San Pancho Vida

Cloud People and Stone Dancers

The Cloud People--the Zapotecs--called the place Danipaguache, "The Sacred Mountain of Life". Much later, the Spaniards renamed it Monte Albán, "White Mountain". I like the Zapotec name better, but Monte Albán, wouldn't you know it, is the name that stuck.

The Zapotecs established Danipaguache high on a hill above the Valley of Oaxaca in 500 BCE (that's the historians' way of saying 500 BC). Two thousand five hundred and nine years later to the day, Travis and Allen and Jaime and I caught a bus to go see it (okay, maybe it wasn't to the day). 

Some of us studied for a little while first, since we arrived at the bus office not knowing when the bus left. The rest of us kept an eye on that guy in the background.

Soon enough, we were shepherded around the corner and into a big van (or small bus) with some other people, and driven up a steep and winding street with several stops along the way to pick up and drop off still other people who seemed to be neighbors. Eventually, the bus stopped in a parking area from which we trudged a block or so uphill toward the entrance to the ruins of Monte Albán (which we'll call it from now on so as not to confuse you or your writer).

There were vendors all around, and it was hot and sunny, so we went hat shopping first.

I bought a swell hat for 30 pesos (that's around $2.50) which I later decorated, but that's another story.

Then we climbed the steps to the gate, just outside the museum. As luck would have it, we were approached by a young fellow who turned out to be the best possible and most well-informed guide we could possibly have wished for. We hired him on the spot.
He gave us a quick history lesson first. For nearly thirteen hundred years, from 500 BCE until sometime around 800 CE, Monte Albán was the center of Zapotec culture and worship. The Zapotecs were a sophisticated culture, with a numerical system, two different calendars (a 260-day sacred calendar and a 365-day solar calendar), complex knowledge of astronomy, and probably the first writing system in Mesoamerica. The city itself was home to priests, nobles, farmers, astronomers, artists and craftsmen; and in its golden age had a population of 25,000.

 

The ruins have been (are still being) meticulously restored, using original materials wherever possible. For the sake of preservation and study, many areas are closed to the public, but we were free to roam and explore quite a bit. We were even allowed to crawl into one of the 107 tombs. We didn't stay long enough to take any pictures.

 

 

I was captivated by the arrowhead shaped building in the next photo, romantically titled "Building J". It is also known as "The Observatory" and appears to have been built in aspect to astronomical bodies or phenomena. Our guide explained the importance of the sun, the moon, and certain planets and constellations to the Zapotec culture.

 

Still mysterious are the Danzantes--the figures carved on stone stelae and given the name "Dancers" in the 19th century. Archeologists now believe they are testimony to slain enemies--maybe sacrificed and disemboweled enemies.

Most of the original glyphs and carvings have been moved inside the beautiful on-site museum, where we gazed to our hearts' content, read stories and history, used the nice clean new bathrooms and then went outside to the pretty covered patio and had a cerveza or two. 

I found this website while I was refreshing my wobbly memory. Do take a look if you want to know more. I especially recommend clicking on the Historic Timeline for a good quick overview of 2500 years.

More About Monte Albán

➣I believe T. Ashby took the first two photos. Thank you.

Oaxacan Wanders

One day last August, I received news from Travis and Allen that they had bought some cheap tickets to Oaxaca, Oaxaca--or, as we came to call it later, Wa-ha-ha-haca. Did I want to go along?

What kind of question was that? Of course I did!

None of us had ever been to Oaxaca. Neither had Jaime, who decided he'd come, too. So, in early September, we boarded a Mexicana Link jet in Guadalajara for the ninety minute flight to southern Mexico. We landed at the tiny pretty airport and were whisked off to our hotel by taxi.

I can't remember the name of the hotel we stayed at. I probably repressed it. It doesn't matter, as you don't want to stay there anyway. It was a package deal, hotel included. We soon realized we could've done better if we'd made our own package instead of going through a travel agent, but, hey--you live and learn.

The good news is, we had our earplugs with us. The other good news is, we managed to have some fun.

First, we explored.

 

 

Then we did a little window shopping...

...after which, we stopped for some free samples of mezcal. Some of us tasted several different kinds.

Now, of course, we were hungry. We found a spot overlooking the plaza that became our regular hangout. (This photo is kind of grainy. Blame it on the mezcal.)

Jaime ordered typical Oaxacan appetizers for all of us, encouraging us to taste the most typical Oaxacan munchie, called chapulines, which you see in the following photo, taken in the market.

I can now say, although I don't like to think about it much, that I have eaten grasshoppers.

If you ever do the same, I recommend you follow my lead and take your glasses off first.

Fortunately, there were plenty of distractions below us in the plaza to prevent too much dwelling on this whole grasshopper-as-food issue, such as the Police Band marching past with the Mexican flag...

 

...and a vendor with flowers on her head. Women balance a lot of things on their heads in Oaxaca, as women do in a less-literal fashion all over the world.

Later that same evening (or the next...), we opted for some non-chapuline appetizer. I don't know exactly what we ordered, but this is what we got:

Those would be raw weiners, mostly. It wasn't difficult to find some young vendors who were much more interested in eating them than we were.

In fact, the Oaxaca plaza was teeming with vendors, young, old, and in-between, usually selling the exact same things over and over--carved wood spoons and assorted knick-knacks, and woven scarves. (As an American who values her Mexican residency, I will only say that, in Oaxaca, the economy appears to be far worse than in Jalisco and Nayarit.)

As night falls, the plaza truly comes to life.

 

The following morning (or possibly the one after that...), we went to breakfast at the mercado. We sat at a counter. A nice motherly woman behind the counter said, "¿Chocolate?" to which we replied, "¡Heck, yes!", more or less. Oaxacan chocolate is famous, don't you know. So she brought us some, hot and whipped with an authentic wooden Oaxacan chocolate whipper.

Most of us liked it.

It's more watery than Nestle's Quik, and has some cinnamon in it, I think. It doesn't really taste like American hot chocolate, even the kind made with Hershey's cocoa...and it's a little grainy because the chocolate they use is not powdered. Mostly what it tastes like is Oaxacan hot chocolate. It was quite entertaining sitting in the mercado drinking it.

Then, after I'd finished a bowl of chocolate the size of my head and an immense bun to go with it, the nice woman asked (in español, of course): "Now--what do you want for breakfast?"  

☀ ☀ ☀

➺ Many thanks to T. Ashby for several of the photos.

Next week: Part 2--A bus trip to Teotitlán and the ruins of Monte Albán 

Over there on the left you'll find a small update on the construction, as specially requested by Dee.