The historical record doesn’t date two events: when Anacaona first learned of Chief Caonabó’s death at sea en route to Spain; or when she returned from Caonabó’s chiefdom of Maguana to her native Xaraguá.
As depicted in Columbus and Caonabó: 1493–1498 Retold, I believe she would have learned of her husband’s death by September 1496, after the arrival in “Española” that July of the ships that had departed Cádiz that June (as discussed in the post of June 11)—the first ships arriving that could have borne the information.
Also so depicted, I speculate Anacaona departed for Xaraguá soon thereafter and that she likely traveled the following route: in the Dominican Republic, from Caonabó’s residence abutting the Corral de los Indios in San Juan de la Maguana through the fertile Valle de San Juan, over the Sierra de Neiba, into the Valle de Neiba, along Lake Enriquillo to the Haitian border; and then in Haiti, past Lake Étang Saumâtre to Chief Behecchio’s inland residence somewhere near Lake Trou Caïman.
The photos below show: the Corral de los Indios, the Valle de San Juan, the Sierra de Neiba, the Neiba Valley and eastern tip of Lake Enriquillo, along Lake Enriquillo, the eastern tip of Lake Étang Saumâtre, and some pretty desert cacti en route.
