Texcoco is due east of the northern suburbs of Mexico City but, for the time being, it must be reached by one of these two roundabout routes: north almost to Acolman Monastery and then south to Texcoco, or southeast on the Puebla highway to Los Reyes and then north. The latter is a shorter drive of about an hour and a quarter.
A direct route across all that remains of once vast Lake Texcoco is under construction as part of a government reclamation project. When completed it will cut driving time in half. The salty soil of the old lake bed, dry during the winter months,is being reconditioned to permit farming and reforestation. Part of the 66 square mile area is to become a recreational center. All this will not only put an end to the dust storms that plague the capital in the dry months, but will avert the threat of flooding in the rainy season.
It was in Texcoco (then on the eastern shore of the lake) that Cortez, after being ignominiously routed from the Aztec capital in 1520, assembled 13 brigantines for another assault. Timbers were cut in Tlaxcala and carried across the mountains to Texcoco by 8,000 Indian bearers; by April, 1521, the warships were ready for launching. Four months later, the Conquest was an accomplished fact.
Texcoco now has 70,000 inhabitants. Sunday and Monday are market days, and the market is famous for barbacoa (deep pit barbecued lamb), ceramics and textiles of distinctive styles and designs, and blown glass.
Chiconcuac, is less than 10 minutes north of Texcoco over a narrow dirt road. Before the Conquest, Chiconcuac was also on the lake shore a tiny village that even then specialized in weaving, delivering its goods to market by canoe. Today it is a town of 11,000, and the volume and variety of its textile products in wool and acrylic fibers are unsurpassed anywhere.
In more than 50 shops along the main street you'll find blankets, wall hangings, and sarapes; handmade hooked or shag rugs; sweaters in any style for men, women, and children in a wide selection of colors; jorongos sarapes with a slit in the center to put your head through as well as shawls, overblouses, stoles and rebozos (a long scarf). For anything knit or woven, Chiconcuac is the place, and prices are right.
Texcoco is due east of the northern suburbs of Mexico City but, for the time being, it must be reached by one of these two roundabout routes: north almost to Acolman Monastery and then south to Texcoco, or southeast on the Puebla highway to Los Reyes and then north. The latter is a shorter drive of about an hour and a quarter.
