Chef Rick Bayless
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Chef Rick Bayless
Just as on August 16, 1519, Hernan Cortés and his army of 450 foot soldiers and 15 on horseback left the humid coastal region of Veracruz to begin their arduous journey to Tenochitlan in the valley of Mexico, so 490 years later will our band of intrepid culinary explorers attempt to duplicate this trip. It took Cortés over three months before he led his army up the great causeway to meet Moctezuma. Traveling by vans, it will take us only a week with a few extra days added to explore more of the sites in Mexico City.
Cortés, guided by 3 Totonac nobles and accompanied by 200 native porters, followed a foot path that we will attempt to follow as much as practical, but in many places roads do not exist, so we will take detours. We will be guided on our culinary journey by food historian, Dr. Mario Montaño, Veracruz-raised Chef Ricardo Muñoz, and award-winning Chef Rick Bayless.
We will start the trip in the port of Veracruz, named by Cortés, the Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz, or the “rich town of the true cross,” then journey to Cempoala, at that time a major Totanac metropolis, 25 miles to the north, where the Spaniards stayed for several weeks, tearing down their idols and converting the people, often by threat of force. After then returning to Veracruz, Cortés began his journey over the high mountains, starting up from the fertile highland area of Xalapa , once a ceremonial center of the Aztecs and Xico, where we will stay for several nights in nearby Coatepec, the coffee capital of Mexico. While here we will visit the famed Museo de Antropología de Xalapa, with its outstanding collections of artifacts that cover the main pre-Hispanic cultures of Veracruz.
Our next stop will be Tlaxcala, which we will reach from Xico in a circuitous fashion up over a high mountain pass and finally into the fertile valley near Tlaxcala, where after several battles, the Tlaxcalan nobles joined forces with the Spaniards to defeat their enemies, the Aztecs. We will stay here for two nights, with classes, demos and a trip to the nearby archeological site at Cacaxtla. The next day, after class, we will travel a short distance to Cholula, where with 5,000 Tlaxcalan warriors , Cortés massacred 3,000 Cholulans and destroyed their homes and temples. Early the next morning we will head up over a pass lying between two active volcanoes, and then down through the many towns and small cities that once dotted the shore of the now non-existent Lake Texacoco, until we arrive in Mexico City.
While on this Ruta de Cortés trip, be prepared to eat many of the same foods that the conquistadors did—the foods of the native people and even some similar to what Cortés brought with him from Cuba. In addition to the classes by Rick and Ricardo, food historians, Raquel Torres in Coatepec, Veracruz, and Yolanda Ramos in Tlaxcala, will prepare some of the dishes from their quite different indigenous heritages.
In order to better appreciate the scene that the Spaniards viewed when they reached the top of the pass between the volcanoes, Popacatepel, and Ixtachuatl—the massive towers and pyramids of the island city reflected in huge lakes and moored to the shore by long, slender causeways—we will spend the last two days in Mexico City recapturing this event by visiting those sites that still exist, among them the Templo Mayor, Tlateloco, the former great market place, and the back waterways of the floating gardens of Xochimilco. And, of course, will we continue our exploration of indigenous foods, many now served in a much different fashion than in the time of the Aztecs.
This trip starts in Veracruz, Veracruz and ends in Mexico City
Cost is $4,200, exclusive of airfare
Minimum of 12 participants, maximum of 20
Single supplement is $400
Please email to cul_adv_inc@attglobal.net for more information.
all material copyright 2001 by
Marilyn
Tausend.
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