If you look closely at the picture, you will see a small plaque (seen black) in the lower part of the monument. Below is the plaque blown up for you to read the inscription:
It says "Ferdinand Magellan landed near this place March 6, 1521."
The monument is standing at the seashore of Umatec, under a big tree the name of which I do not know. Looking at the monument and the ocean, I was standing there enthralled for a while. I was thinking, "What on earth could he come this far? Aboard a wooden ship? How far did he sail from there (Spain) to arrive at this small island? What made him sail this far?"
The query was endless. Looking out the heaping water, I felt my whole body numbing with an odd emotion. When I went back home from the vacation, I immediately got down to the business. I picked up a book written on his voyage - the first circumnavigation of the globe in human history, and read it in one sitting. I did more research on the historical background at the time he made the voyage. I tried to learn more about the scientific and geographical discoveries made available for his journey. I read the accounts on such historic explorations as Christopher Columbus, Vasco da Gama, and others, which I found unequal to that of Magellan and his crew. But the studies at the end gave me a great understanding and insight on his epic voyage. The following is how he made the journey.
(To be continued in the next post)
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