Diego Rivera's artwork in the National Palace in Mexico City. This is Moctezuma the Mayan ruler.
A local dentist, and a street market scene.
Men working on the written history or codice that the Spanish conquers later burned.
The city of Cholula from the top of the Catholic Church that sits on top of the
Largest pyramid in the world. They are 220 (more or less) churches in Chulula
Always volcanic mountains on the horizon
San Jose Magote an off the beaten path city with ruins dating back to 2600 BC
The stonework is reflective of a Mesopotamian style. This indicates that the Jaredites brought that style of construction with them from that part of the world or the Jerusalem area.
I felt like I was walking where the Jaredite people had walked. By that time I hope they were still righteous people but I am amazed that people so quickly fall into apostasy. I look at some people I know and within a matter of a year of not going to church, reading the scriptures or heeding the council of the prophets they are miles from the true church.
An interesting Catholic Church with an atrium center of plants and not a lot of gold on the altar. Very refreshing.
The Oaxaca Temple. We were the witness couple when we went with only a total of 7 people in the whole session. It is a very small temple but absolutely essential for the salvation of those people who want to have their families sealed together forever.
We took a walk after dinner at the hotel in Oaxaca and saw this huge bag of cheese puffs. Dennis had a crown come off his tooth on the bus when a tour member passed around some hard caramels. As we took our walk he happened on a nice dentist's office and had his crown put back on for $12. What a deal.
Benito Juarez is from Oaxaca and people are very proud of that. This is a monument to him. We saw it as we drove by in our big bus with only 6 couples.
We stopped by a tree with probably the largest trunk in the world. It was alive when Christ was in America
The tree of Tule is over 2000 years old
We stopped at an artisan village and saw where a family makes rugs. They spin their own wool from sheep, dye it and weave it into rugs. We bought a family tree rug, similar to the one with birds on the wall.
The father of the family and his wife are showing us how the make their dye. Their dye comes from a bug that grows on the cactus plant called cochineal. That same bug is used in red dye in makeup and foods. The bugs are in the bowls next to the crushed red powder. They are black when they are first picked off the cactus plant.
The owner put some red dye on this woman's hand and then added lemon juice. The acid changed the color from red to orange. He added some blue from a root and the indigo color again changed. He also showed us how he used marigolds and golden rod to produce color. Then they dyed their spun yarn and wove it into rugs.
We stopped at the Zapotec ruins of Mitla. This Catholic Church was next to the ruins. As was always the case when the Spanish came in they tour down the pyramids and build their churches with the rocks from the pyramids.
This was some of the ruins that didn't get torn down next to the church. It shows the working of cement and intricate mosaic designs they created with hundred of thousands of separate stone pieces. The top section has the same design in it that is in the Mexico City temple. It is a Mayan design that indicates climbing a staircase It is progression to find that you still keep climbing and progressing as life continues. At death it is a time of continued progression. We also went deep inside some of the tombs in the center of the plaza at Mitla
We also went to the town of Santo Domingo and went to a wonderful church.
A convent had been turned into a museum. We saw some of the gold and artifacts that had been taken from the tombs that were then on display in the museum. There were amazing pieces of jewelry made from gold,silver, jade and other precious gems. We saw bowls of alabaster and gold taken from the tombs. Also statues and other artifacts. The building itself was amazing. I love the Spanish influence of the arched ceilings. We saw them in the Spanish haciendas also.
Unfortunately it was only in 1910 that the people of Mexico began to rise up and demand that they no longer be subject to Spanish rule of the hacienda but be allowed to be land owners themselves.
We went to Monte Alban which was named white mountain because the people in the valley below saw all the flowers on the trees. The ball court as usual found it way into the society of people who lived at Monte Alban. Satan as usual finds his way into the life of people who are not willing to abide by the teachings of Jesus Christ. Hence there was human sacrifice and Satan wins the souls of those who play the game and give themselves to be sacrificed.
This is an example of the ruins at Monte Alban. If they are not constantly cleaned from the weeds and dirt that constantly fall and grow on them the pyramids would be covered over with grass. Only the steps here are cleared. The rest of the pyramid has grass growing on it.
Our guide Blake Allen had a member of the tour go to the top of those stairs and read to us from the Book of Mormon in a similar situation as where King Benjamin could have gathered his people at the temple and spoke to them. We could hear him read perfectly clear as he spoke from the top of the stairs and we were in the middle of the court below. The rock structures did not absorb the sound waves and they carried to everyone in the huge plaza below.
This is a native tree that grows cotton on Monte Alban. The people used it to make textiles.
My picture from the top of one of the many many pyramids at Monte Alban. It took people living in Oaxaca two hundred years to level off the top of the mountain and build the ceremonial center of Monte Alban. There were thatched roof temples on top of all the pyramids that were sacred.
One of the many tombs we saw at Monte Alban. People buried their dead in their houses. This one was in the center plaza of the house.
Another example of a pyramid that is maintained but not in the back and side. It is being reclaimed by the earth.
A figurine in the museum at Monte Alban with his hands in the air. This piece was found in a tomb and is attached to a pot that had goods in it for an offering to the Gods next to where the individual was buried. Either that or the goods in the pot were for the individual when he arose in the next life.
This is a stone carving of a woman delivering a breech baby. The head is in the womb and the feet are shown out of the body. Other stone carvings have similar carvings showing internal organs as though they are examples of Medical teachings.
This civilization was advanced enough to have medical treatment, dental work and certainly astronomical calculations. They were engineers to build all the pyramids on Monte Alban.
Over the centuries civilizations of people have removed the top of the mountain to make it flat. They have build a city with huge pyramids and buildings of all sorts including playing fields, tombs and an observatory.
