Day 3. Ruins! More crafts! Americans! Sunburn!
Another day, another tour...this time, our compadres on the bus were an American couple from Noo Yoik, Sharon and David, and another brilliant tour guide (the Angel) Gabriel. We started with a trip to the ancient Zapotec ruins on Monte Alban. We got off the bus into THE most oppressive heat, so we bought some jolly hats! Practically sombreros - we looked like d*** . Suitably protected, our tour of the quite colossal site started. Situated on top of a mountain, this site is part of a larger network of Zapotec settlements on surrounding peaks that are still being excavated and restored. From this one, the views of Oaxaca city are spectacular, so the whole experience was just great. Our guide Gabriel was infectiously enthusiastic about everything, and the big "reveal" of the main, huge monuments was breathtaking. See pics!

Back on the bus, with Shazza and Big Dave, and on to another artsy-crafty village. (Just a small digression: I'm shocked at myself at how susceptible I am to stereotypes. When we saw oh-my-gad Sharon and bum-bag Dave, Andrew and I rolled our eyes in an oh-no-bloody-Americans way. I (ashamedly) assumed they would be loud and ignorant. On the contrary - they were inquisitive, respectful, could speak Spanish, and we had a lovely time with them. I don't know why this surprised me, but it did. Shame on me!)

Anyhoo, we trundled on to a traditional Oaxacan woodcarvers village. Oaxaca is one of Mexico's poorest states, and this seemed a really struggling region, so it was quite a strange experience driving our shiny tour van through a fair bit of poverty. But we made it to the woodcarving workshop, and it was all very impressive. The hand painting was the best part - the colours and intricate colours were sublime!

We had a rather scrummy buffet lunch - with the added thrill of not knowing what any of the dishes were...is it mince? Is it grasshopper? Who knows! All accompanied with endless Mexican hits, played on the xylophone. It was also here that I started to regret my scant and patchy application of factor 15, and my skin began to sizzle. Language update: I successfully asked where are the toilets? and for one more coke and one more sprite, please in near perfect Spanish. Baby steps!

Next up: more history! This time a Spanish church/monastery from the Spanish colonisation of Mexico (whenever that was? I wasn't listening very well at this point...1500s? A blahdy long time ago anyway!) Our ever-enthusiastic guide gave us a lot of exciting info, which I won't bore you with, but it was in a really beautiful setting, and incredibly well preserved. It was well hot, though...

Last stop of the day, a Oaxacan pottery demonstration. The reason for all these handicraft trips is that apparently Oaxaca is well famous for it's textiles and traditional crafts, and the guys in these working villages are justly proud of maintaining their previous generation's techniques and skills. There was a great demo by a Mexicana lady in traditional dress, showing us how they make their black pottery so shiny. The pottery was very beautiful, and SHINY, but we didn't buy any. There was a cat there, though, which was nice! All in all, this was a great day, made extra spesh because of our wonderful tour guide!

Back at the hotel now, and we are nursing our burnt skin, but there's a Will and Grace marathon (with Spanish subtitles) on TV! Huzzah!

More tomorrow...xxxx