SANTIAGO XALITZINTLA, Mexico Each spring, residents of this village tucked at the base of one of the world’s most dangerous volcanoes trek up to a cave near its crater to make a peace offering. Their gifts of fruit, flowers and turkey cooked in sweet mole are meant to placate Popocatépetl, the nearly 18,000-foot-high volcano viewed by many here not just as a geological wonder, but also as a mythological being whose whims have long shaped the lives of those in its shadows.
After hundreds of explosions and more than 40 hours of continuous emissions, researchers believe the Mexican volcano will stabilize but with high levels of activity