Malinche's Tears
November. The days are shortening, the wind bites and a general freezing darkness falls upon us. At least in this part of the world. Time, my dear readers, for a romantic story... the story of Hernán Cortés and Doña Marina or La Malinche. Although I am quite sure that this couple is somewhat less famous than let's say John Smith and Pocahontas or Samson and Delilah, it is not a less interesting one. Delilah may very well have done a good job as Samson's hairstylist, however, I'm sure that Doña Marina did a better one as Cortés' interpreter. In fact, if it had not been for her, Mexico's history would have been a much different one, and who knows, Cortés' life a great deal shorter.
The first time I fantasized about this historic couple was when I made my first and only trip to the city and surroundings of Veracruz, Mexico. In a little village called Antigua I met this huge ceiba tree with a sign on it saying that that tree was the one that Cortés and his men had tied their ships to when coming to Veracruz. Amazing I thought, so I took a picture and, later on, started to do some reading...
Cortés was born in Medellin, the capital of the southwestern Spanish province of Estremadura in 1485, the year Columbus came to Spain to seek (and, after a while, find) support for the travels he would undertake. At a very young age, he would hear stories about the great discoveries in the West, and, as many before him, Cortés would hear the voice of the New World grow louder and louder. In 1504, aged 19, he set sails for Hisponiola, the island known today as the Dominican Republic and Haiti, where he would fight in various battles against the Arawak. Cortés later participated in the conquest of Cuba with Diego Velazquez, the future governor, during which he gained the latter's respect. Respect, however, was not enough for Cortés. On the contrary, he wanted adventure, conquest and gold.
On November 18, 1518 Cortés set sail to Mexico. Originally the expedition had Velazquez' permission but by the time Cortés left the Cuban harbour, Velazquez had changed his mind. Cortés left anyway. He first landed in Yucatán where he encountered a Spanish priest named Jerónimo de Aguilar. Aguilar had been shipwrecked in 1511, had lived among the Maya, and had learned their language fluently. Aguilar accompanied Cortés as his force moved in southwesterly direction. In Tabasco, after winning a battle against a local tribe, Cortés's booty included a beautiful slave girl, who turned out not to be of Mayan origin, but who had once belonged to Moctezuma's empire, the most powerful empire in that area. The Spanish would call her Doña Marina.
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