In 1532, only three other members of the original expedition were still alive, Alonso del Castillo Maldonado, Andres Dorantes de Carranca, and Estevan, an African slave. Together with Cabeza de Vaca, they headed west and south hoping to reach the Spanish Empire 's outpost in Mexico, becoming the first men of the Old World to enter the American West. Their route is not clear, but they apparently traveled across present day Texas, perhaps into New Mexico and Arizona and through Mexico 's northern provinces. In July 1536, near Culiacan in present day Sinaloa, they finally encountered a group of fellow Spaniards.