More old stuff

After having a fantastic, filling Oaxacan breakfast, we took a bus out to the Zapotec ruins of Monte Albán just west and up a mountain from the centre of town. This was the capital of the Zapotec civilisation, first occupied in 500BC and inhabited until about 950AD. At its peak from 300AD to 700AD, there were over 25,000 people living here and in the surrounding hills and Valles Centrales (Central Valleys). Mexico´s first indigenous president, the great Benito Juárez, was a Zapotec.

The ruins sit on top of a huge, levelled hill in the middle of the large valley, now overlooking the city of Oaxaca and its suburbs. Right away we could see the differences between these Zapotec ruins and those of the Mayans and Toltecs that we had previously seen. But there are also many similarities, so it is easy to see how the Zapotecs were influenced by previous civilisations. We wandered around for a few hours and enjoyed the 360 views over the city before heading back down the hill to town. We wandered around town a bit more and then had some fantastic burgers from a street vendor for dinner.