Oaxaca (days 5)

Today I toured Monte Albán, which lies just 10 kilometers in the hills outside of Oaxaca City. The ancient city of Monte Albán was one of the primary prehispanic settlements in Mesoamerica and was inhabited by the zapotecas. Today it is one of the most famous ruins of the state of Oaxaca, and with good reason. For all the glory that the pyramids of Chichén Itzá receives I found Monte Albán to be just as impressive. It also helped that to have a superb tour guide who went into detail about the zapotecan cosmogony, calendar system, societal hierarchy and even some of the legends behind Monte Albán such as why this magnificent city was abandoned before the Spaniards even set foot on Mesoamerica. I returned to Oaxaca in the afternoon and, following an excellent lunch of mole negro, met up for coffee with one of my friends from Oaxaca. She didn't hesitate to invite me over to her house for breakfast the next morning.