Cabo Isabela

   A Dominican holiday this week--celebrating when they got their independence from the Haitians--meant we couldn't work at the government office building, so we took a great holiday!  Since Earl heard we were coming here, he has wanted to see the place where Columbus landed and created in 1493 the first Spanish settlement in the Americas that lasted.  (The fort he had left on his first trip was destroyed by the natives in reaction to mistreatment by the Europeans there.) We went north to Puerto Plata (so named because the explorers heard there was silver there), where we stayed.  We took the trip over to Cabo Isabela (yes, one l) to where the settlement had been.  Not much is really there, but they have outlined in rocks where they think the houses might have been and they have the place where the church was.  There were really bodies where the cemetery was.  In fact, a little is known about one skeleton that has been preserved there.  He was a sailor, about 37, who died of dengue fever--from mosquito bites and which people still suffer from on the island.  A scientist came from Italy to preserve the bones.

Here is the place the admiral's (Christopher Columbus) house was.  He had a magnificent view--all that blue

in back is the water in the bay and the sky.

Outlines of where they thought houses for one person each may have been----

Hurricanes (a word from Tainos--the indigenous people)--came in 1494 and 1495.

Soon after, Santo Domingo on the southern side of the island was established and became important to other explorers.  It became a headquarters for exploration to other countries.

There is too much history to tell it here, but you can find it online and learn.

   The light tree in the center here is at the head of the outline of the church "footprint."  It is thought to be about five hundred years old and may have been here in Columbus' time--very hard wood!