When Spaniards first described the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan, in about 1520, they could barely control their amazement at the cities great central market.

It featured goods from all over the vast Aztec empire, and an array none of the Europeans had ever before seen.

That market and its abundance of commodities still exists today in the heart of Mexico City.

Funding for In the Americas David Yetman was provided by Agnese Haury.

For over 600 years the Zócalo has been the heart of Mexico City, its energy, its hustle and bustle, and of all of Mexico.

Here also began the market system for the Aztecs, later for the Spaniards, and now for all of Mexico.

Within just a few miles of this center, are markets, the likes of which you will not find anywhere else in the world.

Fortunately for us in the city's famous National Anthropological Museum, the Mexican government has created an exquisite display of the great Aztec market.

The Anthropological Museum of Mexico has painstakingly created the city of Tenochtitlan, as Cortez and the Spaniards first saw it.

One of the grandest urban sites ever created.

Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital, was located on an island in the middle of the lake Texcoco, which now is reduced to a tiny portion of what it was.

Associated with Tenochtitlan was a separate and often independent political entity called Tlatelolco, which is the market center.

The market center and the rest of the island was connected to the mainland by a number of causeways or highways, and these were the center of constant activity.

They provided a good defensive structure to protect the island from enemies, but they also allowed the Aztecs to control the flow of commerce in and off the island.

The market itself was organized in a way that almost nothing in Europe could match at the time.

That market system has continued, and we can see it in Mexico City everywhere today, and all over the republic.

The source of most of the fresh produce in the great market was the Aztec colony of Xochimilco.

No one knows that place better than my colleague, Nemer Narchi.

To get into the gardens, Nemer uses the same transportation Aztecs used 500 years ago.

A boat.

Xochimilco has been associated with the southern part of Mexico City for a long time.

It is a popular tourist place now and has been for some time.

It's noted for its floating gardens, which are really chinampas, an agricultural system that has been in existence for more than just a few years.

Dave- So Tenochtitlan was built, which is Mexico City... Nemer- Mhm... Dave- 1325 it was founded.

Nemer- Yeah... Dave- So they were already here 1100 years before the Aztecs (laughs)... Nemer- Yeah, before that... Dave- That's a long time!

Nemer- And they did a lot of alliances with the Aztecs, and finally they were subdued by the empire.

Dave- But did they start their agricultural practices here?

Was it similar to what they are doing now?

Nemer- It is pretty much the same as what they are doing now.

Dave- For 2000 years?

Nemer- For, uh, 1500... Dave- For 1500 years... Nemer- Yes, there came a time where there was no wild edibles, especially animal protein... Dave- Uh huh... Nemer- And somebody came with this beautiful, beautiful idea of the chinampa, which are the plots we have on our side and they have a tremendous productivity, you have from 4 to 7 crops a year.

Nemer- The canal system right now is 80km long, you line all that... Dave- One end to another they would line up that long... Nemer- Yes... Dave- How much of that is actively in agricultural production?

Nemer- Little, like 6%, we have 50,000 chinampas, of which 94% is abandoned right now.

The policies of modernizing the agriculture in Mexico City had to do a lot with introducing green houses, abandoning the, the traditional ways because it was not appealing to this form of industrial thinking that we have in the twentieth century, probably since the nineteenth century.

Nemer- You can see Xochimilco was a cultural landscape, its all manufactured by humans.

You can see there is an urban trait of the canal, see how each chinampa has a service canal beneath it.

All this is constructed.

And it's constructed to support the big city of Tenochtitlan.

The archaeological estimates suggest that Xochimilco helped to sustain a population between 200,000 and 800,000.

Nemer- And with Mexico City, most of the things we have in Mexico City to consume until the 1950's came from Xochimilco and the nearby montanious areas.

[Spanish] [Spanish] This is part of the almost eternal recycling of the techniques here at Xochimilco.

The mud or dirt that they have planted these in comes from the bottom of the canals, they bring that up and put it in little hand shaped molds, make holes with their fingers, and plant the seeds.

This happens to be spinach, this happens to be lettuce, and according to the number of the plant, the number of the seeds will vary.

Then they put this in the ground, they will then cover it with dried leaves as a mulch, and it will grow and the cycle will continue year after year after year.

This is the best example almost anywhere of a sustainable agricultural system.

The chinampa system is such that it is always in production, and here with the vegetable crops, they can get up to seven crops a year given the temperature and the growing conditions but the soil itself is always fertile, the crops they plant and the way they form, the soil never gets depleted.

So they don't have to stop and give it a rest.

Xochimilco is not only the historic breadbasket of Mexico City, is is also one of the few remaining habitats of a strange and endangered salamander called the Axolotl.

A former source of animal protein for pre-Columbian residents.

I would call them Tiger Salamanders.

If a salamander cuts off an arm or finger, in three months it will grow back entirely.

They are using this species for food production in England.

They are doing a lot of research and they are the only animal that regenerates body parts in this way.

You know, lizards can regenerate their tales, but not their fingers.

This one can, and even parts of their own heart will regenerate.

Nemer- Earlier you could follow this canal all the way to the historic center and people would take their trajineras full of produce and use the Mercado de la Merced Dave- You would get all the way to there?

Nemer- All the way to there.

Dave- And the canals met at the Mercado Jamaica?

Nemer- Yes, they passed through Jamaica.

Dave- They passed through Jamaica.

Where the flowers are.

Nemer- Yes, and actually Jamaica is next to some chinampas.

Dave- They extended that far to the North.

Nemer- Yes, it was 125km of chinampas.

Nemer mentioned the flower market.

That's where my friend historian Bill Beezley is meeting us.

It's a good 25km from Xochimilco and the canals are gone, so we drive there.

Dave- You know this huge building for the Mercado Jamaica was built in the 50's.

But flowers were sold here well before you were born, maybe several centuries before.

Bill- For at least a thousand years people have bringing flowers to this very location.

Dave- Long before the Aztecs were even here.

Bill- Long before the Aztecs they were bringing them by canoe, from Tlatelolco, the community of Tlatelolco and also from the community of Xochimilco Dave- By canal Bill- By canal, they would bring them here and this was where a market was held to sell flowers to all kinds of indigenous nobility, but also to ordinary people who wanted to have something to enliven them Dave- They liked flowers as well, but this was a water world, they came by canal.

This where we're standing was canal, this whole part of Mexico City and this area was one huge system of moving water.

It's hard to believe.

That's why this market is here.

These are aromatic roses that we'll concentrate the smell to make creams, perfumes, deodorants, powders, essential oils, shampoos, and even rose soap.

The processed rose petals are relaxing, one will sleep better, it has a calming effect.

So I've got two different kinds of vehicles carrying flowers here.

There's probably only a ton here, and another ton here on dollies, and then the truck is chock full of flowers.

Dave- Look at the marigolds, sempasuche Bill- So the marigolds, a lot of families use them because it is believed the souls will follow the marigolds to the alter.

So they'll take these marigolds, take the petals and distribute them up to the alter, so the souls will know how to come up and get to the alter.

Dave- I can't believe there are this many marigolds in the world (laughs).

I mean there are hundreds of thousands of bunches of them.

Dave- There's more than just the day of the dead flowers here, the variety is bewildering.

Bill- Birthdays, other holidays, sunflowers and it shows why Mexico has one of the greatest diversities of flowers in the world.

Dave- So they have to have, they call them the alleys, wide enough for the trucks to drive all the way through, that there's so many coming in that if they were just trying to unload them by hand it would be utter chaos.

Now, it's just partial chaos.

The Mercado Jamaica sells flowers, it's a traditional market.

There's another market nearby that sells music, yes, music.

Mariachi music.

This is the Plaza Garibaldi, where Mariachis offer their services and families or people come by to buy those services.

So if you want to have Mariachis to come to your home, you come by, make arrangements, you pay the price, they come to your house.

Or you can come here and pay by the song.

The quality of the Mariachi groups varies enormously.

The very best are quite expensive, the very worst are quite inexpensive, but you get what you pay for.

Price often determines quality.

If music has its market, so does a traditional, pre-Columbian alcoholic drink.

You can still find what might qualify as a market for pulque, a place that is bringing back a nearly forgotten tradition.

So it's not easy to find a pulqueria.

Pulque used to be everywhere in Mexico City, and it was the drink of the peasants, the working people, men only.

From what I see here, things might have changed.

My first glass of Pulque was when I was 15 years old, it used to be just for the older generation, the working class, for those who hang around pulquerias, unfortunately places like these began to disappear.

We needed to find a way to bring them back.

To bring the young people here, and that's what we did.

So as you can see our clientele is made up of 90% young people.

From outside, you'd never know this was a happening pulqueria, it looks like a hole in the wall.

It continues to be a traditional drink, the Mexican youth are looking for their roots, and what better cultural identity is there other than pulque.

So they come, drink, taste, and here is the answer.

Dave, Bill- Saludos, saludos, pulque, pulque, pulque This is extremely nutritious, its right out of the maguey, nothing else in it, no additives, no carbonation, nothing, right out.

It sits for about four or five hours at room temperature and the natural yeast fermented.

1% alcohol.

Pulque is delicious, it is life for us Mexicans.

When it arrives here, it comes in its natural state.

We are responsible for mixing in the different flavors.

So here in the Duelista we have all 45 different flavors.

The Duelista has been open for more than 100 years.

It was founded in October 1912.

Not far away is one of the stranger markets in Mexico City.

Not far away is one of the stranger markets in Mexico City.

One that is not necessarily approved by city authorities.

The Sonoran Market is best known as being a witch's market.

People throng here in spite general frowning by the church because they come here seeking things that in normal life, normal religion they cannot find.

That includes spiritual cures, herbs, spells, smoke, all sorts of things that they believe will help them get through life in a way that they couldn't without that additional power that they hope to find here.

These potions help with cleansing, good luck, money problems, jealousy, good business, matters of the heart, and to create opportunities.

These here we use to ask for money, for material items, for things we need, that's what this is used for.

Dave- So the Mercado Sonora, pure and simply, is a witch's market.

Religious themes throughout, but pagan as much or more than catholic, it's abundant, and the place gets all kinds of attention.

It's gotta cause the clergy to tear out their hair.

Bill- You can come here and whatever your problem is, resolve it by talking to the right saint, or the right African religion, or the right herb salesman, to find out what will deal with your problem.

Right across the aisle we see the same basic catholic saints that... Dave- On the other side... Bill- And the other side it's home remedies, what will work in the family... Dave-Things that can cast spells, ways to remove spells... Bill- That's right, and here we have Santo Muerte which is an unofficial saint... Dave- Of death.

Bill- Of death.

Dave- You know, this devotion to Santo Muerte is spreading like wildfire, this would not have been here 20 years ago Bill- No, maybe not even 15 years ago.

People don't know quite how it started, but it's erupted and it's all over Mexico, but especially in Mexico City and Tepito in some communities.

I think it's like any other, the worship of any other saint, and in this case it's one that looks at all the horrible things one might have done or that happen in life and the redemption from those.

Dave- And death is the redeeming feature.

So the image here is the skull, which means all real life has been removed, particularly the eyes, which are the glimpse into the human soul, so it's just bereft of human characteristics, except the bare bones.

So this place must be well known because people from all So this place must be well known because people from all nationalities, from Cuba, Colombia, Brazil, the United States come specifically here to this store to get a hold of objects that pertain to that Santeria religion.

So he specializes, in this store, in the Santeria, which is all African origin, and there is quite a variety of it.

These are soup cradles, but they cover them with a special kind of bead depending on what kind of saint you want.

So each one is different.

So this is Chios, one of the saints form the, of African origin.

So we've got here some Christian saints.

There's no fine line between the formal Catholicism and native Catholicism and Santeria, the primitive religion.

They don't draw the line; the clergy often does.

Another way of looking at this is that it still represents a sort of native rejection of everything European because the individual religion that people had prior to the arrival of the Spaniards was kicked out by the force and the power of the white people.

And so the, so this is still a rebellion 500 years later, against that authority.

Finally, just a few blocks away, in one of the seedier areas of downtown is Mexico City's flea market.

It's well named.

Dave- This is La Lagunilla market; we've been to a flower market, we've been to a witch's market, this is unlike anything else.

Bill- This is the, one of the oldest markets in Mexico City, it's known as the thieves' market, or it used to be at least, where if you, something was stolen from your house, you could come on the weekend, and find it in one of these shops here, and buy it back if you really liked it.

Bill- We're in Tepito colonial, and this is one of the famous popular neighborhoods of Mexico City, where the residents are all known for being very tough, tough business negotiators, Mexico's boxers come from Tepito, they resist the city government and the national government.

These are independent, tough minded, entrepreneurs.

Dave- If you know what you want you can find it, but if you don't know what you want you can also find it.

Bill- But as you walk by, you remember things from your childhood.

Dave- Yeah, electric trains.

Bill- Electric trains are just fantastic.

Dave- Right next to the pencil sharpeners.

Bill- It's like walking down memory lane here.

Dave- If you look on the other side, then, its hard to describe what we're finding, but there's a lot of limbs here.

Then the antiques part just feels, you'll find new stuff and next to it something out of the nineteenth century.

Bill- No matter how old things are, Dave, that we're looking at, if we look back here, there are recurrent themes.

And here's Frida.

It doesn't matter that we're at a flea market.

Inside the La Lagunilla Market is a major supermarket.

As I was coming up a lady passed me on a bicycle with her pack.

Her pack consists of one, two, three, four, five, six, seven dogs, she said to them stay, and they have stayed.

Hi guys.

This booth is owned and operated by the great grandson of Posada, the immensely popular, world renowned, engraver, muralist, painter, who really made the images of day of the dead come alive everywhere around the world.

So you had in your house the works that your grandfather created, so now here how do you feel about all this?

How do I feel?

Well I am very thankful and I am amazed at these extraordinary work during the presidency of Porfirio Díaz.

An incredible collection of engravings and leaflets covering different subjects, all kinds of new items, murders, cooking items, children's theatre, things about bulls, ballads.

So you mean things about everyday life symbolizing larger themes in our world.

For many Mexicans the markets of the capitol city represent a novelty, a quaint relic of the past.

So this is again used only in the Santeria ceremonies; but for those who cherish the ancient history of this nation, they represent a remarkable continuation of a vibrant tradition.

Join us next time In the Americas with me, David Yetman The interior of Brazil's state of Pernambuco is a semi-arid landscape called the sertao.

Far inland from the cities, its inhabitants struggle to survive severe and frequent drought (those tracks are only going to get bigger) they rebuild against greedy landlords and indifferent governments.

We will travel from one end of Pernambuco to the other.

Dave- Every market seems to have to have its own patron saint, and Plaza Girabaldi is no different.

Bill- Well Santa Cecelia is the saint of music and musicians, and when musicians come and make their first sale, the first thing they do is take the receipts and come and deposit them right there for Santa Cecelia, and cross themselves as you would imagine.

Funding for In the Americas with David Yetman was provided by Agnese Haury.

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