We spent almost two hours at this archaeological site this morning. It is a huge area with much of the Zapotec palaces well preserved. Our guide explained the fascinating history of the area before and after the arrival of the Spaniards. (It was interesting to hear how different restorations experts gave their own ideas of how to do the preservation.) The first picture is our first view of the site. We never went inside! What we were interested in was the pre-Spanish Zapotec palace ruins.
The Spanish took stones from the Zapotec buildings to build their church. When they ran out of that stone they got other from other quarries. All the stone walls were beautiful I thought. Interestingly enough in Zapotec times the stone walls would have been painted bright colors. However the preservation people preferred the natural color look.
Archeologists found the local quarries where stones had come from in their research.
The Zapotec patterns interested us greatly. We were told they were derived from textile patterns. It sure looked like it.
There were huge buildings with stone walls which had been parts of the palace grounds and later where the priest did rituals, etc.
I played hokey in the afternoon and got caught up on my blog posts while sitting on my balcony. After a little nap I went down to the garden for a coffee and to relax with my knitting. Another lovely day.
I had my first mole negro tonight. It was OK.
