It was a beautiful morning, the waves of the sea peaceful and quiet, the bow of the ship cutting through the water like a hot knife through butter. I loved the breeze on my face, it made the heat scurry away. This is what I lived for, on the open seas searching for land like a game of hide and seek. I walked down to the bottom of the ship where there was breakfast being served, a slab of beef with a river of butter on top and a cheese wedge before it became moldy. I went back to the upper deck. The sun getting brighter each hour, and the minutes going faster than a trout through the water. My thoughts were interrupted when I heard my name in the distance. “Hernan!” Alvarado yelled “what!” I yelled back “come over here!” he yelled. I ran over “what” I said “look down there” he said. The water was full of dolphins swimming next to the boat like they were racing it. “Cool dolphins,” I said “ you mean mermaids” he responded tripping over his words like a clumsy horse “did you find the rum downstairs,” I said back “ no!..no?” he said while laughing. “ Do you believe in legends?” I blurted out knowing full well he was probably intoxicated. “No,” he said “but when other people aren't looking they change” he exclaimed. “I'm going to sleep,” I said

“Good night,” he said looking right into the dolphin’s eyes waiting for them to do something. “Don't jump in” I said, laughing under my breath.

The next day was another beautiful day, the expansion southwest was only getting better. Most of the day was spent looking out to sea. And talking with other crew members. Lunch and dinner tasted good, but I couldn’t eat the fish. The smell always made me gag when fish was around, not ideal when most of your life is on the ocean. The ocean was beautiful however what kept me sane was chess and hazard. I will admit Hazard lost me many pounds, but not that much money was betted this round at least.

The next day the waves were ferocious, the sky had a thicker fog than I have ever seen. A storm was coming after what seemed like a few seconds. The storm hit us. Waves were crashing into the top of the deck and before I thought anything could get worse Alvarado yelled to me the ship had a hole in the bottom of the ship. I rushed down to the bottom deck and saw a hole the size of a head spewing out water. I yelled for a plank and a hammer with nails. Alvarado ran to me with the hammer and nails in each hand, then he tripped and I felt a sharp piercing feeling in my ankle.

Before I knew it I was awake, The sun was so bright it felt as if it was a needle through my eyes, and burnt my skin like it was branding me. I looked at my ankle and a nail was lodged in the bone. I had to do something to get it out, I looked for something to bite onto and found a stick. Once I worked myself up to pull it out, I put the stick in my mouth and grabbed the nail with my hand, and pulled on it, I screamed in pain as the nail ripped out of the bone. Once I finished pulling out the nail I took the stick and put it on my ankle vertically and used some cloth from my shirt to tie it to my leg. I got up and limped out of the wreckage. I looked around and saw as the ocean crawled up like it was trying to touch the shore. I looked around the wreck and saw the other boats around a mile away. Before I left I looked for the others, no one was at the wreck. I followed the footprints of the others to the boats. The walk wasn't bad, it was nice besides the blood gouging out of the hole in my ankle. The feeling of the sand in between my toes was comforting. Once I got to the other boats I looked for Avila, Olid, Sandoval, and Alvarado. I saw them in the distance and asked them if they had any alcohol. They looked at me in disbelief and said to me that they thought I was dead. I said it doesn't matter and right now I need some alcohol and gauze for my wound. A few minutes later they came back with the supplies, I poured the alcohol on the gauze and put it on the wounded. It felt worse than salt in an open cut. That day my friends asked me why I would battle through all of the storms and hunger just to discover more land for Spain. I told them, “I love to travel but hate to arrive,” but they weren’t buying it and said that if I don’t tell them then they're leaving. So I had no choice. I told them that the expedition was called off and that this voyage was not allowed, and I couldn’t go back without success.

The next day was a scorching hot day while everyone else left. I secretly sunk all but one of the ships knowing if more people find out that they would leave back to Spain. As we went through the jungle the heat and moisture of the jungle felt like a sauna. I missed Spain and wished every moment that I could be there but I could feel victory in my bones, but my bones couldn’t feel victory. My legs felt like jello and my feet were dead, I collapsed knowing I couldn’t make it. I closed my eyes knowing what was next was God’s will. I was getting ready to close my eyes and accept my fate, but that was when we saw them, the Aztecs.