Another day, another church, another market, another group of ruins

Yesterday morning, after dropping off our laundry, we met my parents at their hotel. We all piled in their rental minivan (it was the only vehicle they had available for rent, even though they would have preferred a smaller car) and headed southwest.


Our first stop was the Zaachila church. It was simple and pretty. Selso and my dad are standing in front of the church.

Next we checked out the archeological ruins – basically a pair of tombs. All around, however, there were mounds (see above) which have yet to be excavated. Zaachila reached its height after Monte Alban. The tombs were discovered in 1972 and still contained their treasures. These are now housed in the Museo Nacional de Antropogolia in Mexico City.

One of the tombs in particular was decorated with bas-reliefs of owls, two men with a headdress and a man with a turtle shell on his back. It was very interesting.

From here we checked out Zaachila’s market – this village has it all! It was more of the same, but we enjoyed it. We picked up some empanadas for lunch, which turned out to have pig brain filling. I had no idea, and they were pretty tasty.

We got back in the car and drove to Cuilapan de Guerrero. This village is home to the Dominican ex-convent of Santiago.

The church attached to the convent was never finished – apparently King Philip of Spain quit sending money. The church would have been huge – but as it is, there is only a base and some walls, but no ceiling.

Our final stop of the day was San Antonio Arrazola, another village that makes alebrijes. My parents want to check them out. This was a brief stop and then we returned to Oaxaca.

We came back to the house for a couple of hours, and my parents went to their hotel. They came over in the evening and we had take-out for dinner, which was fun and easy.