Their women toil incessantly.

I am not actually going to speak about anything related to my title of this post really, I just thought it was an interesting little line. An eye-catcher, if you will.

The thing I love about studying history and literature and the fabulous combination that makes hust HUST is trying to really get myself into the story or the time period. I love to imagine what the world of the author was really like. In the case of Relacion I thought about the men trudging around what is now Galveston, walking through swamps and sand, and feeling the burn of too many kisses from the sun. And then I thought about what that was really like. There weren't any condos or beach huts where the men could retire. They couldn't go to the local chemist (that's an internship in Britain for ya) to stock up on sunblock and aloe vera. There wasn't a Payless Shoes in sight. I then thought of Prof. Donahue's comment about being able to fly from one spot in the U.S. to another and still have many things in common with the people on the other coast, like the same language and tv shows. This was of course not at all true in the case of Nunez Cabeza de Vaca. Not only were the different "indigenous" tribes each unique, but even the Christianized Europeans were very different kinds of people (at least in this account). I'm not really sure where I'm going with this, other than saying that I really like trying to figure out what it was like to live in a world without the internet and television and magazines and newspapers and airplanes and interstates and starbucks and wal mart...

Just for fun
The term "indian" in the text reminded me of a very heated argument I had with my brother when I was still in the barbie phase. My brother and I got into a fight about whether my Pocahontus doll was Indian or Native American. It's a funny story, but it of course leads to a question. Why, after finding out that "indians" are not Indian, did the term stick for so long?