Day 10 Oaxaca

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Today our driver who is Elmundo and is Erik the boss's, not Erik the viking's, brother and Plina and Rupret's brother drove us to Mont Albon a historic site outside Oaxaca. On the way there was a noise from the back of the car. Elmundo assured us it was just the back wheel, which is clearly nowhere near as important as say steering failure.

Monte Alban is an impressive archeological site built by the Zapotecs an others, however it fell into decay and largely disappeared around 700AD. These Zapotecs were clever little buggers. They had devised a game which was kind of like Quiddich in Harry Potter. Elmundo was also our guide and he did an excellent job, although I did notice that he left most of the stair climbing to us. Monte Alban was discovered by a Mexican so most of the artefacts haven't been pilfered off to museums around the world except for a couple he kept for Mother's Day presents and such. We also had a look at the small museum at the site but the main exhibits especially the coveted Tomb No. 7 stuff is the Cultural Museum in town. Luckily we made it back to town with the rear wheel in tact, which is more than I can say for some of my recent excursions. We checked out the cultural museum and the display of Tomb 7, the most interesting piece is a skull covered in tiny mosaic tiles. Decorated skulls are a bit of a favourite with Mexicans. Day of the Dead and all that stuff. At the moment I'm trying to get Becs to stop buying things. The problem is that the souvenir sellers say "almost free" as you walk past and the problem is that it is almost free. I don't entirely get the souvenir sellers. The strategy is a kind of war of attrition. If you see the same souvenirs enough times you will finally give in and buy one. They also have the most annoying whistle thing that sounds like a bird and I can't see what it has to do with Mexico at all. We had lunch in a sort of upmarket food court. Wilko and I retired for a quiet afternoon while the girls went to the market (hopefully shopping for my birthday present) and then the botanic gardens.

Tonight we went to a slightly upmarket roof top restaurant for my birthday dinner. One of the great things about Mexicans is their honesty (as well as their shortness). I asked the waiter whether the traditional regional pork dish was any good he just said "no". Can't get fairer than that. After dinner the waiters all came over and sang happy birthday which was touching and I'm still wondering how they knew!

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