After a stay at Cholula of nearly three weeks20 the Spaniards set out for Mexico, attended by about six thousand natives, chiefly Tlascaltecs, with a sprinkling of Cempoalans, Cholultecs, and Huexotzincas.21
They passed through Huexotzinco by a route already followed by Ordaz, and recommended as the best and safest. The first camp was made at the Huexotzinca village of Izcalpan, over four leagues from Cholula, where they met with a most friendly reception, and received abundant provisions, together with some female slaves and a little gold. Leaving behind them the smiling plain of Huitzilapan, where they had overcome so many dangers and obtained so many proofs of good-will, on the following day they approached the mountains and came upon the regular highway which leads across the range to the valley of Mexico. The junction of the roads was at the south-west border of Huexotzinco, where the Mexicans had left a proof of their hostility toward this republic, allied to Tlascala, by blocking up the way with trees and other material.22 These were removed, and the army began the steep ascent of the pass,
pressing onward against the chilling winds which swept down from its frozen heights, and before long they were tramping through the snow which covered the summit.
Here they were cheered by a sight which made them, for the moment at least, forget their hardships. A turn in the road disclosed the valley of Mexico—the object of their toil and suffering—stretching from the slope of the forest-clad ranges at their feet as far as the eye could reach, and presenting one picturesque intermingling of green prairies, golden fields, and blooming gardens, clustering round a series of lakes. Towns lay thickly sprinkled, revealed by towering edifices and gleaming walls, and conspicuous above all, the queen city herself, placidly reposing upon the mirrored surface of the larger water. Above her rose the cypress-crowned hill of Chapultepec, with its stately palace consecrated to the glories of Aztec domination.23