Iztaccihuatl and Popocatepetl are mountains over looking the Valley of Mexico.  Popo, as it is nicknamed, is still active. Itza, or the sleeping woman is dormant…we think!!

Iztaccihuatl is called the sleeping woman because, covered with snow, it looks like a woman sleeping on her back.

Older than Romeo and Juilet,  the story is ancient, comes from native Nahautl legend and  has been told, and retold, and there are many versions.  I like this one the best.

Many, many years before Cortes and his Spanish thugs came to the “New World”, the Aztecs, native Americans, lived in Tenochtitlan, the site of modern Mexico City.

The Aztec nation was an empire spanning most of Mexico, and was lead by an emperor.  Some of them were good, some well, not so much.

One in particular was loved by all his peoples.  He and his wife were childless, and knew the empire would fall into disarray once they were gone.  You know, political intrigue, debates, all that caca.

Then, miracle of all miracles, after years of hoping, praying, and trying, the empress found her self ‘with child’.   She gave birth to a girl child, which back then was considered shameful.  The people were happy that the line would go on, but sad that it was a girl.

Totally happy, the empress named her child Iztaccihuatl, or white lady in the native Nahuatl language.

The beautiful child was loved by all, spoiled by her parents, and groomed to rule the blood-thirsty Aztec nation.

One time, not at band camp, Itza, as she was called, met Popo.

He was a captain of a conquered tribe, and they fell in love.  Of course, as all love stories go, war broke out somewhere, after all it was in Mexico, and they had been fighting each other for years on end.  That somewhere was Oaxaca.  Oaxaca has been the hot bed of revolution for centuries, and gave Mexico its most revered leader, Benito Juarez.

The emperor wanting to incent the troops to victory, advised Popo that if he wanted to marry the daughter of the emperor and empress, he would have to bring back the head of the enemy’s leader.

I said they were bloodthirsty!

The battles raged on, little progress was made, “mission not accomplished”, things got murky.  And of course, there was an ancestor of Dick Cheney there, spreading rumors about the progress.  A story came back to the emperor that Popo had died in battle.

The pre-Cheneyite wanted to take over the kingdom, marry the “hot smokin’ Itza” and rule the land.

Bastardo!!

The emperor was very sad, and had to break the news to Itza, who was inconsolable.  So much so, she became ill and died of grief a few days later.

As the funeral preparations were being made, Popo and his victorious warriors arrived after screaming UP the Oaxaca highway into Mexico City carrying the head of the bad guy.  The emperor already numb with grief over the loss of Itza was stunned at Popo’s arrival.

The Cheneyite was no where to be found.

Now, Popo was heartbroken.  He took Itza’s body and left Tenochtitlan.  He walked a great distance finally arriving at a mountain range. Ordering his warriors to build a funeral bier with flowers, he laid the lovely Itza atop it, and knelt to watch over her body.

He died of sadness as well.

The gods were so moved by Popo’s sacrifice they turned the funeral bier and the bodies into great volcanoes.  The lovers lie next to each other still.

Even today, Popocatepetl, the smoking mountain blows a puff of smoke to let the world know he is still watching over his beloved Itza.

I took this photo while in Mexico in 1967!!