Canals in the waters of Lake Xochimilco in Mexico City were initially created along with that of a kind of artificial agricultural plots called chinampas.
The best-known chinampa in Xochimilco belonged to a man named Julián Santana Barrera, a native of the La Asunción neighborhood. Santana Barrera was a loner, who was rarely seen in most of Xochimilco.
He came to...