In keeping with my trend of bizarre experiences in Spain, I was treated to a day in Huelva by Mario, my tutee. He drives to Huelva weekly for work. There’s not much to see there, but he said he wanted to show me “los barcitos,” the to-scale reconstructions of the boats in which Columbus sailed to America.
Although he definitely spent too much money on a fancy lunch for me, the local seafood is amazing, and I was excited to see the barcitos afterwards. First we toured a small monastery called La Rábida (pretty sure that translates to “The Rabid”), where Columbus stayed in the days before he set sail on his fateful voyage. Then we walked down to the harbor below to clamber around on the 3 boats. They are unbelievably tiny. In 1992, on the 500-year anniversary of the discovery of the Americas, Spain sailed those 3 boats to Hispañola, along the same course that Columbus took. But with modern navigation tools.
When I got home, Brad informed me that the scale of the boats is all wrong. He knows a naval historian who explained the inaccuracies to him one time. Why am I not surprised? He also told me that La Pinta essentially means “The Whore.” Isn’t there an old sailor’s superstition about how every discovery expedition has to have a slutty boat . . .?
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