Azkatl Granjas / Alameda Reynosa, Azcapotzalco

The Azkatl Granjas / Alameda Reynosa park is a very small park near the Fortuna station of the Suburbano train. The station is set in the midst of the giant Azcapotzalco train yards. About equidistant along these same rail lines stands the famous Rastro de Ferrería market. Many of the merchants displaced from that-ever changing market still set up along the other side of the Avenida Granjas in one of the City’s most popular open-air markets.

The park is perhaps best known for the wildly popular Fernando Montes de Oca Library. It serves as a social and community center, something of a daycare center for kids whose families work in the vegetable stands. It’s also popular with residents from all over Santa Catarina and neighboring Santa Barbara.

• Fernando Montes de Oca (Mexico City, May 29, 1829 – Mexico City, September 13, 1847) was one of the six cadets of the Military College who participated in the 1847 Battle of Chapultepec. Today remembered as one of the six Niños Heroes, Montes de Oca was born and raised in Azcapotzalco. He enrolled at the Military College in January of 1847 only to be killed in battle the following September.

The Azkatl name is common across much of Azcapotzalco, the full name of which derives from the same Nahuatl word. Meaning simply “ant,” the name of the larger area is usually translated as “place of many anthills.”

Library Hours: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.