Return Research Trip to Mexico, October 2025

17th Paste Festival Real del Monte: Return Research Trip to Mexico, October 2025

© Dr Sharron P. Schwartz

This October, I made a return visit to Mexico to premiere my film, The Great Trek of the Transport Party, at the 17th Paste Festival Real del Monte, as part of the Redruth Twinning Association’s delegation. I also handed over the Cornish tartan to the St Piran’s Pipe and Drum Band. This had been purchased with monies collected under the aegis of ‘The Great Trelawney Hug’. My film was also shown to members of the British Society Mexico at the British Embassy in Mexico City. I also took the opportunity of travelling the route taken by the Transport Party from Mocambo to Real del Monte once again, in order to ‘ground truth’ some of the locations and to acquire aerial photographs to be used in my forthcoming book, The Great Trek of the Transport Party, Mexico, 1825-26: A Tale of Tragedy and Triumph.

 

I left Newquay Airport with Ainsley Cocks on the back of a successful autumn lecture tour, and after rendezvousing with Martin Critchley at Dublin Airport, we travelled to Istanbul. The generous luggage allowance meant that we could carry the precious Cornish National tartan cloth that had been purchased with donations made to the ‘Great Trelawney Hug’.

The following day we made the long flight to Mexico City, arriving in the small hours. There was a moment of extreme fright, when all the luggage trundled round on the conveyor belt, except the bag containing the tartan. For a brief moment I was absolutely frantic, but luckily, Ainsley spotted that it had been removed from the belt and was sitting on its own in another part of the arrival’s hall. Imagine my relief when I finally walked out of the airport with it on the luggage trolley!!! It had had quite a trip: woven at a mill in Scotland; delivered to a middle man in Yorkshire, England; shipped to Northern Ireland; driven to Donegal in the Republic of Ireland; then flown from Dublin to Mexico City via Istanbul. It now just needed to make it’s way safely to Real del Monte…

We arrived at a dark and rainy Real del Monte the next day after a fraught drive up from Mexico City, during which time we were the subject of extortion by a gang masquerading as policemen in the suburbs of the city. I politely paid the ‘fine’ for an alleged driving misdemeanour with my credit card (an eye-watering £450, which was a giant red flag that this was a scam!) and promptly reported the extortion to my bank and cancelled the transaction minutes later! The ladrones that terrorised Cornish travellers throughout the nineteenth century have not gone away!!!

The 17th International Festival del Paste

The Friday and Saturday of the 17th Paste Festival were cold, overcast and rainy, and it was touch and go whether or not the festival would go ahead due to the extreme flooding that hit the State of Hidalgo, tragically costing the lives of numerous people. Shades of the horrors that befell the Transport Party near 200 years ago. I was mightily glad that I had my Cornish version of a serape to keep me warm!

However, the state minister for tourism, the indefatigable Liz Quintanar flashing a 1,000-watt smile that lit up the entire town, gave an impassioned welcome speech, and Alison Biscoe, the Mayor of Redruth, offered greetings from the people of Redruth to Real del Monte in her best Spanish at the opening ceremony.

 

 

 

This was well attended despite the weather and was a great opportunity to meet up with many Cornish-Mexican friends. There was Cornish dancing in the street to the tunes of the St Piran’s Pipe and Drum Band, who then gave an impromptu rendition of Trelawny to curious onlookers near the Miner’s Statue by the marketplace. Naturally, we belted out the words as the black and white flag of St Piran fluttered above our heads.

 

Film premiere and the tartan handing-over ceremony

That evening, a huge audience assembled at the theatre inside the Culture and Arts Centre to attend the much-awaited Mexican premiere of my bicentennial documentary, The Great Trek of the Transport Party, with Spanish subtitles provided by my wonderful friend, Laura Jean Pratt.

My old friend, Aída Suárez Chávez, honoured me by being compère for the evening. The eyes of a large contingent of the Cornish-Mexican community from across Hidalgo and México were glued to the screen as the tragic story of the Transport Party played out before them.

The animation so ably created by Martin Critchley went down a storm, and gasps of delight greeted the words of John Taylor at the beginning of the film. Many were amazed at the new information I had produced, about a period of history few people in the town know much about.

 

 

At the conclusion of the documentary, we handed over the tartan cloth to César Ramírez, the leader of the St Piran’s Pipe and Drum Band. The ceremony was compèred by my dear friend, Franz Trejo. I addressed the audience in Spanish explaining the reason for the gift and how the Cornish community worldwide had given our Mexican friends a true hug, by supporting the purchase of the high-quality woollen cloth for the band to make kilts.

 

 

The San Pirán Gaitas y Tambores (Bagas a Sans Peran) will be the first band or performing group of any description to wear the Cornish National tartan in Mexico. César and Franz were given a handmade Cornish sporran each to wear with their kilts, in recognition of their unstinting efforts to promote Cornish culture, language and Celtic identity in Mexico.

 

César thanked me and all the people who donated to the Great Trelawney Hug and explained how much being able to perform in the Cornish National tartan will increase the saliency of the Cornish presence in Mexico. He said that being attired in our national tartan was a dream come true and pledged to continue his mission to make people in Mexico aware of Cornwall’s unique heritage and culture through music.

He gifted me a certificate of thanks and a bespoke flag which he explained was the Cornish-Mexican flag. A truly beautiful and unique gift that I shall cherish forever. The band performed Trelawney and Cornwall My Home and played us out of the theatre amid a sea of Cornish flags. It was truly a night to remember. My grateful thanks to El Consejo Regular del Patrimonio Cultural Real del Monte – Cornwall A.C. (COREPAC), the festival organisers, for providing such a splendid venue.

 

 

Since then, the tartan has been blessed by a priest at the Capilla San Diego Churubusco and taken to a tailoress who will hopefully have the first two kilts ready in early December. César has composed a piece of music for the band to play called The Great Trek March and dedicated it to me, but the honour truly falls to those brave men who successfully transported the machinery of the Industrial Revolution to Real del Monte 200 years ago next year.

 

 

I am however, delighted to know that the Dra Sharron Schwartz School of Cornish Arts, Piping, Drumming and Cornish Dance Music has been started at the Casa Coahuila in CDMX. As a former member of Redruth Town Band, it always thrills me seeing and hearing people making music together. Bravo, César! May everything go on from strength to strength for you and the band.

The world’s largest ‘paste’

On Sunday, the final day of the festival, the Gods smiled on Real del Monte. We were greeted at dawn by the sight of a baby blue sky and brilliant sunshine. Just as well, for the last day of the festival is the most fun. We all got the chance to roll up our sleeves and help to make the world’s largest paste!

Over four metres long, it was a true community effort, with all the main paste makers in the town pitching in to roll out the pastry dough, spread the filling of beef, chili peppers, onion and potato, and then to crimp it. I mucked in by helping to roll out the dough to make the lettering that graced the paste’s top!

 

 

From the festival stage the enormous paste made its way downtown by truck to the Panadería Roque which has an oven big enough to bake it! While we waited for the pasty to come out, I spent what can only be described as one of the best afternoons in donkey’s years.

 

 

The warmth in the room did not just come from the heat of the oven, but from the hearts of the Mexican people who were having enormous fun in each other’s company and were delighted to welcome me and the other Redruth guests into their midst.

 

 

It was an wonderful opportunity to immerse oneself in authentic Mexican culture, made all the more interesting by its Cornish twist. We feasted on carnitas, salsas and tortillas and slaked our thirst with the finest pulque I’ve ever tasted. The tequila, from Jalisco of course, wasn’t too shabby either!

COREPAC have perfected making, baking and transporting the world’s largest paste down to a tee. I watched as the dab hands took hold of the tray containing the delicious smelling golden-crusted paste, which glided from the depths of the oven to be whisked away to a waiting truck. A brass band serenaded it out of the bakery to the strains of Ghost Riders in the Sky!

 

 

 

I don’t think I shall ever forget the cacophony of sound, the joyous laughter and the shouts of ‘Oggy Oggy Oggy, Real Real Real!’ Then the truck lurched forward, almost dislodging the pasty, which began its journey up through the narrow streets of the town and back to the stage.

 

 

There it was cut up and distributed to everyone present. A true community event and one that will linger long in the memory.

 

 

The seven of us who attended the festival as guests of COREPAC – Colin Garrick, Redruth Mayor Alison Biscoe and her husband Harry, Christine Rogers, Martin Critchley, Ainsley Cocks and myself – had a whale of a time representing Redruth and flying the flag, literally, for Mexico’s ‘Little Cornwall’. Our grateful thanks to the members of COREPAC for their hospitality and for making our visit so memorable.

 

 

 

An evening with the British Society Mexico

The following day, Martin, Ainsley and I made our way back to CDMX where that evening my film was shown at the Cactus Bar at the British Embassy, at the invitation of the British Society, Mexico. The ticketed event was sold out and the film generated enormous interest among the audience, which included some Cornish-Mexican stalwarts, the Straffon, Brown and Ludlow families.

 

 

Many thanks to Thomas Guy Scott for organising the event and to George Thompson and team for making the event so memorable. Afterwards, we retired to my favourite bar, the rooftop terrace of the Sofitel Reforma, to indulge my taste for Mexican stout and to enjoy the amazing night views over the city.

Research in Mexico’s ‘Little Cornwall’

After a brilliant off-road fieldtrip to look for mines with Cornish connections in the hills surrounding Pachuca along the old Camino Real de Santa Rosa with my friends Franz and Marcial, we bid farewell to Ainsley back in CDMX.

 

 

After a fruitful visit to the National Archive to tie up some loose ends for my forthcoming book, we headed to Pachuca, our base for the next week. We spent the time visiting numerous friends and various important landmarks, including my family graves in the English Cemetery. 

 

 

We also managed to get to the museum of football and Pachuca’s football stadium, home of the Tuzos, in preparation for a blog and film I shall be posting next year to celebrate El Copa del Mundo, exploring the role of the Cornish in popularising league sport (especially football) in Mexico. Watch this space…

 

 

Conditions for flying were excellent on the whole, and we also captured lots of great new drone footage throughout Mexico’s ‘Little Cornwall’ for future documentary films.

 

 

Following the route of the Transport Party

We then collected our friend Franz, who jumped at the opportunity of joining us on our research trip along the route taken by the Transport Party in 1825-6. Again we headed down to Veracruz so I could ‘ground truth’ some of the locations of relevance following our research in archives in Mexico and the USA last year. We were able to visit Antón Lizardo and the coastline between there and Mocambo this trip, and even found time for a dip in the sea at Mocambo Beach where the machinery was landed but which has changed beyond all recognition from 1825. Martin shot some incredible aerial footage and images, including over the Isla de Sacrificios, where the ships dropped anchor on arrival. You can see the dangerous reefs surrounding it.

 

 

 

 

We then followed the route of the old Camino Real through many of the places mentioned in the literature of the Great Trek en route to the Puente Nacional over the Rio Antigua. This included Santa Fe, the first depot set up to store the machinery after the terrible brush with yellow fever at the coast. The old village of a few huts is now a sprawling breeze-block settlement with nothing to commend it.

 

 

It was so unbelievably hot and humid on the river bank at the Puente Nacional, that I was tempted to strip off and plunge into the water. Anyone who has not ventured into the tropics can have no idea just how debilitating heat like that is. The poor souls of the Transport Party had to toil in temperatures near 40 degrees centigrade. Hellish.

I was glad to get to the the cooler evening temperature of Xalapa and to savour an ice-cold marguerita after a brief visit to ex-Hacineda Lucas Martín, where the Transport Party recuperated after their horrific ordeal in Tierra Caliente. This was once a few miles outside of Xalapa, but is now subsumed into its suburbs.

 

 

The next day we continued on up the steep section of the old Camino Real from Xalapa towards Perote on the tableland though the village of La Joya. 

 

 

At intervals all along the road from the suburbs of Veracruz to Perote there were makeshift booths selling drinks, tropical fruits, candies and tasty hot snacks cooked on a comal over wood fires or on brazeros. It struck me that 200 years ago, enterprising people were probably doing the same thing and the men of the Transport Party might well have indulged their cravings from such roadside vendors.

 

 

Just past Perote we found the Hacienda Aguatepec nestled below the slopes of the Cofre de Perote. This hacienda was the Transport Party’s third and final depot and has been tastefully renovated. It is now hired for private functions.

 

 

We then struck out across the Badlands, dominated by the conical volcanic hill, Cerro de Pizarro, rising dramatically from the Plain of Tepeyahualco and which had such an effect on British envoy, Henry George Ward.

 

 

Skirting the contorted field of lava little changed from 200 years ago near the town of San Antonio Limón, we headed to Tepeyahualco, which is now a small town rather than a village. We were treated to wonderful sights of the snow-clad Pico de Orizaba on the way down to Veracruz and on the return journey. It’s the highest peak in Mexico, and the highest volcano in North America.

 

 

Then we pressed on over the dusty plains still not wholly claimed for agriculture, with the Malinche Volcano near Haumantla in our sights, a vista that would have been familiar to the Transport Party. We were delighted to locate the haciendas of San Buenaventura and Buena Vista which lay on the route near Atlangatepec, which is now no longer a mere village.

 

 

Our next stop was Singuilucan. Fortunately for us, just past the City of Apan we managed to get out of what became a gigantic road block set up by farmers angry with the government for not doing enough to tackle the worsening sale price for maize. We formed part of an opportunistic convoy across rough farm tracks and fields on the plains of Apan to pick up the highway further on. A little too rough for a four door saloon, as we later discovered…

It was important to put up the drone to trace the route across the high ground after Lake Tecocomulco towards Singuilucan. This once swampy, untamed area has been largely claimed for agriculture, but the old route traversing it is still a dirt track. At Singuilican we paused for refreshments. I thought of Captain Lyon, a Real del Monte Company officer on his way home to England in the fall of 1826, huddled round a brazier with Buchan and Colquhoun of the Transport Service, in a house near the only tienda. They were contriving to comfort themselves with cigars as the rain beat down and the temperature hovered not far above freezing!

 

 

We then continued on to the Real del Monte Company’s former farm at El Guajolote. Try as we might, we could see no visible trace of the place on the ground in the area we believed it to have been located.

After dropping Franz off at his home in Mineral del Chico, we drove back to our hotel at CDMX, dropping the car off at the hire company en route. That’s when we discovered that the number plate was hanging off and bumping along the rough farm tracks and fields near Apan had caused a crease in the bumper. This time we had racked up a mere $65 of damage to the vehicle, unlike last year when the bill topped $650!!!

Sitting on the plane ready to depart the next morning after a fabulous trip, we read that the road block near Apan had delayed some travellers by over 24 hours and many had missed international flights. So, $65 dollars seemed a small price to pay rather than the cost of two air tickets back to Dublin!! Such is travel in Mexico. You have to be prepared for literally anything, as the fateful journey of the Transport Party in 1825-6 clearly shows. That epic story will be revealed in full for the first time in my book, due to be published next May.

Find out more about Cornish-Mexican cultural organisation COREPAC 

Find out more about the Redruth-Real del Monte Twinning Association

All images © Sharron P. Schwartz, Martin Critchley and named contributors. No reproduction

Film premiere, the ‘Great Trelawney Hug’ Tartan and the ‘Great Trek’ route