A Corner of Coyoacán

I have been to the district of Coyoacán many times.  In fact we were just there this past weekend to visit the house of Frida Kahlo.  Nevertheless, yesterday I returned there by myself because I had read about a historic little corner than I had never seen.

As I have written before, Coyoacán was once a separate town from Mexico City.  In pre-Hispanic times it was a community of the Tepanec tribe on the southern shore of Lake Texcoco.  The Tepanecs were conquered by the Aztecs, so when the conquistador Hernán Cortés (known to us as Cortez) arrived on the scene, they allied themselves with the Spanish.  Cortés used Coyoacán as his headquarters for his final assault on the Aztec capital.  After defeating the Aztecs, the city of Tenochtitlan was in ruins.  While the Spanish were using the rubble to build the new city that was to become Mexico City, Cortés ensconced himself in Coyoacán, and for a short time it was actually the capital of the Spanish colony of New Spain.  

Yesterday, after I arrived at the center of Coyoacán, I followed a street that ran diagonally from behind the parish church of San Juan Bautista.  After a short distance, I came to a shady plaza known as Plaza Conchita.

At one end of the plaza is another parish church.  This one is called "la Purísima Concepción".

The plaza and the church stand on the site where the pre-Hispanic temples of Coyoacán once stood. Cortés had this chapel built, and it is said that the first mass in what is today Mexico City was celebrated here.

The present structure was frequently remodeled since the days of Cortés.  It now features a lovely baroque portal.

The church was closed, but I peeked through the crack in the door, and I could make out in the dim light what appeared to be a very old altarpiece.

There was one other building here which I wanted to see.  I had read that on this plaza Cortés had build a house for his native mistress, known as La Malinche.  The structure is called the "Casa Colorada" (Red House).  In spite of its antiquity and historical significance there is no plaque on the building.  Cortés is viewed as a "bad guy" by the Mexicans, and La Malinche is considered a traitor to her people.

I circled the plaza trying to figure out which house might have been the home of La Malinche.  The square is surrounded by old houses... but I was looking for a house that was red and looked very old... nearly 500 years old!

No, it's not red.

I'm mildly color blind, but, no, that's not red either.

Ah, this one is red, but it doesn't look old enough.

Hmmm, this one is a possibility.

I would put my money on this one.  It's reddish in color and everything about it screams antiquity...  the rough volcanic stone along the lower section, the Spanish design work above it, the drain spouts projecting from the top.  It even has stone rings for hitching your horse.

I went to a little ice cream shop facing the plaza and ordered a scoop.  The proprietor was an elderly gentleman who looked as if he should know the history of his neighborhood.  I asked him which house belonged to La Malinche, and it turned out that I was right.

The house appears to still be a private residence.  Imagine living in a house that is nearly five centuries old, and that was inhabited by a historical figure!

This house was here long before there was a United States... long before the English had even built their first rude settlement on American shores.