Overlooking Tingo Maria is the Bella Dormiente (Sleeping Beauty), a lush green mountain range that bears the profile of a sleeping woman. According to legend, a princess by the name of Nunash fled into the jungle to escape a monstrous serpent. When she returned, she could no longer find her young lover, Cuynac, who had previously turned himself into stone as a defense against the serpent’s onslaught. Tired after her futile searching, Nunash sat upon a rock, unaware that she was sitting upon her lover. As she slept, Cuynac asked Nunash to stay with him on the mountain top. She agreed, and became the Sleeping Beauty that now looks out over Tingo Maria.
