After returning to Spain in 1537, he wrote an account, first published in 1542 as La relación y comentarios ('The Account and Commentaries' ), which in later editions was retitled Naufragios y comentarios ('Shipwrecks and Commentaries'). During eight years of traveling across what is now the US Southwest, he became a trader and faith healer to various Native American tribes before reconnecting with Spanish civilization in Mexico in 1536. 1557/1558/1559 /1560 ) was a Spanish explorer of the New World, and one of four survivors of the 1527 Narváez expedition. Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca ( Spanish pronunciation: ( listen) c. Treasurer, explorer, author of La relación y comentarios, and ex-governor of Río de Plata in Argentinaįrancisco de Vera (father), Teresa Cabeza de Vaca y de Zurita (mother)
