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Lisa (Russell) Boston

Isla Mujeres, the island of women, where time passes slowly and your dream vacation becomes a reality. Located just eight miles across the Bahia de Mujeres (bay of women) from Cancun, Isla Mujeres is only 5 miles long and half a mile wide with a downtown area of just four by six blocks. The average temperature is 80 degrees and 60% humidity. Mapped at latitude North 21Ð'o 11' 5" and longitude West 86Ð'o 42' 50" Isla's terrain is flat with beaches on all sides (Baird, 2004).

Isla Mujeres has a long and colorful history. In Mayan times the island served as the sanctuary for the goddess Ixchel, the Mayan Goddess of fertility, reason, medicine, and the moon (Shuman, 2000). Enrique, the "spiritual advisor of the island" said that the Temple was located at the South point of the island and was also used as the lighthouse. The light from torches was shown through holes in the walls, which could be seen by the navigators at sea (personal communication, September 27, 2005).

In March of the year 1517, Francisco Hernandez Cordova discovered the island. When the Spanish expedition landed, they found many female shaped idols representing the goddess Ixchel, thus Isla Mujeres (the island of women) got its name (Harris, 2004).

For the next three centuries Isla Mujeres was uninhabited. The only visitors were fisherman and pirates who used Isla as a refuge and left their women on the island "for safekeeping" while they sailed the high seas. Famous pirates like Henry Morgan and Jean Lafitte walked the shores of Isla and as legend goes (Harris, 2004), buried their stolen treasure under the white sands. Tourists often come with cheap equipment to look for the long lost treasure.

After the Independence of Mexico, a small village began in what is now downtown Isla Mujeres. Mayan fisherman found the waters around the island to be a fisherman's paradise and the village slowly grew (personal communication, September 27, 2005).

More than 100 years ago in 1890 in the ancient colonial settlement of Ecab (Boca Iglesia) at the northern tip of Quintana Roo, several fishermen discovered three "sister" statues of the Virgin. They were carved out of wood with their hands and face made out of porcelain. And so it was said, each one of the fishermen believing so strongly in the Catholic religion carried a Virgin to his own village. It was also said that the Spaniards had brought the "sisters" to Ecab many years before in about 1770. On Isla Mujeres the Virgin's first shrine was a small palm and wood Chapel and at a later date moving "her" to the place that "she" presently occupies in the church was not easy. More than eight men could scarcely lift herÐ'...upon finally moving "her", the small palm chapel burned down completely to the astonishment of all those present (Baird, 2004). It is said by locals that the Virgin walks on the water around the island from dusk to dawn looking for her "sisters". Some years ago an Islander saw the Virgin walking on the sea early in the morning. Later that morning her dress was found containing burrs and sand (personal communication, September 26-30, 2005).

The "bajada" (descent) of the virgin is an unequaled event. More than three thousand faithful islanders gather together in the main square year after year to inaugurate a series of festivities that begin with the procession of the virgin and climax on December eighth with the grand fiesta in which all the inhabitants of the island and visitors participate. The feast is celebrated with mass from August 6th to the 15th and from the 30th of November to the 8th of December (Harris, 2004).

Long before Cancun was even a glint in developer's eyes, Isla Mujeres open it's