Throughout the next few hours, Saavedra taught us about the chinampas, their construction and their natural surroundings.

BBC: Finding farms, and solitude, in Mexico City

Sebastian Saavedra hit a tire barrier on lap 33 after Andretti ran him into a wall.

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To experience the work of the chinampas first hand, Saavedra treated us to a feast as we toured the canals.

BBC: Finding farms, and solitude, in Mexico City

In the longer term its big problem is the structure of public spending rather than low tax revenues, argues Pablo Saavedra, an economist at the World Bank.

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At heart, Saavedra is just a simple man of the people, deeply concerned for the young son who lives with him and longing to be reconciled with his estranged wife.

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When the Yes campaign hit back with underhand tactics, Saavedra feels the threats on a deeply personal level, rather than as part and parcel of the dirty game of politics.

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Mexico City native Ricardo Rodriguez Saavedra is the director of De La Chinampa a tu Mesa, an organization devoted to restoring Xochimilco's cultural heritage by connecting the public with the chinampas' pesticide-free agricultural producers.

BBC: Finding farms, and solitude, in Mexico City

According to Karla Breceda, Jamele Rigolini and Jaime Saavedra, three economists at the World Bank, Latin American governments, on average, now spend a larger share of GDP on education for the poorest 20% of children than does the United States.

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Saavedra also hosts guided tours along Parque Natural Xochimilco's canals, visiting working chinampas and providing insight into their cultivation of dozens of different plants and vegetables, including nopales (prickly pear cactus), espinaca (spinach) and calabazas (pumpkin), as well as herbs such as sage and lavender.

BBC: Finding farms, and solitude, in Mexico City