Monte Albán

Monte Albán is only 10 km from Oaxaca city and definitely worth the trip if you are visiting.

This was the ancient capital of the Zapotecs and one of the first cities in Mesoamerica. Founded in 500 BC, the city thrived for over 1000 years.  It’s huge.  After walking around you can’t help but wonder what it would have been like to live here.

One of highlights is climbing to the top and taking it all in.

There’s a big plaza, a palace, a ball court, an observatory, stone carvings and other interesting edifices. The impressive thing (to me) about this site is that it built on top of  a mountain at 6,400 ft – a stunning setting. Photos can’t do it justice.

Apparently, they liked to drill into each others heads for some reason. Torture or medical treatment?

And, of course, some of the park vehicles are VW buses. I’m not sure what the dinosaur skeleton has to do with anything, but it looks cool.