"This is one point of departure. Nayarit might be another one. Some people say they also migrated from California," Solorzano said. "There is another belief that the Aztecs came from Florida," he said.
Mexcaltitan, home to 1,800 people in a mangrove swamp, is now losing ground to US claims to be the Aztecs' homeland.
Even the curator of the island's tiny museum acknowledges that the local version of the Aztlan story may be fiction.
ISLAND HOME
"The issue of where the mythical Aztlan is has been thrashed about a lot. They haven't located it definitively," said curator Lilia Apocada.
The island was first tapped as Aztlan by a 19th century Mexican historian and given credence by National Geographic magazine in a 1968 article.
Mexcaltitan's tiny museum houses some pre-Hispanic pottery but no evidence that it was the place from where the Aztecs took their first step into the history books.
Locals are more concerned about shrimp fishing and preparations for the annual festival when the island's population triples for a few days of dancing and heavy drinking at the end of June.
"They say the Aztecs passed through here. Well, I didn't see them," said fish gutter Abelardo Ramos, 38.
The doors of houses are often left open in Mexcaltitan, unlike in crime-ridden areas of Mexico, and families laze in hammocks, eating seafood or drinking cold beer.
"Whether it is the real Aztlan or not, people enjoy this place anyway," said museum curator Apocada.
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