Keeping Aztec farming traditions alive in Mexico

They built their capital city on an island around the year 1300 and, at the time, the only answer to providing the enormous population with sustenance was to build man-made plots of farmland atop the lake.The chinampas can only be reached by boat, and most of the wooden boats are motorless, powered by hand with long poles stuck into the mud-bottomed canal to propel them forward.The art of building the land masses was never codified in text or studied in school. "It is very important to maintain this knowledge."The chinampas can only be reached by boat, and most of the wooden boats are motorless [Paul Biasco/Al Jazeera]Building chinampas starts with filling an area with mud from the bottom of the lake and organic matter until the new farmland rises above water level.Then, the chinaperos plant huejotes or Bondpland willows along the edges of the land to create a barrier. The boy has already shown interest in farming with his father and studies agriculture in school."I will let him make his decision like my father did for me," Capultitla concluded. Building chinampas starts with filling an area with mud from the bottom of the lake and organic matter until the new farmland rises above water level [Paul Biasco/Al Jazeera]