Monte Alban and hot rock food

MontenAlban is a sprawling archaeological complex in the hills above Oaxaca. For 1500 years the Zapoteca people ruled from there; but they had declined and the city was basically abandoned by the time the Spanish came. That meant the Spanish didn’t build churches over over everything and today we can see a rich history laid out in stone.

Although Monte Alban was fascinating, it was also blindingly hot. We managed to see everything and climb one of the temples but then had to retreat to Oaxaca for lunch. Lunch was yet another excellent meal and we followed it up with hot chocolate whisked and poured at the table. It wasn’t quite as good as last night’s chocolate, but the performance was a winner.

After a retreat to air conditioning we set out this evening to a restaurant about thirty minutes walk North. The core mission was to try some good mole and this restaurant is known for it. I’m not sure we succeeded on the mole-front as we opted for the tasting menu. We had lots of lovely food – the highlight was a fish stew cooked with hot rocks in the broth – but only a little mole. It was in any case a lovely meal for my last proper night in Oaxaca and Mexico. Tomorrow I begin the multi-legged process of traveling home.