Tuesday was a total “chill out” day. I didn’t have to work, I was set in terms of being able to access my clients via skype and internet so Andrea and I decided to head up to Monte Alban, a Zapotec ruin (and UNESCO World Heritage Site) about 10km outside of Oaxaca. We walked about 2 miles to find the place that sold the bus tickets (35 pesos=$3.50 US/ 30 minutes). The ride up was beautiful and gave us a chance to see the area around Oaxaca. But the best part was the little boy who sat in front of me (pictured above). He seemed really curious. His mom/guardian looked dead tired and she was indeed asleep within moments of the bus pulling off. This little guy’s face was just so solemn and joyless that it broke my heart. A few of us were taking pictures out of the windows and I took a chance and snapped his photo. I immediately showed it to him and the smile that broke out on kid’s face when he saw his picture would have melted the sun. It was one of those moments that made every mile I’ve traveled, every dime I’ve spent, and every corn tortilla I’ve eaten worth it.

The entrance fee to Monte Alban was another 35 pesos and you had to dodge the locals selling tours. One guy wanted to charge Andrea and me 100 pesos ($10US) each! $20 for a tour of an archaelogical ruin? I don’t think so. If he had said $5 I might have gone for it, but I felt like this was one of those times you get reemed on prices because you are American or European. Plus, it was just some rocks, what kind of tour do I need? (kidding.kind of.). The Zapotecs lived in this once large city from about 500 AD until about 750 AD. They had to have been about 4 feet tall because all of the doorways were so low. BUT the steps on the pyramids were steep as hell! This is how most people climbed down, including me (no shame in my game). Andrea told me the story of a friend of a friend who was traveling earlier in the year and visiting another ruin with steeper/higher pyramids. Dude FELL and broke both legs and an arm! Que Horror! Anyway, we spent 2 hours getting fried while scrambling up and down pyramids for great panoramic views of Oaxaca. I also liked the carved rocks. How the hell Jorge spent 8 hours here on Monday I couldn’t even begin to imagine. I have to admit this was a bit of a workout too. We had to take a break at the top of one pyramid. I had to keep reminding myself that Oaxaca is almost at Lake Tahoe level altitude-wise, and we were several more hundred feet up snapping pics and trying to imagine a 1500 year old city filled with 25,000 people of an average height of 4.5 feet.

We finally got off the mountain around 3pm and were starving. We walked the 2 miles back to the hostel and calculated that we’d walked about 6-7 miles in 85 degree heat and we deserved a nap and a beer. I felt the way this dog looked! This traveling stuff is hard yall!

       

I think this is one of the best photos I’ve taken yet. This crazy.black.chic is falling in lurve with photography. Not that I need ANOTHER hobby. As Alison says: I already have many and keep discovering new ones all the time. Too true. Too true.

Monday I spent the morning running around town checking out internet cafes in preparation for work on Wednesday (yes Momma D, I actually am doing work!) and trying to find a place to send a fax back to the US for one of my clients. Traffic (foot and auto) was tied up due to a march/rally for teachers day. I finally found a place to send the fax from and was pleasantly surprised that it was only $1US per page. I tracked down Andrea in the hammock deck back at the hostel to see if she wanted to go with me on a tour of the Jardin Etnobotanical (Ethnobotanical Garden) in the late afternoon.

I have to stop here and talk about traveling with other people. Jorge, Andrea and I met almost 4 weeks ago in a totally different city. Finding people you can travel like this with is pretty rare. The three of us work because we are all very independent, very low key and into totally different things. Jorge’s family is from Mexico, he’s in lurve with the Archealogy and History. This dude spent ALL.DAY.MONDAY at the ruins at Monte Alban (Andrea and I knew better than to go with him on this tour). Andrea is really into the music and culture, she always gets us into the places where the locals hang, we dance, eat and drink with locals as much as possible and her blond locks and blue eyes have gotten us invited into many a local haunt. I am really into the Anthropology and the cuisine. So we like doing different things, and even better we never feel compelled to invite one another or join one another in any of our pursuits. Case in point: neither of them like to cook so the idea of cooking classes made them roll their eyes. But every now and then we’ll join up and do something cultural together like going to the Palacio yesterday with Jorge, or going with Andrea to see some live music by local musicians. Or they will indulge me my desire to eat at all 4 of the restaurants on the Zocalo, or to eat at the same restaurant 3 times in 2 days when I find one I like.

I ended up on the botanical garden tour without the other two, but in a group of about 6 with the cutest.little.guide.ever, who struggled some with english, but was funny and well learned about the plants. When she told us the tour was an hour and a half, I thought to myself “i’m outta here in 45 minutes tops” because I couldn’t see how we’d spend 1.5 hours in the place. Boy was I wrong. She let us eat the hottest.peppers.ever and then cool our tongues with some locally grown mint. The garden is much bigger than it looks from the front gates. And the cacti, tropical flowers and vegetables were so interesting that at the end of the tour we were all kind of sad that it was over. So, I highly recommend Oaxaca’s Jardin Etnobotanical when you get here.

I met up with the other two for dinner and we were all in pretty low key moods. We hung out in the Zocalo and people watched and did a couple of shots of mezcal. This lead to the crazy idea that sent the night (and the rest of the week) downhill. We decided it would be a good idea to head back to the hostel. BUT. We would do a shot of mezcal at EVERY bar between the Zocalo and the hostel (a distance of about 1.5 miles with easily 20 bars in the vicinity). I don’t know whose idea this was, but we must have been in a fit of mutual insanity because we all thought this was the best idea we’d ever heard. 6 bars and 8 shots later…we end up at Free Bar, which is not even close to free and barely a bar. We made friends with tourists and locals alike and danced the night away (hey, weren’t we on our way back to the hostel?) to a mix of Mexican hip-hop, US hip-hop and salsa tunes. And I thought to myself as I went to sleep: “Today couldn’t have been more perfect.” And it was true.

*yeah, i know i still haven’t gotten to the 4 ft. people, yada yada. its coming people. i promise.