I Found myself in this city of San Sebastian de Buena Vista in the year 1536, and in 1537 the licentiate Juan de Vadillo, Juez de Residencia, and at that time governor of Carthagena, set out from it with one of the finest armies that had been seen in Tierra Firme. We were the first Spaniards who opened a road from the North to the South Sea. I journeyed from this town of Uraba as far as the town of Plata, at the furthest extremity of Peru, and made a point of seeing all the provinces on my road, that I might be better able to note down what was worthy of remark. I will, therefore, relate from this place forward all that I saw, without desiring to exaggerate or depreciate anything, and of this my readers may receive my assurance.

I say, then, that on leaving San Sebastian de Buena Vista, which is the port of Uraba, to go to the city of Antioquia, the road runs by the coast for five leagues as far as the banks of a small river called Rio Verde, whence the distance to the city of Antioquia is forty-eight leagues. The whole country, from this river to certain mountains called Abibe, of which I shall speak presently, is flat, but covered with very dense forests, and traversed by many rivers.