Continued from My Mexico Trip, Part 3, The Archeology Museum.

After a busy day in Mexico City visiting Teotihuacán, Zócalo and the Archeological Museum, we headed east towards Puebla and Veracruz. En route, at a rest stop we saw a unique sight—a rock formation in the form of a sleeping woman and Popocatépetl, an active volcano.

Look at the picture. On the right is a rock formation known as The Sleeping Woman. From right to left you can see her head, her breasts and her feet. It was winter. She was covered with a light dusting of snow. To her left is Popocatépetl, an active volcano, with a plume of smoke from the crater rising into the still air, clearly visible from afar against the light blue sky. The name means “Smoking Mountain” in Aztec. It’s sometimes referred to or abbreviated as “El Popo” in Spanish. I thought I detected a faint, sulfurous redolence in the air. An inevitable comparison to Pompeii came to mind, but I pushed that thought aside. No point in thinking about that eventuality on such a pleasant, beautiful day.

Continue reading →