The walls of the house, built about the same time as the church, were constructed of rock from the nearby Huizilapa River and coral from the sea. Only a few of the original 24 rooms remain. Spaniards used the house for 70 years, according to Francisco Mejia, a local history teacher. Mejia said that much of Mexico, and especially Veracruz, has had a strange relationship with Cortes' memory. No statues pay tribute to Cortes in the state of Veracruz, although a street in the port city bears his name.
Murals depicting heroism and courage are of Indian warriors rather than Spanish soldiers.
There are fewer than a dozen pyramids at Zempoala open to the public on a site the size of four football fields. They wore bright red suits with beautifully ornamented vests. Under a canopy of dark clouds and showing little fear of an approaching thunderstorm, four flyers, each of whom had a rope attached, climbed the pole while winding the ropes around it. They then jumped off and swung around the pole as they descended. Each flyer spun around the pole 13 times as he fell to the ground.