Autobiography - The Galindo Group

Ram Galindo THE MAKING OF AN AMERICAN Page 205
in Valencia. His widow Ximane reigned there for another three years but was not able to
keep the town even though Alfonso VI came to her rescue. The Spanish noblemen’s
attention was by now directed to the Holy Land Crusades and not enough resources
were left available to hold the town. Thus, Valencia was totally evacuated, including the
Cid’s remains, and burned down by the departing Christians in May 1102, exactly 900
years ago as I write this book.
El Cid’s son, Diego Rodriguez Vivar, was killed in 1097 when he headed a relief force to
help Alfonso VI defend Toledo. El Cid’s youngest daughter, Maria Vivar, married the
nephew of Berenguer Ramon, whom her father had defeated and taken prisoner twice.
Her descendents went into French nobility. His oldest daughter, Christina Ximane Vivar,
married Ramiro, the Prince of Navarre, who was a direct descendant of the Galindo line.
Their son, now carrying also El Cid’s genes, became Garcia V King of Navarre in 1134.
In him the Galindo and El Cid’s genes came together. Christina Ximane died soon after
giving birth to her son. Garcia V became the grandfather of Sancho VII “The Strong”
King of Navarre about whom we will hear more soon. Garcia’s V daughter, Blanche of
Navarre, was the mother of King Alfonso VIII of Castile, the great hero of the
Reconquista. Thus El Cid’s genes entered the pool for my family’s background through
two royal houses, closing the real life ring between my name and my own son’s name. I
wonder if my parents knew!
If the root chain of my own family name from the Pyrenees to Cochabamba, to my
knowledge, has a gaping hole within, another family gene is connected through a mostly
un-interrupted chain all the way from the 13 th Century to me. Most historians would
agree that the turning point of the Reconquista was the battle of Las Naves de Tolosa in
mid-July 1212. It was the beginning of the end of the Moorish occupation of Spain. At
this battle my predecessors carrying the Galindo gene came in contact with another
gene in my lineage, this time from my mother’s side, the Obarrio bloodline.
In her memoirs my mother wrote about the parents of her own mother, Rosa Guzman
Terrazas Obarrio, who was orphaned at an early age. Her maternal aunt, who was
married to Bolivia’s President Mariano Baptista, raised her. Given that she spent most
of her formative years in his household, Mr. Baptista became her de-facto stepfather.
My mother’s maternal great grandfather was a young Bolivian army captain. While on
duty in the frontier post of Puerto Suarez on the eastern border with Brazil, he died at
age 28 from a horseback accident. His name was Faustino Guzman Obarrio. His
mother was Biviana Obarrio de Vergara y de Villate, in turn granddaughter of the
Spanish Marquis de Vergara y Vellate, whose lineage connects with the battle of Las
Naves de Tolosa. The amazing fact for me to discover is how this bloodline acquired
Spanish nobility and how it connected with one of my paternal lines.
I must pick up the Reconquista thread line about 110 years after the burning of
Valencia. Now Alfonso VIII was King of Castile, Pedro II King of Aragon, and Sancho VII
“The Strong” King of Navarre. Sancho VII’s brother-in-law was Richard “The Lion
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