Day 2 - Monte Alban
Once again, Charlotte, Russ, Kathy, Steve and I crammed into a
tiny taxi...this time for a longer ride up the mountains to the ancient
city of Monte Alaban. The driver's gear shift was MIA underneath poor
Kathy ;) Testing the limits of the taxi's suspension, we slowly made
our way up the steep road.



We hired a tour guide to walk us through the mysterious ruins. He was a
really nice man, but he bored me to death. I wandered off by myself. He
just spent too much time on (what I thought were) irrelevant details. I
spent my time taking photos, climbing to the top of one of the tallest
of the ruins, listening to Radiohead and enjoying the view. It was
crazy beautiful up there, so high I could almost touch a cloud. You can
view a bunch more photos on my Flickr page that I just uploaded:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/henname
Gotta love the iPhone...yes, I LOVE MY iPhone! Possibly too much...



My sunburned arms are killing me right now...good reason to have
another cervesa! Silly me, pasty white, thousands of feet above sea
level on a crystal clear day.



Since Oaxaca relies heavily on tourists, there are countless street
vendors EVERYWHERE. Even inside Monte Alban. Lots of jewelry made of
semi-precious stones, masks, and various chachkas. I must have muttered
a polite "no, gracias" a hundred times so far.



After Monte Alban, we made our way back to town...certainly a much
smoother, quicker taxi ride going downhill ;) We had the most amazing
lunch at a place in the town center that Charlotte had recommended, La Casa de la Abuela. Probably one of the more pricier of places, our bill
was only $100 USD for 5 people including a few drinks and a couple
desserts. The Margarita I had was the best I've ever tasted. I ordered
my favorite, Chile Rellenos. It was a bit different with smokey
chipotles added to the cheese and pork fillings. Oaxacan cheese is
stringy and salty. Like a tangier mozarella.

After dinner, I stopped at one of the streetside "markets" and found a
few treasures. It was another wonderfully exhausting day...