Mexico City/Milpa Alta

Milpa Alta is the second largest borough (delegación) in Mexico City, but also its most rural, with farms and open spaces instead of crowds, avenues, and a never-ending concrete jungle. Milpa Alta is a traditional Aztec community where many locals speak Nahuatl as their first language. Foodies will not know what to order when faced with a dizzying variety of distinctive moles, all begging to be savored.

Understand
Instead of being organized into colonias like most of Mexico City, Milpa Alta consists of 12 pueblos (towns) which have both a Spanish and a Nahua name. Many colonias are large and have several bariios (neighborhoods) within them, but most barrios dispense with dual names and just use a Nahua name.

Nopal is grown on many farms throughout the area and is the largest agricultural commodity of the area. One of the biggest businesses is making mole for sale to restaurants and mercados throughout Mexico City. Dry blends are sold as well as a paste.

Towns of Milpa Alta
The following towns are part of Milpa Alta. Many have their own local traditions and festivals:



Get in
Milpa Alta is in the southern part of Mexico City, near Mexico City/Xochimilco. It's about 40 km from the Centro Historico. The best way to get there is by Uber or taxi. You can get there by bus, but it can be a long, time consuming trip.

By bus
Take Metro to Taxquena. From here, you can take a Mexibus (faster) or an RTP bus (least recommended). The Mexibus costs about M$20 and takes 1 hour to get to Milpa Alta. Walk to Calz. Taxqueña y Av. de las Torres and catch the bus towards Milpa Alta Villa (bus may have destination of "Av. Mexico Norte").

If you choose the RTP bus, get on bus 143 towards "Michoacan/Sonora" (relax, it doesn't really go to those states). The bus costs M$20 and takes 2 hours, stopping frequently.

See








Do




Festivals

 * Dia de la Santa Cruz - May 3, locals climb to top of the Teuhtli volcano to pray and leave offerings at the foot of a huge blue cross at the volcano's summit.
 * Mole Festival - October, San Pedro Actopan is Mexico's center of mole production and each year's festival lets visitors sample some of the most distinctive moles, from mole almendrado to pipian.
 * Day of the Dead - November 1-2, balloon festival in San Agustin Ohtenco in which hundreds of paper balloons are launched to accompany the souls of the dead. In San Antonio Tecomitl, families start decorating tombs at dawn and sculpt images of skulls or religious figures. Families create elaborate floral arrangements (mostly from marigolds) and gather for three days of enjoying the company of their dearly departed.
 * Festival of Corn and Pulque - held each fall in the town of San Antonio Tecomitl. In addition to corn and pulque, there's a few other things to eat and drink, plus dancing, art, and music.

Buy
There are more than 20 mole shops in the town of San Pedro Actopan alone, and many dozens more throughout Milpa Alta. Prepared moles are sold in jars (or buckets) and include well-known types like mole poblano, mole oaxequena or many other types. Mole is also sold in powdered form in a wide range of colors and flavors. The people in the mole stores are friendly and very helpful, but most speak only Spanish or Nahuatl.