Monday, August 3, 2009

Monte Alban Oaxaca 2009

living.boondockingmexico@yahoo.com

I'm writing from my hotel in Tuxtepec, Oaxaca. A small town close to the border of Veracruz. Yesterday was a trying day but also one filled with excitement and amazement. I arrived in Oaxaca after taking the 6 a.m. flight from Monterrey on the infamous VivaAerobus airlines. The service on board is great and the flight on time but the ground crew is a real piece of work.

The sales rep picked me up at the airport and whisked me off on a tour of Monte Alban. It was barely 8 a.m. but it was the best time to tour the ruins. No one was there and we had the place to ourselves at least for the first hour. We walked around the grounds wondering just what these people were up to over 1000 years ago. They have left us a legacy that we will continue to ponder over the ages, or maybe until they "return".


The highway up the mountain from Oaxaca is an excellent wide two laner that allows plenty of room for rvs and motorhomes although if you are staying at an rv park you would probably want to leave the rv behind and take a tour bus or your own vehicle. All of the buildings are marked as well as the museum pieces and they are in English, Spanish and Danibaan which is now Zapotecan. You will enjoy the tours and there are also tour guides in many languages as well as English.


Please beam me up!!!!



After we finished Monte Alban, and I need to go back to spend a day there to really take advantage of it, we went into Oaxaca for breakfast at the Quinta Real Hotel. This used to be a convent of cloistered nuns built back in the 1642, taken over by a private school in the late 1800s and then by the government in the 1970s. Quinta Real purchased the property and did a complete restoration.


The original "lavadero" where the nuns washed their clothes.


The service is the best and the buffet well-worth the money.

1 comment:

  1. Some of the Quinta Real hotels are quite original. We really enjoyed visiting the one in Zacatecas which was made from the old bull fighting ring.

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