On this spot, Christopher Columbus and his soldiers fought a battle against the Taino, the original inhabitants of this island where the DR and Haiti now are. Columbus and his men were outnumbered and were forced to retreat up this hill, but then, as the account goes, they had a vision of Mary, and the Taino were unable to defeat Columbus. With the benefit of hindsight, we now know that what ensued was decades of carnage, enslavement, and disease resulting in the destruction of hundreds of cultures, and a complete upheaval/transformation of the Americas. How would things have been if the Taino had won that battle? We'll never know of course, but for me there is something really profound about being able to stand on the exact spot where such an important event took place, and reflect on history, and our place in it.