Andre and Wendy: Monte Alban

Monte Alban

Our last full day in Oaxaca. Up early to beat the heat to do a tour of Monte Alban. We are with the same company as we were 2 days ago and ended up with the same driver, though this is a much shorter day as Monte Alban is only about 30 minutes drive from Oaxaca.

Monte Alban was inhabited from 400 BC to 900AD, with approximately 35,000 people at one point. There are 5 hills that make up Monte Alban, only one of the hills has been excavated and is available for touring, this is what we visited today. The drive is a twisty drive up the mountains, and this would have been where the villagers lived at one point, this area has not been excavated, many people live here now amongst ruins that will probably never be excavated because locals are all living here now. From the top of the hill we were on you could see temples in ruins in the distance on the other hills, but there is no plan at the moment to excavate these.

I asked about the name Monte Alban, one theory is the Spanish saw the white flowers in the trees, Albino, and went with Mont Alban. So Andres Dad Alban Leblanc is translated to white the white, had a laugh about that.

We had quite a few steps to climb, even if you didn't climb the main temple you needed to climb up and down many stairs to move around. A very very impressive site. The main temple has 42 stairs to climb, I was not sure I was going to do it, but then I saw a railing, I can do it! One of the very last temples that you can still climb, most have been closed to tourists now. Why oh why do they make the steps so high, needed one step at a time for sure.

We lucked out today, the sun was in and out of the clouds. It would be terrible on a full sunny day, not too many places to get into the shade.

Back to Oaxaca and stopped to have some lunch at a little restaurant right outside one of the markets. I had tortilla soup, again, and Andre had tlayudas, which is like a huge quesadilla that he has been wanting to try since we have been here. Not so sure he was really impressed.

Back to the apartment to rest up then out on the street again. Nothing really on our agenda, went to the different ice cream flavor shop but nothing enticed us. When you look up at the second floor of the buildings here there are often cafes or restaurants. Found a cute little cafe with great views and Andre had a crepe and I had a smoothie, I think that may be dinner done.

Walked around more and came across another parade, this time it looks like it was organized for a tour group, a tour group of very elderly people. They had about 1KM to walk downhill on cobblestone streets for the parade route. Some had walkers, they will sleep well tonight.

Back at the apartment, picked up beer and a bag of chips along with some pastries for breakfast tomorrow as we are leaving early for the airport before breakfast is served here. Great time here, but I think we are both ready for some relaxing beach days now.