Marilyn in Mexico 2008

Friday, August 15, 2008

By 9 A.M. we were breakfasting on Mexican rice, green beans, refried black beans, and crispy tortillas, getting ready for a day at the market. But first we decided to take in Monte Albán, one of the most famous ruins in all of Mesoamerica.

By taxi we arrived at the hill that had once been populated by Zapotec Indians around 100 B.C. It had been a fabulous city of pyramid-like temples and palaces, residences and ceremonial structures. Even the ball court was here where the winning team earned the privilege of being sacrificed to the gods - kind of makes you want to think about losing on purpose, doesn't it?!? The overgrown vegetation had covered the buildings for centuries until discovered by Alfonso Caso and excavated and mapped by more than 300 people. In fact, even today, we met 2 men who were making detailed drawings of every rock in a stairway because there will be some more restoration work done on an adjoining section soon. There were tunnels under most of the large structures and hidden compartments. It was a beautiful sight with commanding views of the central valley nearby. Oaxaca state has been described to me like a wrinkled piece of paper laid out on a table - it is mostly hills everywhere except here in the central valley region where Oaxaca City is the capital.

After a fun morning there, we took another bus to the Friday market. [Did I mention that Cecilia and her children have managed to work and attend school for years (even university) without ever owning a car here?] It's a lifestyle that I could adopt, especially when gas is over $4 a gallon back home!

What a feast of sights, sounds, and smells! I must have taken 50 photos of people and food, especially the unrefrigerated meat and fish, and the fruits and vegetables I have never seen. There were "nanches" - little round yellow fruits, yucca - both raw and cooked, little black avocados in which the peel is eaten, long seed pods where the flat green beans are eaten raw, chicken parts galore with the feet cut off and set to the side, just in case you wanted to buy lots of them without wasting your money on the other non-essential chicken parts like thighs and breasts. I enjoyed seeing the myriad little indigenous women from the mountain towns with their heads covered with baskets or traditional hats and scarves. We bought some "agua fresca" which is a cold fruit-flavored water served from a big jug into a plastic bag and a straw inserted before the bag is tied up to not spill - it was delicious, plentiful, and refreshing! There were about a million vendors with everything from pirated DVD's and CD's to clothing to school supplies to every food imaginable! I found it fascinating and could have spent a whole day there, but our shopping bags were getting too heavy to carry!