A Village I Could Live In For Eternity

The last full day we were in Cozumel, we went to the cemetery. We have visited it before, more than once, but not on any of our more recent trips and we wanted to go and so we scooted down to where we thought it was, and yes, it was right there, behind the Mega Market, which is Mega indeed and has coffee shops and sandwich shops and deli's and escalators which your cart can ride up on and under-the-building parking and you can buy anything in the world there. Almost.

And it is quite a contrast to the cemetery behind it, which I can only imagine is old.

The Cozumelians bury their dead in mausoleums which look a great deal like small houses and the cemetery itself resembles nothing more than a village of the dead with streets and avenues.

It is impossible not to be moved in this place.

As in any village, there are the rich sections and there are the poor. There are the sections of town which are kept up nicely



and those which are tended sporadically.



There are those whose property is large and those whose property is small. There is tasteful


and there is joyful.


There is, in short, places for the wealthy to be laid to rest and places for those less so.

One mausoleum has a beautiful statue of the woman whose body lays inside.

Another has these.

There is one section which is...well, I can't explain it and it may be where the babies and children are placed when they die. I did not have the heart to truly explore, but took pictures in the bright sun of what lay before me.


The biggest iguana I think I've ever seen was sunning himself on a wall. I tried not to think of possible explanations except for the one of the fact that perhaps he is very, very old.

It is common to see offerings of drink and food and of course, flowers, left for the dead.

And candles, of course.

It is a place of great stillness and beauty and of sadness and of stories of those who have gone on and how much they will be missed.


But the one which always makes me cry is this one.

Yes, it is beautiful and that stonework is very representational of how walls and even sidewalks are sometimes built in Mexico and it is tended lovingly but it is what is written there which is what makes me cry.

Can you read it?

Mary Margaret Langs
"My Katrina"
Born March 13, 1916, USA
Died March 30, 1978 Casa San Miguel
Cozumel-The Island She Loved

Sweet Mary
Beloved Wife, Cherished Mother
And Grandmother She Rests
In Eternal Peace. Her Greatness
And Beauty Of Spirit Will Be Forever
Remembered In Our Hearts.

Her husband is buried with her and whenever I read that part about her dying in Cozumel, the island she loved, I choke up.
I understand.
I am so glad that she is resting there in that place where the water surrounds her beautiful island. Where there is a well with a device to lower a bucket to water the bushes planted in front of her grave instead of a spigot.

I am not depressed tonight. I have had a good day. I am just thinking of that island I love. I am thinking about how, when I die, I would love so much for my family to take some of my ashes to Cozumel, to go to that cemetery and let part of me rest there forever, ground into the dirt or blown about the little streets of the village of the dead so that just as Cozumel is always in my heart, I will always be part of it.
Just that.
That a simple physical part of me will remain there forever.

Take note, dear family. Take note. And when it happens- make it WONDERFUL! Make it a party. Drink rum and light candles for me somewhere. The little ones you can buy at Sedena Grocery Store down on the waterfront by the military base. The ones that look like the one you see at the top of the post. They are perfumed. Pick up some dish towels while you are there. They sell the best ones. They also sell rum and limes. Everything you will need. Chocoritas too for a sweet snack.

And spend a lot of time looking at that water which gave me (gives me) so much joy and let it give your hearts peace as it gives mine.

Okay?
Okay.

Love...Your Mama Who Hopes To Live A Very Long Time And Who Hopes To Go To Cozumel With You All While I Am Still Alive.