After marrying Maria de Aguirre in 1529, Diego settled in the town of Santa Maria de la Victoria (Tabasco), and fathered four children. In 1544 he went to Peru , lived for a time in Potosi, and as a reward for his role in "pacifying and populating " Tucuman, received an encomienda in the district of
Santiago del Estero (probrably in 1522). After his departure Maria knew nothing of Diego's adventures and subsequent life in Santiago where, according to the testimony of an aquaintance in Peru, he moved about on horseback or a chair carried by his indians. In fact he had begun a new "married life", informally of course, with Francisca de Vega, the "servant" who lived with him for nine years and to whom he left a "quantity of gold pesos" in his will. Back in Victoria, Maria, after six years , gave up on Diego and remarried.