My tribute to the Isla Mujeres cemetery…

I decided to spend a little more time in Isla’s tiny cemetery on my last visit.  I wanted to do this post showing respect for those who have passed, while illustrating the uniqueness, color and history of this special (and crowded) place.  I try not to step on the graves when I walk through the cemetery, which is extremely difficult considering almost every square inch is “occupied”.

Some of the graves are very colorful and well cared for…

But a lot of them are in disrepair and probably haven’t been visited by anyone in a long time.

One thing I particularly noticed on this visit were the little angels that sat on some of the graves.  Some of them were adorable, although there is a sadness about them.

You can really see how much damage the constant salty sea air does to them.

I’m not too sure about this one, though…kind of strange…

Raising arms…

Maybe this person was a guitar player…

Then there are the shushing angels…my favorites…

I spent more time looking into the little enclosed areas on the tops of some of the graves…I don’t know what they are called.

In addition to candles, flowers and/or statues, it was interesting to note that most of them had either cups or soda bottles inside these areas.  I posted a question on the Isla Chatter Board about what these meant, and I received this reply:  “I asked a Mexican this question.  It is for the dead person so they can have a drink. They leave it for them and it acually evaporates. They said the person who cleans the cemetery probably turns them over when they clean.” So there you go.

I also noticed that some had the face of Christ leaning on a wall…

I don’t know what this one was all about…

Interesting crucifixes…

One of the sadder things I noticed is that a lot of the people buried in this little cemetery weren’t that old.  Many were just in their 40s and 50s.  And some younger ones…

Very sad…

And Mundaca, the resident pirate…who apparently isn’t even really buried here…

After I took my last photograph here, I looked around and saw this little guy.  Hmmmm…not a good omen in a cemetery…

So, I turned around to leave, and just about jumped out of my skin because a woman had walked in without me hearing her and was standing right behind me.  Geez, you just don’t do that to people in cemeteries!  Haha!

So that’s my little walk through the Cementerio Municipal.  The caretaker encourages visitors and doesn’t mind if you take pictures…just be respectful.