MEXICO:Mount Alban, Oaxaca

  Oaxaca, Central Mexico and Gulf Coast, Mexico
Tuesday, October 7, 2008

we have been extremely lazy the last few days, and want to take in a little bit of culture, so we catch a short bus ride out of oaxaca up to Mount Alban.  i get a bit perturbed at the 1.90 pound busfair... English prices... at least it is a return ticket....lol

Mount Alban is the mountain itself, and used to be a city around 200BC to 400AD.  it was a great empire, with about 25000 people living there at one point.  as you wind up the  mountain, you later learn this is where some of the smaller villages would have been, and where they would have grown their food, and produces for personal use, and to sell. 

i cannot describe how outstandly beautiful this city is, and the ruins.  well- the ruins are the city.  as the guide book said ¨it is one of themost impressive sites in Mexico, with a 360 degree view¨.

it was fantastic, and by far, my favourite site so far.  we wandered round at your own accord, hardly bumping into anyone.  there was houses, priests dwellings, burial chambers, pyramids, ball courts and even an observatory where certain elite scholars used to sit and watch the moon and stars, and work out a form of time and a calendar. 

i had so much fun.  the ruins have hardly been touched, just uncovered, which i preferred to the mexico city ruins. there again was paintings and carvings in the walls.  mainly of captured lords and leaders from nearing cities that they had conquered... they depicted that there genitals had been cut off, as a warning to any visitors.

carvings of captured kings of local land

matt and i sat for a while, and you could actually draw yourself back to seeing people walking this city in its splendor. check out my video... the sound goes at the end, all i was saying was how amazing the view was, and how many people lived there.

you get about 3hours for your expensive bus ride, which is about right.  on returning to thebus we noticed a HUGE black cloud looming and moving in thevalley below.  the area for the buses had no shelter, so i persuaded matt to go back to the shelter of the museum.  i am so glad we did. the black cloud swept across the valley, which we were able to watch from high above, and came straight for us.  it chucked it down.  cats and dogs! at one point it was thundering right above us. it was fantastic! dry..... unlike some of the people who had to run in from the ruins looking like drained rats...tee hee... couldnt help giggling... dont want the calma for that!

we had a lovely day out with the nature, seeing an eagle and butterflies the size of your hand.