The reading of Catalina de Erauso was definitely unbelievable and admirable. It was refreshing to read the story of a woman in the 1600’s. She faced several obstacles through her life, yet her ability to overcome every situation she was put on is simply fascinating. Her story embraces the strength and determination women have, and also the power of equity between genders. She did not accept being mistreated, she was brave to move to different places by herself, she was clever and she defeated strong men in combat.

Even when Catalina didn’t have a strong connection with her family and especially with her brother, I think she still values meeting her brother every now and then: “A few men came to my side, among them my brother, whom I hadn’t seen in a while, and this was a great comfort to me.” Through the whole reading, I kept thinking how the world can be so small. The chances of finding her father AND her brother who she never met, were almost like null. Maybe it was her luck. It is interesting how religion is present in the whole story, ever since she was becoming a nun until she escapes to a Franciscan church. Knowing how the church would react if they found out her secret, religion is part of her life. Maybe because at that time, religion was more political based.

When I was reading the text I felt like Catalina told her story in a really authentic and genuine way. She wasn’t afraid of telling that she had killed people, or that she was mistreated and abused. I also want to comment on the fact that she believes she was lucky, and maybe she was, but no one is that lucky to get through all she did and being rewarded after revealing her secret. There was no discussion that she had contributed to the crown of Phillip IV, and she received the permission to keep on dressing as a man from a Pope. However, it would be interesting to get to know some of the points of view which were against Catalina.

Her life was full of adventures and twists, no wonder why she is considered a legend. However, she saw herself as a Spanish soldier, she was not thinking of her as a woman in soldier’s clothes. And that is where I see how revolutionary her mindset was. She became what she had to to survive, but also she was who she wanted to be.

After reading The Voyage of Christopher Columbus, I have been left with nothing more than mixed feelings. I really share his thoughts on how America could be a paradise, even today we can see how amazing the landscapes are, and how much richness there is in its soil. The way he describes all the islands starts with really beautiful descriptions. By the almost the end of his journal, he doesn’t have words to describe how magnificent the land is. However, he also compares them to the landscapes in Spain, maybe to give some value to his country’s resources?

Despite the fact that I pictured all this beauty in my mind when reading the text; I couldn’t help but to feel annoyed and angry every time he referred to the natives as cowards, naive, without any beliefs, and even more when he caught some of them as prisoners. The idea of him not writing the complete “truth” crossed my mind several times. One of those was when he wrote: “The Indians made gestures of resistance, indicating that they would not let any men land, but when they saw that the boats were approaching the shore and our men were not afraid they ran away from the sea. … Finally, all the Indians, men and boys, ran away”- Page 126. The natives were willing to defend themselves, they seemed pretty energetic and determined, there is no way that they would just run away like that. I felt like some sort of fight happened but for the sake of pleasing Christopher Columbus “Majesties”, he omitted the violent details. Who knows what else he didn’t share in his journal.

Christopher Columbus was ambitious, selfish, closed minded and blindly loyal to the Spanish crown. He lightly describes how he takes away the native’s possessions, the way an explorer would do so. “We took away all of the staffs away from them without difficulty”-Page 130. This phrase shows how ungrateful he is, considering that he was considered “from Heaven” by most of the natives, and welcomed with their “stuff” as he states it. It clearly reflects his ambitions for gold, possessions, and of course, his need to please the Spanish crown.

Some questions:

1. Are C.C attitudes a good reflection of what Christianity is/was?
2. How was the relationship of the Spanish people with the native women?
3. Was C.C so loyal to the King and Queen because he was afraid they would execute him?

Hey folks!

My name is Karen, I am from Colombia and I am a second-year materials engineering student. I’ve never done a blog, I hope this works out well. I’ve lived my whole life in Colombia, except for the past three and a half years. When I was 16 years old I moved to Costa Rica and lived there for two years in a boarding school, then I moved here to study engineering.

Costa Rica and Colombia are countries where I feel welcomed and at home, both have a big place in my heart, moving to Canada was a very important change for me. My whole family is Colombian and they all live in Bogota, the capital. The thing that I miss the most is the warm weather of Costa Rica and the food of Colombia, but I really enjoy sunny days here at Vancouver and the beautiful sunsets.

I am taking this course because there has been a long time since I studied a bit of Colombian and South American history, and I really want to remember and learn about my own culture. It is nice to have something different from chemistry and physics, especially when it is so related to my background.

Karen