Pedro de Valdivia's wife waited 27 years in Spain, learned on her voyage that he was dead, and the governor married to his former mistress did not pay her pension

Marina Ortiz de Gaete was born in Zalamea de la Serena, Extremadura, in 1509 and married Pedro de Valdivia in 1527. He left for the Indies and she stayed. In Chile, Valdivia lived with Inés de Suárez, who joined his campaign in 1540 and fought at the founding of Santiago in 1541. In 1548 he was tried in Peru before Pedro de La Gasca. The November 1548 sentence ordered him to separate from Suárez and either bring his wife or send Suárez away. In 1549 Suárez married Valdivia's captain Rodrigo de Quiroga. In late 1553 Valdivia sent Jerónimo de Alderete and Marina's brother to fetch her, with 7,000 pesos of gold for the trip. She received a royal licence on 19 January 1554 and sailed from Cádiz. At Nombre de Dios she was told Valdivia had been killed in the Arauco war. She went on to Chile. She had no children. In 1564 she petitioned Philip II for a pension; treasury officials noted she was too poor to repay 2,000 pesos. In 1573 the Council of the Indies refused her a pension in Spain and ordered the governor of Chile to provide for her. In 1578 the governor, Rodrigo de Quiroga, wrote to the king explaining why he had not done so^†. Suárez died about 1580 and is buried in the Basílica de la Merced in Santiago. Marina made her will in Santiago on 12 April 1592 and died that year.