©1999-2006
Isla Mujeres Net
Apartado 73
Isla Mujeres, Q. Roo
Mexico 77400
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In recent times the island was populated by fishermen until the building of Cancun which opened up opportunity for growth however the island still remains quaint while most of the building takes place on the Mayan Riviera. The island was used by the Mayan people as a sanctuary dedicated to Ixchel, the goddess of love and fertility. According to the legend, when the Spanish arrived they found a large number of women statues carved in stone in honor of the goddess, and it is from here that the island gets it’s name "Isla Mujeres" (The Island of Women). Another legend also has it that the island was used as a refuge by the pirate and slave trader, Fermin Mundaca, who built a beautiful hacienda here to try to make a local island girl fall in love with him. The ruins of the construction are a reminder of those times gone by.
The island of Isla Mujeres is practically an obligatory trip for tourists to Cancún. Just 20 minutes away by ferry, this heavenly island awaits you, offering a host of activities and entertainment along its mile-long stretch of extensive white, sandy beaches, craft shops and jewelers, specialty restaurants, tropical music bars, the reef for diving, swimming with dolphins and an endless number of activities. Ask at your hotel reception for departure timetables. Travel agents might be able to arrange a good package including meals and drinks.
Isla Mujeres has a rich history filled with pirates and marauding buccaneers. As the story goes in 1517 a Spanish butcher by the name of Francisco Hermandez de Cordoba happened upon the island searching for slaves for Cuban mines, the Spanish already in the process of decimated the indigenous population of that island. Unfortunately the slavers found nothing but old statues which they perceived to be statues of women, thus the name of the island, "Isle of Women".According to Mayan legend the island was used for traditional Mayan fertility ceremonies and there are Mayans alive today who can tell stories told to them by their Grandparents about the Spanish invasion of the Island and surrounding areas however little else is known.
©2007
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