Eden re-written
Wander around Nayarit in the footsteps of the ancient Mexica and you'll find likenesses of Mexcaltitan on everything from tequila shot glasses to the state's license plates
By Bob Schulman
Legend has it that there was once an Eden-like place on the shores of western Mexico. Called Aztlan, it was said to be home to seven tribes who'd converged there to live in harmony, sharing even the commonality of a single language. They ended their alliance about a thousand years ago – some say to escape evil rulers who'd overtaken the quasi-paradise – and each tribe went their own way, eventually to settle down in varying parts of the land.
One of the tribes was the Mexica, which found a new home on a small, swampy island on a lake in Mexico's central highlands. They built a great city there of spiraling pyramids, grand palaces and floating gardens – linked by canals instead of streets. The city, named Tenochtitlan, today marks the location of Mexico City.
The Mexicas – who became known as Aztecs after the place they came from – went on to carve a coast-to-coast empire out of the rest of the country, thriving for two centuries until the Spanish conquistadores showed up in 1519.
Just where was Aztlan? National experts differ on that, but the top contender is the State of Nayarit. Local historians are quite certain it's the place. That's why the state's official coat of arms shows an eagle surrounded by seven footprints (symbolizing the paths of the seven tribes' pilgrimage from Aztlan). Nayarit's motto roughly translates to “The Cradle of Mexico” and what's more, a place in northern Nayarit thought to have been the ancient capital of the seven tribes exists today. Called Mexcaltitan, it's a city on an island in the middle of a lake with canals running through it, alike a mini-Tenochtitlan. It's on the map about 40 miles down the Nayaritan coast from the state's northern border with Sinaloa.