Lov’in Those Olmecs
Day: 19
Our first day in the beautiful colonial city of Oaxaca and we are taking a bus 10km outside of the city. Situated atop a mountain are the Olmec ruins of Monte Alban. I had been excited to get here ever since we were in Chicago at the Field Museum. They had a large exhibit on the Olmecs and specifically Monte Alban. I had never even heard of Monte Alban before, but it looked and sounded incredible.
The day started with a huge filling breakfast at a hole in the wall restaurant. I had the Entofrioladas, no way I spelt that right, anyways this is a huge plate of soft tortillas, eggs, beans all drenched in a mole sauce. Mole is a chocolate based sauce that is slightly spicy. More about mole later, all this and coffee for 25 pesos. Very tasty stuff.
Our bus left the city limits and quickly headed up the mountains to Monte Alban. After paying at the ticket office and seeing the small but excellent site museum we walked up a short hill to the main site. Wow, what a terrific view of Oaxaca City and of the surrounding mountains. Down in the valley below small fires burnt, farmers clearing their land. In front of us was the vast gran plaza of Monte Alban. To our immediate right was the southern terrace, a massive structure built into the hillside with even more buildings beyond and atop it. To our left at the far end was the northern terrace, an even taller structure that looks over the vast plaza. All along the sides of the plaza are temples with beautiful carvings. We wandered the site for just over 2 hours. There were ruins everywhere, down hillsides and of course the well preserved ones around the main plaza. Late in the day distant thunder echoed across the valley and added to the experience. The ruins here are very impressive and the setting is stunning, we both enjoyed the experience of Monte Alban over the more famous Teotihucan. Monte Alban is an incredibly peaceful and beautiful place. If you are ever in this part of Mexico do not miss it.
Back in town we spent the afternoon sipping coffee around the zocolo. Apparently we had missed a large anti-capitalist protest that left graffiti all over the city. Including covering the walls of our hotel. It reminded me of the large student riots that occurred here in Oaxaca last year. However this time all was peaceful and by nightfall city workers armed with buckets of paint, painted over the leftist messages.
Tags: Mexico, monte alban, Oaxaca
Michael Coroneos
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