Mundaca the Pirate

Fermín Antonio y Marecheaga was born in october of 1825 in the vigalle Bermeo of Santa Maria, Spain. After completing his studies he set out for the New World to make his fortune. He arrived on the shores of Isla Mujeres in 1858 after acquiring his wealth by selling captured Mayan slaves to Cuban plantations and some say pirating. Mundaca cultivated and enjoyed his reputation as a pirate.

In 1862 Martiniana (Prisca) Gomez Pantoja was born. She was one of five sisters and it is been said that she was a willowy woman with green eyes, white skin tanned by the warm Caribbean sun and long, straight dark hair. Called "La Trigeña" (The Brunette), many men fell in love with her including Mundaca. She was 37 years younger than Mundaca and he tried in vain to capture her heart by dedicating the enterance gate of his hacienda to her, calling it "The Entrance of the Trigena" and "The Pass of the Trigena" in hopes his wealth and power would win the local beauty. She married a man closer to her own age and as legend has it, Mundaca slowly went insane and died, alone in Merida.

His tomb still sits empty awaiting him in the Isla Mujeres cementery. His headstone, carved by his own hands are the skull and cross bones, in memory of his pirating days and the words meant for his one ture love , "As you are, I was. As I am you will be".