Oaxaca and Monte Alban

Oaxaca was a very nice city that I felt really comfortable in, I got a good vibe from it.

It has some good food and 0one of the things that I have noticed is that all the vendors are a lot less pushy than in Guatemala, even though Mexicans are steriotypically some of the most pushy. I got experience a great big procesion of silence, that was a very beautiful event. I am so gad i got to be there on Easter, the celebration was a blast. People held figures of angels and lambs with fireworks covering them above their heads and continued on to dance to live music. The figures sprayed a shower of sparks in a 5-7 yrd. radius hitting themselves and the massive audiance with hot, orange pieces of ash. Then we both got hit with a bag full of crackers and candy that was being  thrown off the roof tops.

The ruins of Monte Alban were very impressive, the main plaza was prabablly about 4 football fields with pyramids and tempes surrounding it. It was a spectacular sight, but everything is so restricted it took off a good sized part of the experiece I wish I could have had.

Monte Alban is the largest ancient city in the state of Oaxaca and it is only 10-20 minute drive from the state capital. This site was the home of neather the Mayans nor the Aztecs, but of the Zapotecs. The Zapotecs came to Oaxaca from the north in about 1,000 BCE, their empire lasted for 2,221 years from 700 BCE - 1521 CE. They were a very small yet very formidable group that resisted the spanish for 42 years after the fall of their empire.