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We spent the first day of the new year in Oaxaca City at the Monte Albán site.
Hotel Francia charges P230 an hour for the use of their van.
We flagged a cab driver who took us to the site for P70.
Archaelogists say that the great city on the hill reigned for at least 1,200 years between 500 B.C.
and A.D. 750 as the capital of the Zapotecs -- the dominant civilization between Teotihuacán in the
Valley of Mexico and the Maya empires of the south. Our guidebook says the name Monte Albán was
probably coined by a local Spaniard because of its resemblance to a similarly named Italian hill town.
Postcards of Monte Albán will usually show you a ball court sprawling with green grass. We came
during the dry season so the whole site was mostly dry and dusty. We explored the tombs using our map;
the excavated artifacts are now housed in the museum by the visitor's center. One of the most impressive
is Building J, an arrow-shaped base unearthed generations ago. Monte Albán's chief excavator
believed that it served as an astronomical observatory.
By 11:00pm, we were ready to say good-bye to Oaxaca City and catch our 12:30am UNO first-class bus ride
back to Mexico City. It's the same scene at the bus terminal on our first morning in Oaxaca where every
member of the family is waiting for their son or daughter to board the bus back to the big city.
We closed the curtains and slept like logs all the way back to Mexico City. Happy New Year.
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 Monte Albán
Open daily from 10:00am to 5:00pm. There's a public bus from the Abastos terminal on the periferico
end of Trujano but we took a P70 cab ride that was much faster and easier. There are a few
cabs waiting to take you back to the Zócalo when you exit the site. Alternatively,
you can ask your hotel's receptionist for their own private tours for more money.
 Primara Clase Bus Terminal
Along Calzada Héroes de Chapultepec 1036 on Highway 190 at Carranza, on the north side of town.
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