The archaeological site of Monte Albán is about 20 mins drive from Oaxaca. Once the centre of the Zapotec and Mixtec culture, the original buildings were thought to have been constructed around 500 BC. The terraces, dams, canals, pyramids and artificial mounds were literally carved out of the mountain and are the symbols of a sacred topography. There were lots of steep steps to climb but well worth it for the views; it felt like being on top of the world.
I've left the two out of focus blobs in this photo as they are Monarch Butterflies, I think.
The views reminded me of being on top of Sigiriya Rock in Sri Lanka.
This guy, just setting up on the RHS at the bottom of the first stone pile, is a tat seller (what a zoom I get with the R7!)
This LHS stone relief apparently shows ladies dancing, whereas the RHS one depicts castration - ouch!
A fine example of a pelota ball court.
There were some rather pretty weeds growing all around.
What a view - Oaxaca in the distance (population c. 726,000)
It took me a while to identify this, but I think it's a kapok tree.
This lovely family we just sitting on the wall so I asked if they'd mind me taking their photo - they were delighted. The father then pointed to his phone so I assumed he wanted me to take one of them all on it, but no, he wanted a photo of me with his family. How sweet.
At the far end of the coach park was this fabulous hat stall - I'd love to have bought one but all hats look rubbish on me and it would have been a nightmare to get home.
