January 13 2006 Mon
January 13, 2006 – Monte Alban
Today we made a special outing to Monte Alban: a spectacular ruined city of the Zapotec people who established their own empire between the Aztecs to the north and the Mayans in Guatemala. It is perched on the very top of one of the highest mountains in the area and offers a commanding view of the Oaxacan valley and countryside.
It is estimated that only ten percent of the former city of 40,000 people has been excavated and yet the visible portion is massive and staggering in its significance. The Mexican government has done a marvellous job of restoration. There are not enough words in me to describe the buildings and facilities so I will let you draw your own inspiration from the attached pictures.
Oaxaca is an ideal base camp from which to see much of what Mexico has to offer. Hundreds of smaller villages and towns, many archaeological sites, rare geological and ecological areas and numerous sites of historical significance surround the city. The vast majority of the villages and sites are from fifteen minutes to two hours from Oaxaca. Monte Alban is the best known and also one of the closest properties. It can be reached on a short but adventurous fifteen minute bus ride from central Oaxaca. The bus from a hotel on Calle Mina costs thirty pesos per person or roughly $3US.
The small tourist bus climbs a few thousand feet on a swithback road to reach the summit that houses Monte Alban. Although paved, the road is no more than 18 feet from mountain side to disaster. We cling to the mountain like a gekko to a ceiling while we meander higher and higher. Approaching vehicles take to the roadside swale in order to let us pass. It is a path of wisdom on their part. As we ascend, wonderful views of the city in the valley begin to emerge as well as sights of poverty in homes that stick incredulously to the side of steep and arid hills.
A large pavilion heralds our arrival at the site and we along with twenty other tourists disgorge to see this purported marvel. We have two hours and I wonder what we will do with the second one. Interestingly, our group consists of a lovely young woman from Switzerland who is travelling from Mexico City to Rio De Janeiro on her own, an even more lovely and towering gal from the Peoples Republic of China, a retired couple from Washington, formerly with USAID and a few Mexicano who are here to see their heritage.
The entrance to the site is truly beautiful. A broad staircase is surmounted by two enormous Indian laurel trees space perfectly to signify the stateliness we shall soon behold. You can’t see much of the site at this point. It just sneaks up on you and it is massive and breathtaking. My first impulse is to find the nearest tall structure to climb. This is a good plan since it affords the first opportunity the vastness of what lies ahead.
Monte Alban is essentially a quadrangle with large structures abutting the perimeter and an immense open field in between. According to the literature, this field was used as a market and a gathering place for special functions. There is one building in the centre of the field which was apparently necessitated by the impossibility of removing a massive rock. Thus a structure was put around it and decorated to commemorate the numerous victories by the Zapotec over area rivals.
It is hard to imagine much functionality of the buildings erected on this site other than the purely ceremonial. They are monumental in size and their principal attribute is the staircase. Stairs, stairs, everywhere there are stairs. I climbed every staircase where permitted. At the top of a few of them I was looking for the oxygen bottles. Unlike other similar sites that we have visited, the stairs at Monte Alban are quite broad with steep risers. Each step is fifteen to eighteen inches high. So, although you really have to lift your knees, there is a nice platform to plant your feet. Perhaps the Zapotec had much larger feet and longer legs than the Aztecs.
Besides the much too strenuous climbing, Monte Alban was taking its toll on us from the heat of the afternoon sun. The site is totally exposed and there is no shade whatsoever. Visitors are at the very pinnacle of a mountain with an almost desert-like environment. The grassy field in the centre of the quadrangle is mostly sand bound together with yellow strands of grass. Normal logic would suggest to visitors to this site that a big sombrero would be an ideal head ornament. This logic escaped me and I found that my bottled water was quickly gone and no oasis was in sight.
As the rounds of the property continued, I couldn’t help but notice the serenity of the visitors. Except for one young fellow trying to impress a young lady, everyone was transfixed in a sort of incredulous wonder. Many people sat for the longest time on some elevated pedestal gaping at one building or another as they tried to absorb the history, the grandeur, the intelligence of the Zapotec people. Here was evidence of a race that lived 2500 years ago and yet had the mathematical and astrological abilities to erect structures that would confound most modern minds. In a sense, the architecture was plain but it was true and it was bound together by techniques still used today.
This site has yielded many artifacts of great value and beauty. Most, however, are housed at the National Museum in Mexico City. There is a small museum at the entrance to the site holding a variety of stone carvings, many pieces of pottery and more than an adequate supply of skulls. These skulls show evidence of boreholes and other forced entries, indicating an early interest by the Zapotecs in brain surgery.
Monte Alban collapsed as a viable community some 800 years ago. Nobody knows why or how. The people may have depleted the soils or the available wood supply. A competing tribe may have overrun it but if so, the conquerors did not remain. The city just vanished into the environment only to be resurrected as a museum to bewilder and awe its visitors.
Awe does have its limits, however, and those limits were set by the hordes of peddlers that roam this site, pestering the pilgrims, offering crass artifacts as genuine and for the most part giving a black eye to the Mexican tourism authorities. There is an extensive artisans area at the entrance to Monte Alban where curios of all kinds can be purchased as a memento of the visit. But, the peddlers should not be allowed on the site. They are an annoying interference with a reverential experience. I am all for letting people earn a living but there is a time and a place for everything.
By the way, I did buy a hat when I left the property. It was a perfectly nice straw hat and it cost me all of $2.50. We did consume the entire two hours and were fortunate that the bus was running on Mexican time.
Today we made a special outing to Monte Alban: a spectacular ruined city of the Zapotec people who established their own empire between the Aztecs to the north and the Mayans in Guatemala. It is perched on the very top of one of the highest mountains in the area and offers a commanding view of the Oaxacan valley and countryside.
It is estimated that only ten percent of the former city of 40,000 people has been excavated and yet the visible portion is massive and staggering in its significance. The Mexican government has done a marvellous job of restoration. There are not enough words in me to describe the buildings and facilities so I will let you draw your own inspiration from the attached pictures.
Oaxaca is an ideal base camp from which to see much of what Mexico has to offer. Hundreds of smaller villages and towns, many archaeological sites, rare geological and ecological areas and numerous sites of historical significance surround the city. The vast majority of the villages and sites are from fifteen minutes to two hours from Oaxaca. Monte Alban is the best known and also one of the closest properties. It can be reached on a short but adventurous fifteen minute bus ride from central Oaxaca. The bus from a hotel on Calle Mina costs thirty pesos per person or roughly $3US.
The small tourist bus climbs a few thousand feet on a swithback road to reach the summit that houses Monte Alban. Although paved, the road is no more than 18 feet from mountain side to disaster. We cling to the mountain like a gekko to a ceiling while we meander higher and higher. Approaching vehicles take to the roadside swale in order to let us pass. It is a path of wisdom on their part. As we ascend, wonderful views of the city in the valley begin to emerge as well as sights of poverty in homes that stick incredulously to the side of steep and arid hills.
A large pavilion heralds our arrival at the site and we along with twenty other tourists disgorge to see this purported marvel. We have two hours and I wonder what we will do with the second one. Interestingly, our group consists of a lovely young woman from Switzerland who is travelling from Mexico City to Rio De Janeiro on her own, an even more lovely and towering gal from the Peoples Republic of China, a retired couple from Washington, formerly with USAID and a few Mexicano who are here to see their heritage.
The entrance to the site is truly beautiful. A broad staircase is surmounted by two enormous Indian laurel trees space perfectly to signify the stateliness we shall soon behold. You can’t see much of the site at this point. It just sneaks up on you and it is massive and breathtaking. My first impulse is to find the nearest tall structure to climb. This is a good plan since it affords the first opportunity the vastness of what lies ahead.
Monte Alban is essentially a quadrangle with large structures abutting the perimeter and an immense open field in between. According to the literature, this field was used as a market and a gathering place for special functions. There is one building in the centre of the field which was apparently necessitated by the impossibility of removing a massive rock. Thus a structure was put around it and decorated to commemorate the numerous victories by the Zapotec over area rivals.
It is hard to imagine much functionality of the buildings erected on this site other than the purely ceremonial. They are monumental in size and their principal attribute is the staircase. Stairs, stairs, everywhere there are stairs. I climbed every staircase where permitted. At the top of a few of them I was looking for the oxygen bottles. Unlike other similar sites that we have visited, the stairs at Monte Alban are quite broad with steep risers. Each step is fifteen to eighteen inches high. So, although you really have to lift your knees, there is a nice platform to plant your feet. Perhaps the Zapotec had much larger feet and longer legs than the Aztecs.
Besides the much too strenuous climbing, Monte Alban was taking its toll on us from the heat of the afternoon sun. The site is totally exposed and there is no shade whatsoever. Visitors are at the very pinnacle of a mountain with an almost desert-like environment. The grassy field in the centre of the quadrangle is mostly sand bound together with yellow strands of grass. Normal logic would suggest to visitors to this site that a big sombrero would be an ideal head ornament. This logic escaped me and I found that my bottled water was quickly gone and no oasis was in sight.
As the rounds of the property continued, I couldn’t help but notice the serenity of the visitors. Except for one young fellow trying to impress a young lady, everyone was transfixed in a sort of incredulous wonder. Many people sat for the longest time on some elevated pedestal gaping at one building or another as they tried to absorb the history, the grandeur, the intelligence of the Zapotec people. Here was evidence of a race that lived 2500 years ago and yet had the mathematical and astrological abilities to erect structures that would confound most modern minds. In a sense, the architecture was plain but it was true and it was bound together by techniques still used today.
This site has yielded many artifacts of great value and beauty. Most, however, are housed at the National Museum in Mexico City. There is a small museum at the entrance to the site holding a variety of stone carvings, many pieces of pottery and more than an adequate supply of skulls. These skulls show evidence of boreholes and other forced entries, indicating an early interest by the Zapotecs in brain surgery.
Monte Alban collapsed as a viable community some 800 years ago. Nobody knows why or how. The people may have depleted the soils or the available wood supply. A competing tribe may have overrun it but if so, the conquerors did not remain. The city just vanished into the environment only to be resurrected as a museum to bewilder and awe its visitors.
Awe does have its limits, however, and those limits were set by the hordes of peddlers that roam this site, pestering the pilgrims, offering crass artifacts as genuine and for the most part giving a black eye to the Mexican tourism authorities. There is an extensive artisans area at the entrance to Monte Alban where curios of all kinds can be purchased as a memento of the visit. But, the peddlers should not be allowed on the site. They are an annoying interference with a reverential experience. I am all for letting people earn a living but there is a time and a place for everything.
By the way, I did buy a hat when I left the property. It was a perfectly nice straw hat and it cost me all of $2.50. We did consume the entire two hours and were fortunate that the bus was running on Mexican time.
posted by John and Marie | 8:16 p.m.
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