Milpa Alta

Milpa Alta: Countryside in the City

There are thirteen pueblos in the Milpa Alta (meaning High Field; residents elide the two "a"s into one, pronouncing it as a single word, Milpalta). In area, it is the second largest delegación/alcaldía — taking up the entire southeastern section of Mexico City. All the pueblos are indigenous; they existed before the Spanish Conquest. The area around them is sloping, open countryside, filled with fields of nopal cactus. South of the pueblos, the land rises sharply to towering volcanoes of the Chichinautzin range. It contains six volcanoes over 10,500 ft. (3,200 meters) in altitude, rising 3,000 feet (915 meters) above the Valley floor. (See our post Encountering Mexico City's Many Volcanoes: Giants on All Sides.) 

Arriving in Milpa Alta, you cannot believe that you are still in Mexico City, but must be somewhere in the rural "províncias", the countryside in some state far away, not only in space but also in time, from the Spanish colonial Zócalo and the globally post-modern Paseo de la Reforma, the central plaza and major boulevard in the city's center.

San Antonio Tecómitl: Fountain Play, Quinceañera and Carnaval All in One Day

Tecómitl is Nahuatl for the Place Where There Are Stones for Cooking Corn, possibly heating it to prepare for adding lime to the masa, corn dough made from dried corn, the calcium making it more nutritious. This is our first visit to Delegación/Alcaldía Milpa Alta to witness a community celebration. It is a Carnaval being held in early April, before Easter, but we have no information as to when it will begin. Our photographer's eye roves around the plaza, looking for whatever is of interest.  (See our introduction to Delegación/Alcaldía Milpa Alta: Countryside in the City.)

Arriving via taxi to the central plaza, we see, in one large corner, next to a modern clock tower, is a fountain-playground, clearly a fairly recent addition to the old space. Water shoots up in changing and unpredictable patterns from holes spread across the concrete pavement. With a warm sun shining, these fountains absolutely call children to run through their showers, just as we did through lawn sprinklers in our childhood.