pines and sacred firs with increasing elevation. The upper slopes are zacatonal. The summit is covered by snow part of the year and is considered to be the coldest location in Tlaxcala. On the lower slopes the climate is mild year round, but rainy during the summer months. The soils consist of crushed volcanic rock and sand with an underlying layer of clay and sand called tepetate at an average depth of about a meter. The dark and porous forest soils were formed from volcanic ash. From La Malinche streams flow in all directions forming small gorges in places which fill and run rapidly when torrential rains occur. At the base of the mountain emerge many springs, some of drinkable water, and others of thermal water heated in the volcano's interior. Legends La Malinche shares, like Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl, legends about its formation. According to the most famous legend, Matlalcueye was a virgin girl engaged to Cuatlapanga, a warrior who had to go to battle in a remote place. Time went by, and the lover took so long to come back that the girl died of sorrow. When the warrior came back, badly hurt on the head, he received the bad news. He went to cry at her grave and also died, turning into a small mountain. Matlalcueye turned into the huge volcano, with the smaller Cuatlapanga at her side. Another legend about the mountain concerns a reptilian monster that supposedly lived in the mountain and that would come down during the rainy season to abduct children and take them up the mountain to be devoured. Eventually the beast was killed, according to legend, and its head was mounted above the entrance to a house in Puebla that still stands at 201 East Third Street in the historical district of that town. Recreation The park offers a resort area at —"Centro Vacacional Malintzin"—with cabins and camping. It is an ideal location to acclimatize and start an ascent of the volcano. There are sporting facilities, a restaurant and a gift shop. Outside the resort, there is also a convenience store and a little "antojitos" restaurant, as well as horses and llamas for riding on the weekends. The access road passes the resort area and continues partway up the mountain, switchbacking most of the way. A hiking trail to the summit begins at the resort area, cutting across the road switchbacks for