This text presents the extraordinary story of a 17th-century cross-dresser who became a hero of the Spanish-speaking world, a darling of the Pope and a conquistador in Chile and Peru. Catalina de Erauso was born in 1585 in the Basque city of San Sebastian, and after fleeing a convent aged 15, she spent the rest of her life dressed as a man. A soldier by the age of 18, she inadvertantly killed her brother in a duel, gambled and brawled her way through the Andes, and only revealed her secret 20 years later, when she became a legend in her own time and for subsequent generations. Her memoirs shed light not only on the Spanish conquest of America, but on the life of a woman who challenged the foundations of society, while remaining committed to its service.