One of history’s most fateful chapters and greatest adventures. The exploration of the America’s by Spanish soldier-explorers, and the experiences and tragedies they had once there.

A highly imaginative exploration of one of the most intriguing epochs in human history: when the ’Old World’ first encountered the ’New World.’ Travel from Granada in Spain to Machu Picchu in Peru, and from Mexico to Madrid in Spain. Explores how the collision of these two sophisticated but different worlds led to the birth of an entirely new Latino culture.

Film on the Colonial Mexican Art exhibition held at the Museo Nacional de Arte, Mexico

programa 1: La virgen y el toro/Virgen and the bull
Summary: Carlos Fuentes looks for his forebears in the mix of people that created Latin America: Spanish, Arab, Jewish, Indian, and African. He asks what is unique in their culture that is cause for celebration in the 500th anniversary year of Columbus. His quest takes him from the quayside at Vera Cruz back to Spain.

programa 2: La batalla de los dioses /Conflict of the gods
In his lifetime Carlos Fuentes has witnessed the rediscovery of ancient Aztec temples beneath the central square of modern Mexico City. He retraces the Indian world through their magnificent pyramids and sculptures. The return of their exiled god was forecast for the very year Cortés reached their shores. The savagery of the conquistador equaled that of the Indian, but he brought with him a new god, a god who sacrificed himself for men.

programa 3:La edad de oro / The age of gold
The New World brought Spain enormous treasures: gold, silver, chocolate, tomatoes, the potato. Yet Spain’s most powerful ruler, Philip II, lived in austere solitude in a cell-like study. He sought to protect the Catholic faith, while Cervantes questioned all values in Don Quixote. Velázquez painted masterpieces of psychological penetration that vaulted the Atlantic.

Programa 4: El precio de la libertad /The price of freedom
Every year a million Mexicans gather in their capital to celebrate El Grito, the cry for independence. Following its progress, Carlos Fuentes crosses the Andes in the steps of Bolívar and San Martín. The liberators succeeded in throwing off the Spanish yoke, but they found it harder to establish a just society. For the gaucho there was the consolation of the open spaces, the mountains, and the plains. And for those crowding into the new cities like Buenos Aires, there was tango, a sad thought that can be danced.

programa 5: Las tres hispanidades / Unfinished business
Within the lifetime of those born now, half the population of the U.S. will be Spanish-speaking. Every year, half a million brave the border patrols to enter the U.S. illegally, "searching for the Gringo gold but also bringing the Latino gold." Hispanic immigrants contribute a wealth of traditions: diverse cultural creativity in art, music, and dance, respect for family ties--distinct hallmarks of the Spanish-speaking world.