Another day in Oaxaca

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So we had agreed with Gavin to meet him in reception around 8ish so we could all take a taxi to Monte Alban which is an archeological site about 30 minutes by taxi outside Oaxaca city centre where our hotel is. This was the best decision we made as when we arrived there was no one there so we literally nearly had the place to ourselves. (On the way, however, we saw a sad sight that I would rather not see again - there were a number of armed police and at the side of the road several dead dogs that had been shot. No idea why but one possibility could be related to rabies.)





Monte Alban was inhabited over a period of some 1,500 years by a succession of peoples and is now part of a World Heritage Site. We were allowed to climb the hundreds of steps (well probably 100) of the sun and the moon pyramids and the views from the top of the pyramid of the sun were so amazing, particularly with almost no one else there. Once we decided to leave and catch the taxi back home the crowds were coming in in droves. We got back to the hotel and decided that we will get breakfast before we start on the walking tour. We found a lovely cafe and I ordered granola with fruit and yoghurt and, oh my god, it had banana in and apple - FRESH fruit that I have not seemed to have for a number of weeks now - the small things we take for granted at home.







We start another free walking tour in the cathedral where they were getting ready for communion and the little girls were so pretty but it seemed disrespectful to be in the church when this service was going on so we quickly left. The walking tour was not as bad as the one in Puebla and did not last as long but, unfortunately, the girl was quite difficult to understand but I think we all got the gist of things which we cannot complain about and at least this time I could give some money so felt a lot better about it this time.







After returning to the hotel for a break we decided to go for a little walk and a drink - I asked for an Aperol but did not say spritz so it came with just soda - sacrilege wasting Aperol without the fizz.







In the evening we went to a weaving place and once again here is the sceptic in me - he showed us an old weaving loom and said this is how he produced the products in his shop. Well I am not quite sure this was totally true as that is such an old way to produce things and when I asked where is the pattern, he said in his head. To do a tree of life totally in your head and produce these amounts of products seemed a bit far fetched but if honest I have been proved wrong previously so I had better watch out.





We are then shown how to make tacos and then make our own which is okay until you have to lay your own taco flat on a very hot plate - when you have this really hot pan over an open flame fire all I can say is this is really hard so of course mine did not lay flat. We were then fed really well and with a constant supply of different tasting drinks, some good, others not so good. We are all not looking forward to a long day of travelling tomorrow as need to be up by 6am for 2 flights, one back to Mexico City and then onto Villahermosa and then in a minibus on to Palenque where we will be staying for two nights.





If I am totally honest I am loving the little cities we are visiting and I wish we could have more than 2 nights in a place as we usually get somewhere quite late in the evening so only really have one day in a place as the day after we are usually off early to get to the next place. I would have loved to have maybe 4 weeks on the tour so we could really get to know places but do you know what I am so lucky and privileged to be able to do this so I should be grateful for everything - which I am!

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Photos

Monte Alban
All to ourselves Mike, Gavin and I

no one in sight
amazing to have a ruin to ourselves