Let's Celebrate Cinco de Mayo
with a book sale!
Cabeza de Vaca’s story is a lesson in survival. - me
A version of this story first appeared in 2020.
Greetings and Happy Cinco de Mayo to all who partake. Cinco de Mayo commemorates the victory of the underdog Mexican forces over the French at the Battle of Pueblo in 1682.
Fun fact: my Spanish teacher informed us that Cinco de Mayo is not a big holiday in Mexico like it is here. Many folks of Mexican heritage think it’s a little weird that we norteamericanos make such a big deal out of it. It’s as if Canada threw an annual shindig on April 21 to celebrate San Jacinto Day, just so they could eat barbecue and drink Lone Star.
Just so we’re clear, I absolutely do celebrate Cinco de Mayo by eating as much Mexican food as possible.
But I digress.
This year, I also plan to celebrate by offering a screamin’ deal on one of my older books. It’s a biography of the Spanish explorer Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca, aimed for younger readers (around age 8 and up). Perfect for a future book report!
If you spent your entire K-12 public education never hearing of this guy, join the club. When I finally learned of him in grad school (thank you, UTA Special Collections!), it blew my mind that someone so cool was so, well, unexplored. That's what inspired me to write about him. His biography was my first book, published in 2003 by Eakin Press.
Some fun facts about Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca (although I’m guessing he may not have considered them 'fun' in the moment):
He was one of only four survivors of the Narváez expedition, which set out from Spain for Florida in 1527 with more than 300 (mostly) men.
He was the first European to cross the North American continent, from Florida in the east to Mexico in the west.
Most of those nearly 3000 miles he traveled on foot, naked and starving.
He earned a reputation as a healer among the natives by improvising some techniques cobbled together from his Catholic upbringing. He freely confessed he thought it was nonsense, but the natives insisted.
We can add 'writer' to his long list of achievements. One of the first things he did when he finally returned to Spain was write a journal detailing his experience. He is considered one of the first ethnologists of the New World, thanks to the meticulous documentation of some of the native tribes he encountered.
My favorite 'fun' fact about Alvar is that after eight years of wandering the desert southwest, surviving many near-death experiences from cannibals, starvation, slavery, hurricanes, and pirates, and finally making it back home to Spain, he didn't curl up next to a fire with a decent plate of tapas and live out the rest of his days. Oh, no. He demanded reassignment for another expedition to the New World. He wanted to go back! And he did!
As I mentioned, in honor of the Cinco de Mayo holiday, I’m running a sales promo. The e-book will be on sale for 99 cents May 2-5, 2025. Thanks to my Spanish teacher and her translation of my book, there is also a Spanish version. It’s on sale as well. If you have any budding young history nerds in the family, I think they will enjoy learning about this fascinating man.
I will leave you with three things:
Many thanks to the folks at The Wittliff Collections at Texas State University for including my book on their website about this topic.
If you prefer film to book, there is also a movie about CDV available on YouTube.
Speaking of my Spanish teacher, she recently introduced us to a delicious Latin delicacy: guava paste. It comes in a tin about the size of a salad plate and is the consistency of a thicker cranberry sauce (jelled, not whole berry). It’s available at most major grocers (in Texas, that is). Serve as a canapé on crunchy crackers with some cheese. Perfect for your Cinco de Mayo festivities this weekend!
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I just really like the name Cabeza de Vaca (head of a cow) for this very adventurous dude. He sounds somewhere between a Spanish version of Ghandi and Forest Gump. I like guava juice so I will look for guava paste at the Mexican shop here. Thanks for the tip.