Monte Alban, Ancient Zapotec ruins at Oaxaca, Mexico, and Cultural Museum artifacts

To see the above panorama truly full size, click HERE, where you should be able to click on it, and scroll end to end, with the shot filling your screen. This was taken from the extreme south end of Monte Alban, the ancient Zapotec ruins just outside of Oaxaca City. In the center is, to me, the most fascinating of the many structures, the odd shaped building used to calculate the changing of the seasons.

Here's a shot of me standing at pretty much the same viewpoint.

At the south end of Monte Alban, February 2017

There is a great many photos online taken at Monte Alban, but I've found a lack of photos from the Oaxaca Cultural Museum, which surely should be included in any trip to Monte Alban, as the best of the artifacts saved from the ruins are preserved there, in a uniquely beautiful building, a colonial convent connected to the amazing Santa Domingo church. So, from here, I'm jumping right to shots of some of those many artifacts on display at the museum.

Part of the church and convent grounds is a large arboretum of desert plants. This view is from a museum window

My favorite image from Monte Alban artifacts, and currently my facebook page cover picture

 Julia Kazarina, mandalera extraordinaire, and her daughter Masha, who accompanied me to the museum

 Part of the amazing former convent courtyard

One of the saved gold artifacts

 The front of the Santa Domingo church and convent that houses the museum

Julia, wishing she could reach some of the seed pods

Beginning in San Felipe del Agua

So far my new life living on the northern edge of the City of Oaxaca, barrio San Felipe del Agua, has largely been a simple life of taking walks, exploring, and taking a few photos of things that catch my eye. I'm posting today to show you a few of those photos. 


This magnificent tree, as seen from my apartment, is definitely central to the village life, especially on market days, as shown in this photo. The lady with a large basket full of tamales to sell is usually the first to set up, and sets up right under the tree, just off of the main street. The market is Tuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, and sets up in a narrow lane that runs between the school and the church. My apartment is directly across the street from the school. 

View of the tree as seen from in front of the church. The tree is a variety of laurel, sometimes known as Indian Laurel, and is related to the Indian Banyan tree. My apartment is the closer of two apartments in the two story building on the far left, above a restaurant that specializes in pozole, thus, La Pozolaria.  This photo was not taken on a market day, or much activity would be shown.


At the other end of the market from the tree the produce seller sets up. Wonderful almost beyond belief shopping for fruits and vegetables!  The vegetable section is largely hidden from view here, at the far end of the display, but features chards, spinaches, avocados, and much more. 





The church, which dates back to colonial times, recently got a new, very modern design, stature of the Christ in front of it. This sculptor is very popular with whoever it is that decides on such installations, and his work is prominent all across Oaxaca. Most of his work seems to be fanciful representations of animals, and I find it interesting that San Felipe del Agua got a Christ figure. 



As photographic interests go, expect to see repeated photos of flowers, shadows, and rock walls. There's a lot of that all around Oaxaca. I'll start with some examples from within a few blocks of my San Felipe home.
















I hope you enjoyed this little introduction to my new home, San Felipe del Agua, the northernmost neighborhood of Oaxaca City. For most of the history of San Felipe del Agua, it was an entirely separate Zapotec village, and there is still much life left of the old village life right outside my door.

Until next time, and I do hope to be posting here often, now that I've started,
Jay