Yesterday, Sandra and I had separate agendas. She had signed up to do the temazcal, the indigenous-rooted herbal steam bath and massage, and I was going to see the old Zapotec ruins of Monte Alban, which she had seen on her previous visit. We had spent the previous day visiting several art galleries of contemporary works, most of which we didn’t like. Sandra did find one Oaxacan artist, Gabriela Campos, whom she had an affinity for. So, she wrote her and asked her if she wanted to chat over a coffee about art. [UPDATE: Gabriela wrote back, but is living in Toronto, having married a Canadian, and has two sons. She's not planning to be back for a visit till next November. But it's a good contact.]
Monte Alban, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is one of those places which you just have to visit if you’re anywhere near it. I took a tourist bus to get to the site, which is only 10 km from the city. On the bus there was a picture of Jesus crowned with thorns behind the driver’s seat, with the handpainted words below it, “Voy con Dios. Si no regreso, estoy con el!” Hardly reassuring, but this wasn’t one of those edge of the cliff rides, anyway. The trip went through some unattractive parts of town, with grafitti everywhere. As we got out of town, I got to see just how dry this area is. Dusty, burnt hills, with little in the evidence of topsoil.
After a sharp turn near the end of the trip, where our bus had to do some reversing to make its way around an S curve (reminded me of getting stuck in Galicnik two years ago), we parked, and I made my way to the entrance. There I paid 51 pesos (about $4.00, but why they had to add the extra peso is beyond me), and got my bearings.
I first went into the museum, which has collected some of the original stonework, jewelry, and other crafts. All the eplanations were in Spanish, so I did the best I could. Nice maps. It was good to have gone to the city cultural museum last week, as it prepped me well for this visit. There were some huge stones with inscriptions, apparently the first writing in the Americas, and in fact this civilization was flourishing well before the first millenium CE.
I left the museum and proceeded to explore the site itself. It’s quite impressive. The priest-led society flattened a mountaintop, created a state, made wars on its neighbors, gathered tribute from its conquered lands, figured out how to deal with water, set up astronomical observations, held rituals, and let the highest ranking folks live in relative luxury. Sounded a lot like ancient Egypt. I climbed stairs to the tops of structures after visiting the small necropolises on the outskirts (homes housed tombs). The long view was great; I hadn’t seen anything like it before. People were small figures with shadows on a huge plain, with monuments and pyrimidal-type stone structures carefully placed and aligned throughout. A picture I took reminded me of a scene from Last Year at Marienbad.
I wandered around for a few hours in the baking sun, trying to imagine life here so many years ago, thinking how little some things have changed re: societal hierarchies, wondering about the spiritual side of a society that castrates and enslaves its neighbors, comparing it to our own society’s litany of horrors, and trying not to get too worked up about all this. As one of the advantaged in this lifetime, I still question whether the work I have chosen/which has chosen me—helping children across different systems, but mostly the school system—has been the best use of my skills, time, and energy. Also, whether there is some way to share what technical and musical knowledge I have to make the world a better place. I have no desire to be a lay missionary, but this vacation has provided me with the time to reassess what it is that I am doing with my life.
On my return to our B&B, I met up with Sandra, who’d had a very nice day and was relaxed and thoughtful. She offered to the indigenous woman who worked with her in what sounded like an herbal sweat lodge to return and exchange massages. We talked some, had a late lunch, studied Spanish, ate dinner, and took it easy. I used my iPad to contact a friend from work, Jim, and we video-conferenced for about 20 minutes. I was able to show him some of the B&B, and describe my trip. This on the same day I was questioning the use of technology in general. Nothing’s simple. Thank goodness, in this case, as I wouldn’t trust it.
