Casa de la Malinche / Miguel Serrano Primary School

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The Casa de la Malinche is, according to tradition, the site of the home of Juan Jaramillo and his wife Doña Marina. Marina is the Christian name of the infamous interpreter and translator for Hernán Cortés. She’s said to have assisted the Spanish in their conquest of Mexico-Tenochtitlan. Sometime thereafter, usually 1526 is mentioned, her husband is said to have settled here. Another site claiming to have been her home is the Casa Colorado in Coyoacán.

Today, of course, the site is an 18th century home that has been the Lic. Miguel Serrano Primary School since the early 20th century. Miguel Serrano was an early pedagogical reformer and public education specialist during the Porfiriato (i.e.; late 19th century). The building date is estimated based on the façade clad in tezontle and quarry stone framing, characteristic of the time.

• There are a number of good explanations for why La Malinche still holds such a spell over Mexican history and even the quotidian culture of Mexico today. Her role is as the seductress, the betrayer, and as the personification of the person between colonizer and colonized. It’s still common to make reference to her when someone’s loyalty is questioned, or in simple acts of betrayal of confidence or trust.

The Casa de la Malinche, and Primary School, is right bext to the Casa del Mayorazgo de Medina on the very south of the Plaza de Santo Domingo. The school doors open practically onto the Portales de Santo Domingo. These date, in part, from the same time as Juan Jaramillo’s original house.