Barrio de Xochimilco

Xochimilco is one of the oldest neighbourhoods of Oaxaca City, about nine blocks north of the historic centre and roughly 1.5 km from the Zócalo. Its name comes from the Valley of Mexico: according to local history the barrio was founded around 1486 by warriors from Xochimilco whom the Mexica ruler Ahuízotl sent south during his conquests, and they kept the Nahuatl name of their homeland, usually translated as "field of flowers". For centuries it was a separate village on the edge of the Spanish city of Antequera, and only in 1926 was it formally absorbed into the municipality of Oaxaca de Juárez.

The barrio's best-known sight is the Arquitos de Xochimilco, a stretch of about 300 m of the 18th-century San Felipe aqueduct, built of brick and green cantera stone, that runs along Calle Rufino Tamayo from the small Plazuela de la Cruz de Piedra toward Calle Cosijopí. Neighbours long ago built doorways, homes and shops into the round arches, so walking the lane means passing under the old water channel at every step. Halfway along there is a little plaza with a fountain and benches. Further north the aqueduct crosses a ravine of the Jalatlaco river on taller arches, at the spot called La Cascada.

The centre of barrio life is the church of Santo Tomás Xochimilco, built of cantera and set in a garden, with the barrio cemetery opposite; around Day of the Dead the cemetery and nearby streets fill with altars and decorated façades. Xochimilco is known for its weaving families, who still work cotton and muslin on traditional pedal looms, and its cobbled streets mix single-storey colonial houses with murals and small cafés. On Friday and Saturday mornings the El Pochote organic market, started in 2003 with the backing of the artist Francisco Toledo, sells coffee, cacao, produce and breakfast dishes, and the children's library Toledo promoted is also in the barrio.