The Place Where Legazpi’s Voyage to Manila Began

        I stayed in Mexico for a year between October of 2007 and December 2008.  And during those times, I have visited a number of historical places that Mexico could offer its visitors. But there is this one place in Mexico that I visited which I know would mean a lot to Filipinos.  The place is called Barra de Navidad. 

        I never knew that this place called Barra de Navidad existed.  But when I visited Colima in August of 2008, which is a city located 482 kilometres west of Mexico City, my newly found Mexican friends told me that there is a place two hours away from Colima that Filipino tourists visit a lot.  And my Mexican friends were so enthusiastic to accompany me there.  I did not know what I will be expecting to see there, therefore, excitement crept in all over me.  And two hours after our road trip began from Colima, I finally saw what Barra de Navidad was all about.  

        Barra de Navidad (Christmas Sandbar) is a small coastline town in the state of Jalisco that is facing the Pacific Ocean.  It is located 587 kilometres northwest of Acapulco.  And at the base of its jetty, I saw a monument that commemorated Miguel Lopez de Legazpi and Andres de Urdaneta’s voyage to Manila.  

        I felt I was standing on holy grounds as it was the jump off place of the Spanish fleet responsible for colonizing the Philippines. Miguel Lopez de Legazpi and Andres de Urdaneta started their expedition in Barra de Navidad towards the Philippines on 1564 November 21 – more than forty years after Magellan was killed in Cebú, and eventually started the Spanish Colonial Era in the Philippines that lasted for more than three centuries. And it was Andres de Urdaneta who discovered the route back to Nueva España or México which would eventually begin the galleon trade.

       I never knew that this was the place we will be visiting that day.  I was so excited to tell my Mexican friends who Miguel Lopez de Legazpi was to the Filipinos.  I told them that Legazpi died in Manila and that his remains were buried in Intramuros. I took pictures of the place, and had my Mexican friends take pictures of me with the monument. 

        And now that I am back home in the Philippines,  I felt like I travelled with Legazpi to the Philippines, my home,  the place which he chose to stay for the rest of his life.