We got up and headed over to the bus station to get a bus up to Monte Alban. We walked although the station was probably a mile or two from our hostel. We walked on over, and got on a bus. The bus ride was fairly uneventful, and we arrived to the bus stop. We had a couple of people ask us to give us a tour, but we decided to do it ourselves.
The ruins at Alban seem to be more intricate than the ones at Teotihuacan. We walked over to the far end and on top of the pyramid. Then we noticed the artwork that was still visible on the rocks (I want to say some of this was restored) of men dancing.
The Observatory was closed, probably due to the strikes, but it was still a striking ruin from the outside. We then walked over to the otherside and struck up a conversation with an older gentleman who told me about the mythology of the Zapotec people and then we both bought a clay figurines from him. After we bought them, he kept telling me how they were pieces he found in his corn field.
I didn't believe him, but then he told me more stories about being a tomb raider, about how many, many people raided tombs and Monte Alban and how he had just sold a bunch of pieces to a Californian a few weeks ago. I related this to Kelli later, and we both hope our pieces are fake...
Anyway, Monte Alban was artificially leveled, and is pretty flat. Its on top of a hill that overlooks a mountain range and has two valleys on either side, one looks an awfully lot like Kamas Valley, and the other Ashley Valley(Vernal).
Theres buildings on both sides of the site, and a field and the observatory in the middle towards the far corner. There's a ball court as you enter the ruin. After spending a couple of hours walking around the ruins, we walked over to the museum and spent some time there. We then went back into the city and had tacos at a street vendor's cart. It was one of those meals that you say a silent prayer that you won't regret the meal, but neither of us got sick. Afterwords we went to a prehispanic art museum and then went to dinner.
We once again ordered too much and feasted on seafood. Then we did a little shopping before we went back to the pension.
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