Town Cemetery - The Pirate's Empty Tomb

A stop on Isla Mujeres: Town to Punta Sur, a free self-guided tour.

Behind these walls is the island's old cemetery, a crowded patchwork of painted tombs, crosses and little chapels. Walk in respectfully: this is still where island families bury and visit their dead.

Look for one tomb in particular, carved with a skull and crossbones. It belongs to Fermin Mundaca, a Basque seafarer born in Bermeo, Spain, in 1825, who made his money in the slave trade and settled on Isla Mujeres around 1858. Islanders have long called him a pirate. You will see his estate later on this tour.

The tomb carries a grim old saying, often given in English as: as you are, I was; as I am, you will be. It is a centuries-old warning to the living. But the tomb is empty. Mundaca left the island and died in Merida, on the mainland, in 1880. Find the skull, read the words, and imagine the man who planned this monument for himself.

Getting here: From the plaza, walk north and west a few blocks toward the Playa Norte side of town. Look for the cemetery's whitewashed walls.

Did you know?: The words on Mundaca's tomb belong to a long tradition of memento mori, reminders of death, that appear on gravestones in many countries.

Photo op: Frame the skull-and-crossbones carving on Mundaca's tomb close up, with the colorful tombs blurred behind it.

More on Wikipedia: Isla Mujeres · Bermeo · Memento mori · Atlantic slave trade

Town Cemetery - The Pirate's Empty Tomb

Stops on this tour