Metro Mexicaltzingo

Metro Mexicaltzingo is the first station in Iztapalapa on Line 12. It’s just west of the center of the old town of Mexicaltzingo, one of the most important of the original settlements of Iztapalapa. It’s still a charming place to visit.

The station icon depicts the god Mexictli on top of an inverted maguey plant. The symbol is taken from the Coatlinchan map, part of the 16th-century Aubin Codex. The Nahuatl name  means “Little place of the Mexica people.” This is in reference to an important strategic wharf and town maintained here to support trade with the allied peoples to the south and east, including those in present day Iztapalapa, Tláhuac, and Xochimilco.

Metro Mexicaltzingo sees a bit more than 12,000 passengers move through on normal work days. It’s not just convenient to the town and neighborhood for which it was named. Directly north of the Coyoacán  neighborhood of Prado Churobusco, it’s also the local station for the Cacama neighborhood to the immediate north.

The station is also one of the last underground stations before the dramatic rise to the surface and then elevated levels to the south and east in Tláhuac. It’s important for international visitors to get a good sense of the desert and chinampa mixed agricultural lands in this area. As an alternative travel destination, Metro Line 12 is the way to go.