Monte Alban

Week one in Oaxaca, originally uploaded by kitty424.

Monte Alban was bizarre. Lizards crawling on ancient stones of burial mounds and on the stairs leading down the pellota courts. I've seen photos of the ruins in the dry season; the entire plateau looks parched and brown. Right now, during the rainy season, grass is sprouting everywhere, and the entire basin between the structures is a beautiful lettuce green. The sun filtering though the clouds, rolling across the mountains in the distance. The place is full of tourists, but they talk in hushed voices, as to not disturb the gods summoned by the ancient Olmecs who built this city in 500BC or the dead buried among gold and perfuming pots here by the Mixtecs who took over the site after its decline (around 800 AD).

I came with a group, but wandered around by myself, practicing my numbers in Spanish by counting out loud the steps up and down the mounds, contemplating the ages, breathing in the clear air, but mostly just eavesdropping on the conversations of Mexican families, trying to make out familiar words. The drive there and back, up and down the windy roads was terrifying. It revealed a much poorer part of Oaxaca - a shantytown along the bus route.