been summoned at 6:00 a.m. When I arrived it was very dark at the point where we had been summoned which was in the Salon Michmani room at the cuemanco pier.
Something that surprised me a lot and that I did not know, is that in the distance I heard some church bells playing the national anthem, it was very strange to me, but when I got home I searched on YouTube and tried to find information about why some chapels still play the bells with the national minimum.
My doubt is if the tradition comes from the times of Benito Juarez or if it comes from the Cristero War, I know that later I will know this answer, but for the moment we are left with the doubt.
There were different groups, some of them in trajinero, some of us in kayaks and many others who didn’t know what was going on. After waiting a while for the kayaks to be set up and everything, we got ready to go up and start the adventure.
First time in Kayak
If you have already been in a kayak you will know that it is easy, but not as easy as it looks and if you know how to swim and the water is not freezing, there is not so much drama.
But that January day I went, the water was almost freezing and I didn’t know how to swim, so being my first time in a kayak I was a little scared at first, but then I gained confidence.
Mist with a magical touch
Quickly in the first few minutes of the tour, you realize that this is something spectacular, seeing the mist as it is covering the trees, the river and everything you realize why Xochimilco is named as a world heritage site.
It is important to mention that this fog is only seen in cold weather, in autumn and winter in spring and summer is not seen so much, this because with the temperature changes of the river and the outside water evaporates slightly and causes this effect.
Here are some images to show you what it looks like.
Sunrise in Xochimilco
After a few minutes on the tour we could finally see the sunrise, the truth something spectacular, the best I’ve seen this sunrise and the sunrise of Cancun or Playa del Carmen and Tulum are at the same level.
It simply could not be more spectacular, that touch that gives you see the sun between the bushes along with the mist simply has no comparison.
To give you an idea, here is how the trees, the fog, the sun and everything together look like.
After sunrise
When the sun rose a little more, the fog began to disperse and we began to see everything more clearly, we went to an area called El Japon to see some herons.
But when they all started to fly at the same time, which theoretically was a speculum, I was distracted by some plants and I didn’t see anything of the takeoff, but the others saw it.
The Xochimilcas
We must not forget the Xochimilcas who built all these artificial islands called Chinampas in such a large lake.
It must have been very hard work in those days to build the Chinampas (artificial islands) having to first carry branches, float and bundle them, then pour in soil and so on until they became islands.
Nowadays we see them as canals, but not all of them were floating islands that, if it were not for the trees that put down their roots very deep, the islands would be moving.
The return of the tour
After visiting the area called El Japon and missing the herons flying, we started our return trip, which felt different because, as I mentioned, there was no longer any fog.
So it was perceived as a different trip, although at the end as it was almost 4 hours of travel and almost when arriving back to the pier of Cuemanco, I was quite tired.
But it was certainly a very worthwhile experience.
Cost of the experience and more details
The tour I took was $750 pesos and was with Kayak 33 you can visit their website here, very nice and all, although if you do heed the recommendations because if it is very cold and if you are going to go in cold weather I recommend you take some bags for your feet, because with the fog your sneakers get wet and you feel the cold, but nice hehe.
