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.

2 thoughts on “Monte Albán

  • May 29, 2010 at 4:16 PM
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    Hi!
    hmm the drilling looks severe

    Here is our fledgling website travel blog. Still learning my way through it.
    http://adventuresofthedts.wordpress.com/
    Any feedback is most welcome. Not really blogging yet. Just loading, sorting and learning the ropes.

  • June 1, 2010 at 9:23 AM
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    Yay! Glad you got to visit Monte Alban! I wasn’t that much older than Bode when my Grandma took me there and the memories have never faded. 🙂

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