In this way, Diaz says they passed through Xalapa, Xicochimalco (which Diaz calls Socochima), Texutla and after clearing the mountains, Zocotlan (now Santiago Zautla) which he says, they called Castilblanco. They crossed mountains where, from lack of cover, they 'felt the frost' caused by the high altitudes. Then after another mountain pass it became clear they had entered 'a different kind of land'.
"When we saw the whitened flat roofs and the house of the cacique and the cus and adoratorios, which were very high and plastered, they looked very good, like some towns of our Spain. We gave it the name Castilblanco, because some Portuguese said it was like the town of Castil-Blanco in Portugal.... When they learned in that town from the messengers we sent that we were coming, the cacique and other chieftains came out to receive us near their houses; this cacique was named Olintecle [Ed. note: Olintetl]. He took us to some buildings and gave us something to eat, very little and with ill will. After we had eaten, Cortes asked them through our interpreters about their lord Montezuma, and Olintecle talked about the great forces of warriors that Montezuma had in all the provinces subject to him, not to mention the many other armies he had on the frontiers and in neighboring districts. Then he spoke of the great fortress of Mexico and how the houses were built in water, that one could pass from one house to the other only by the bridges they had built or in canoes, and the houses all with flat roofs, and each flat roof, if they put defenses, was a fortress. He said that to enter the city there were three causeways .... Over each opening was a wooden bridge, and by raising any one of them no one could enter Mexico. Then he talked of the great amount of gold, silver, ... and he never stopped talking about how great a lord [Montezuma] was, and Cortes and all of us were astonished to hear it." [pp. 109-10]
Diaz says that even if this journey seemed impossible, "... it is the nature of us Spanish soldiers, we still wanted to try our luck...". Then the cacique even let on that he didn't know if Montezuma would be happy they were there or that he had fed and sheltered them. [p. 110]
Then Diaz tells us that Cortes told them 'the usual things about the holy faith and the evil practices of the Indians.' But the priest with them, fray Bartolome de Olmedo warned them it was not a good place to erect a cross, "... because they are shameless and without fear, and because they are vassals of Montezuma, they might burn it or do some other evil thing." So they didn't erect a cross there. [p. 111]
This cacique Olintetl asked the locals that came along from Cempoala about the dog and the cannons. They explained these and said the horses brought could run like deer and with those they could track down anyone. Indeed, Diaz reports that the lucios lopes locals were so persuasive about what had been done and what the Europeans could do, that Olintetl ordered rich gifts and more and more gifts to be brought. Cortes then asked for twenty warriors to go with them and those were given, too. [pp. 111-12]
But they had entered a different land. The following passage completes his chapter lxi and gives a snapshot view of the place and the discussion of the path going forward.
"I remember that many piles of human skulls were put in a plaza with many adoratories, and we could count them because of the order with which they were arranged, and it seems to me that there were more than one hundred thousand, and I say again over one hundred thousand. In another part of the plaza, there was an equal number of fleshless bones, bones of dead, so that they could not be counted, and they had many heads hung on some beams from one end to the other, and guarding those bones and skulls were three papas, who, as we understood, were in charge of them. We saw more of this when we got further inland, in all the towns it was like this, and also in the area of Tlaxcala. When everything I have said had occurred, we decided to go on our way toward Tlaxcala, because our friends said it was very close, that the boundaries where they had put some boundary stones as signs were near there. About this, we asked the cacique Olintecle which was the best and most level way to go to Mexico, and he said it was through a very large town called Cholula. But the people of Cempoala said to Cortes: "Sir, do not go by way of Cholula, for they are very treacherous, and Montezuma always has his war garrisons there," and that we should go by way of Tlaxcala, where the people are their friends, enemies of the Mexicans. So we decided to take the advice of the people of Cempoala, for God always guided everything. Cortes then requested of Olintecle twenty chieftains, warriors, to go with us, and he immediately gave them to us." [p. 112]_________________________________________________
All quotes from Bernal Díaz de Castillo: The True History of the Conquest of New Spain translated with an introduction and notes by Janet Burke and Ted Humphrey, Indianapolis, Hackett Publishing Co, Inc. 2012
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