Guardians of ancient farms

Women are stepping up to protect chinampas, agricultural islands built by the Aztecs, and to save a vanishing ecosystem in Mexico

- BY TERESA DE MIGUEL

FELIX MARQUEZ Associated Press

CASSANDRA Garduño cleans a canal in her chinampa in San Gregorio Atlapulco, a borough of Mexico City.

Jasmín Ordóñez looks out from a wooden boat at the water as she crosses a narrow channel that connects a labyrinth of chinampas, island farms that were built by the Aztecs thousands of years ago.

"Let's close our eyes and ask our Mother Water for permission to sail in peace," she said as the boat moves slowly, in contrast to the frenetic traffic of Mexico City just a few miles away.

Ordóñez owns one of these island farms, first created with mud from the bottom of the lakes that once covered this area. When the boat arrives at her island, she proudly shows the corn and leafy greens she grows. Her ancestors owned chinampas, but she had to buy this one because women traditionally haven't inherited them.

"My grandmother didn't get any land. Back then, most was left in the hands of men," she said. At her side, Cassandra Garduño listens attentively. She also didn't inherit the family chinampa.

Today both are part of a small but growing group of women who have bought chinampas to cultivate sustainably in an effort to preserve an ecosystem that is increasingly threatened by urban development, mass tourism and water pollution.

Making their way in an area still dominated by men hasn't been easy. In the chinampas of the boroughs of Xochimilco and San Gregorio Atlapulco, hardly any women work the land.

"People believe that men are the [only] ones who have the physical abilities to work them," Garduño said. The mud stains her pale pink shirt, matching her boots. She knows her outfit gets funny looks from longtime male chinampa workers, but instead of getting upset, she finds it amusing.