s) to the New World. During the trip, they are caught as stowaways, but manage to break free and take a rowboat with the help of Cortés' horse, Altivo (vocal effects by Frank Welker). They land at an unknown shore, and Miguel begins to recognize landmarks stated on the map. The map leads them to a totem marker outside of a waterfall. As they try to decipher the markings on the totem, a young woman approaches them, chased by a number of guards. The guards see the image of Tulio and Miguel riding Altivo as the same on the totem, and believing them to be gods, escort them and the woman under the falls and into El Dorado, truly a city made of gold. Tulio and Miguel are brought to the city's elders, Chief Tannabok (Edward James Olmos) and wicked medicine man Tzekel-Kan (Armand Assante). While Tannabok warmly welcomes them to the city, Tzekel-Kan mainly sees them as a way to enhance his own standing. After celebrations offered by both Tannabok and Tzekel-Kan, the two are taken to private quarters along with the woman, Chel (Rosie Perez), who has seen through their ploy but offers to help maintain it as long as they take her with them when they leave. Tulio tells Tannabok the next day they are only here for a visit, but will need a boat built to leave the city with the gifts the city has showered them with; Tannabok says it will take them a few days to construct a vessel. As they spend time with the locals, Miguel finds the city peaceful and expresses interest in staying. Chel encourages Miguel to continue to explore the city, allowing her to become closer to Tulio. When Tzekel-Kan sees Miguel playing a ball game with children, he demands that the gods play against the city's best players. During the match, Tulio and Miguel are clearly over-matched, but Chel replaces the ball with a rolled-up armadillo, allowing the two to cheat and win the game. During the match, Tzekel-Kan sees a small cut on Miguel's forehead, and realizes that they are not gods. To show this to the rest of the city, Tzekel-Kan conjures a giant stone jaguar to chase them through the city. Though somewhat intimidated at first, Tulio and Miguel manage to outwit the stone jaguar, causing both it and Tzekel-Kan to fall into a giant whirlpool, thought to be the entrance to Xibalba, the spirit world. Tzekel-Kan comes to outside El Dorado, where Cortés and his men are searching for gold. Tzekel-Kan, thinking Cortes is a god(a reference to the fall of the Aztec Empire), quickly offers to lead them to El Dorado. With their boat completed and loaded with treasures, Tulio is ready to leave but Miguel announces that he will be staying. As Tulio and Chel start to leave, they spot smoke on the horizon, realizing that Cortés and his men are approaching the city with the help from Tzekel-Kan, hoping to take it over. To protect the city from the Spanish troops, Tulio determines they can use the boat to slam against rock formations under the waterfall path that will cave in and block access to the city, but they will need to give the boat enough speed to do so. The city's residents start to pull down a large statue to create a wave to propel the boat, but Tulio cannot get the sails up to give the boat enough speed to avoid the statue. Miguel forgoes his chance to stay in the city and jumps into the boat with Altivo to finish hoisting the sails. The boat clears the statue in time, and Tulio's plan is successful; though the boat and its treasures are lost, the entrance to El Dorado is sealed for good. Tulio, Miguel, Chel, and Altivo hide as Tzekel-Kan brings Cortés and his men towards the waterfall. Once Tzekal-Kan finds out that the entrance has been blocked, an angry Cortés takes this as a lie, and orders his men to place Tzekel-Kan into custody for leading them for nothing. Cortes and his men then march away with a humiliated Tzekel-Kan in their hands. Tulio, Miguel, and Chel, though disappointed they lost their treasure, take off in a different direction for a new adventure, unaware that Altivo still wears the golden horseshoes he was outfitted with in the city, and prefers to keep that fact to himself.

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