Itza & Popo

The housing bubble has burst, lay-offs are rampant and we’ve discovered our financial institutions have behaved badly. Apparently, however, love still sells. Harlequin Books- yes the publisher of those trashy romance novels - announced this week sales and profits were up. Escapism in the face of hard times sells. From the tragic love story of Orpheus and Eurydice in Greek mythology, Shakespeare’s star-crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet, the rags-to-riches fairy tale of Cinderella, and movies like Sleepless in Seattle or You’ve Got Mail, we’ve been enthralled for eons with love and love stories.

The Aztecs were no different. And for a tribe well known for their warrior demeanor, one of the greatest Aztec love stories is surprisingly tender and poignant. Like most stories related from the oral tradition, there are multiple versions but they all start with an Aztec princess named Ixtaccihuatl, which in Nahuatl means White Lady. When it came time for her to marry, she deemed none of the princes chosen for her to be acceptable. By chance, one day on the street Itza spied Popocatepetl and fell madly in love with him. Unfortunately, he was the prince of another tribe, mostly likely the Chichimecas. When Popo eventually asked for Itza's hand in marriage her father was outraged and would not allow it. But Itza, being an only child and knowing how to manipulate her father, finally convinced her father to let marry Popo. He agreed but with one condition.  Popo and his tribe must help the Aztecs in a war against their enemy - and the Aztecs had many - in order for the marriage to occur. And, of course, the wily old emperor had other plans and intended for Popo to die in battle.

So along with the Aztecs, off to war went Popo and his tribe of Chichimecas. During the height of battle the Aztec abandoned Popo and his fellow warriors almost ensuring a certain death. Proving that love is stronger than treachery, the Chichimecs prevailed and won the battle. Fuming about being out maneuvered, the emperor told Itza that Popo had died in battle and then wrote Popo a letter saying that Itza had died of sadness while he was gone. Itza was heartbroken. But Popo, having been deceived once, didn't believe the letter. He snuck into Itza's palace and the two eloped and got married. The old emperor was furious that his plan had failed, and at this daughter. He disowned her and said as far as he was concerned she no longer existed.

Itza and Popo lived happily for a number of years until the day Itza became ill and died in spite of Popo's best efforts to save her. Popo was, understandably inconsolable. As often happens in the Valle de Mexico, there was an enormous earthquake shortly after Itza died that rearranged the landscape. Popo felt compelled to take Itza's body to the top of one of the new hills that had been formed by the earthquake. Once at the top, he found a beautiful bed of fragrant flower upon which to lay her body. Popo then laid down next to Itza and waited to die. As time passed, snow and mother nature gradually covered the two bodies and the 2 mountains now known as Popocatepetl and Itzaccihuatl emerged with Popo to this day still watching and tending his beloved Itza.

It was through the Paso de Cortes between the 2 mountains that Cortes traversed on his way from Veracruz to Tenochtitlan. And it was across the same rutted dirt path a couple months ago that I had the chance to experience the majestic grace and elegance of Popo and Itza first hand. The stunning beauty of the 2 mountains speaks perhaps to their enduirng love rather than the rather brutal date with destiny the Aztecs were about to encounter

Today Popo & Itza are located in the Parque Nacional Iztaccihuatl-Popocatepetl

Cortes approached from the southeast, and minus the town and houses it's not hard to imagine that he saw a vista much like this

Popo's solitary cone rising above the plain keeping watch.

It took Cortes 2 1/2 months to transit the mountains. It took me 2 1/2 hous; the closer one gets to Popo and Itza the more impressive they become

 

One version of the love story has Popo carrying a torch to light the way as he carried Itza body up the hill. Known as the Montana Humeante (or smoking mountain) it is still considered an active volcano. To many, though, the ever present stream of smoke is considered to be a reminder that Popo is still constant in his vigil to Itza.

 

 

 

 

Mexicans will tell you that Itza resembles the shape of a woman. See for yourself in the 2 photos above. I'm not so sure I see it, but often times with myths and love, nothing more than a good imagination and a leap of faith are all that's required.

I always think it's terribly sad when both the lovers like Itza and Popo die at the end of the story. They loved fiercely and passionately and were rewarded with immortality in the form of 2 mountains. As a symbol of strength and enduring devotion, perhaps the ending to this tale isn't so sad after all.

 

(The majority of these photos were taken from a moving vehicle)