Last Friday we went to Monte Albán, "the second-largest ceremonial site in Mesoamerica." It's located on a levelled-off mountaintop about 1,940 m (6,400 ft) above sea level and about 400 m (1,300 ft) above the floor of the valley in which Oaxaca is located. The sky there is so blue, the air is so fresh, and the sun is so hot.
Monte Alban is an enigmatic place. Conventional archaeological theory is at a loss to explain why this particular site was chosen; it is upon a tall, steeply walled plateau, it has no source of water, it was never used as a habitation center, and there is no evidence of it ever being used for strategic or military purposes. Furthermore, it was extremely difficult to construct; the building rocks were laboriously carried from the valley far below, the builders were small people (averaging only 5 feet tall), they had no metal stone-cutting tools, and they had not discovered the transportation capacities of the wheel. Yet, given all this, the site still became the second largest ceremonial center in Mesoamerica. How are we to explain this immense human endeavor? Archaeologists may respond that the great structures represent a social and religious momentum, an architectural elaboration of the earlier sacred use of the site. But then, how are we to account for that early sacred use?
On Saturday we went to Hierve el Agua. It's another magical place in Oaxaca. That story, coming soon.