Diego de la Cosa Series

Gary Burzell and his wife Lily live in the Bend, Oregon area and they enjoy hiking and other outdoor activities.I'm happy to announce that part two of the Diego de la Cosa series will be coming in Spring of 2023. While in part one Diego almost idolizes Christopher Columbus, in part two Diego and his companion Francisco start to realize that Columbus may not be the great man they think he is. Here is the prologue for part two:PrologueThe climb up the steep, thick jungle hillside had been difficult, especially in the heat of the midday sun. Diego's injuries added immensely to the struggle to keep going, to get away from those who were pursuing him and his companions. Diego looked back over his right shoulder and watched as Francisco and Guacabo, the nephew of Guacanagarí, the local chief, or cacique who had arranged their escape from Villa de la Navidad, the settlement Admiral Columbus had created for those left behind when he left Española to return to Spain.Columbus had been forced to leave 39 crewmembers behind after the Santa Maria sunk, and Diego and Francisco had volunteered to be left behind, much to the annoyance of Columbus. While Diego and Francisco did not know the fate of the other crewmembers on Villa de la Navidad, in their hearts they knew they had most likely been killed by Guacanagarí and his men. But as Diego and Francisco had discussed, between themselves, and with Guacanagarí, the other members left behind by Columbus had been cruel to the tribe’s members, especially with the women of the tribe. It was only because of the friendship they had forged with Guacanagarí and his nephew that had spared them a similar fate.Guacanagarí had asked his nephew Guacabo to take Diego and Francisco to Mayaguana, the island where Guacabo and his family lived. During the trip from Española to Mayaguana, Diego and Francisco at once grew fond of Guacabo. After spending several weeks on Mayaguana, learning the language and customs of Guacabo, and his people, Diego and Francisco had asked Guacabo to take them to the west, to what they believed to be another larger island. As it turned out, Diego and Francisco had come to believe that island was most likely a previously unknown continent, and not an island at all. Guacabo didn't hesitate to accept to go along. He too had heard the stories of the grand Mayan, Incan, Olmec, and Aztec civilizations, and he too wanted to see them.After several months of exploring, they began to run low on supplies, and decided it was time to go back to Guacabo’s island, and his friendly village, and they had done so, knowing that they would be back in the future. But that was eight months ago, a lot had happened since then, none of it good in the minds of Diego and Francisco.Diego stopped and turned to look down at the trail they were climbing. He could not see any signs of those who were chasing them. He hoped the diversion of floating down the river, away from their adversaries, had worked. That had been Guacabo's idea, and so far, it appeared to have saved them, at least for now. But those in pursuit were cunning, relentless, and ruthless, so Diego knew they had to keep pressing on.Francisco stopped behind Diego and said, “I wish we had known.”Diego hesitated, then said, “Me too, me too, but how could we have known? How could I have ever guessed that he could be so, so ...” Diego paused. In his mind many words to describe how he now felt about Admiral Columbus began to form, but one kept popping up no matter how hard he tried not to admit it was the correct word to use, and then said with sadness and disappointment in his eyes, “So evil.”Neither of us did, like you, I thought Columbus was a great man, a man of honor. Not a butcher looking for riches at any cost, to his men, or of the people in this land.”They both looked behind them one more time and pressed on.