Millions of Monarchs

The highlight of the last couple of weeks was definitely the trip to the Monarch Butterfly Reserve in Macheros with my friend Paul Cameron.  Paul arrived on Saturday the 7th.  I took a bus to Morelia to meet him - but went a early to see a bit of the city before he arrived.  It's a lovely city, with restored colonial buildings and a beautiful cathedral:

Cathedral from the Plaza Grande

Sanctuary of the Cathedral

I walked around for a couple of hours, popping into churches, stopping for a coffee and venturing down to the fountain of Tarascan women holding up a tray of nature's bounty, with the ancient aqueduct in the background:

The first couple of days Paul and I did some local hiking as he got used to the elevation (about 7.000 ft.) before heading to the reserve.

Paul above the fields behind the pueblo of Uricho, as we headed toward Mal Pais

Then on Tuesday the 10th we traveled to Macheros, in the state of Mexico.  We took a combi to Patzcuaro, a bus to Morelia, another bus to Zitacuaro, a combi to La Piedra and a taxi to Macheros - quite a jouney!   We stayed at a nice little bed & breakfast, the only lodging in town, and ate at the only restaurant in town, run by the parents of the B&B owner.

The pueblo of Macheros - from the window of our room.

The next morning we paid our entrance fee and set out with our mandatory guide - you get whichever one is next in line.  We got a 19-year old guy whose "guiding" amounted to walking 100 ft. ahead of us and occasionally looking back to see if we were still there.  But I wasn't really expecting much more - the guides get no training - and we were happy just to be heading to the Cerro Pelon Butterfly Reserve.  It was a pretty strenuous 2 1/2 hour hike up a sometimes steep trail to the top of the mountain where the butterflies spend the winter - after flying here from Canada and the U.S.A., crossing the Gulf of Mexico!  An amazing migration.

On the trail

View from near the top of the mountain

We hiked through beautiful forest, stopping occasionally to catch our breath at the high elevation, and spotting birds along the way.  Just before we got to the reserve, the clouds covered the top of the mountain, so the butterflies weren't active.

Branches hung with monarchs

What look like dead leaves in the photo are actually monarch butterflies with their wings folded, clinging by the thousands to the branches of oyamel fir trees.  We waited and waited for the sun to come out so the butterflies would start to fly.  At one point the sun almost broke through the clouds and there was some activity, but it was spotty and brief.

Monarch Butterflies Spreading their Wings

We almost gave up and started down - it was chilly up there in the clouds! - but we stuck it out and were richly rewarded.  After almost 2 hours of waiting, the sun finally shone, wings were spread, and thousands upon thousands of butterflies took to the air!

I took video of the butterflies flying, but when I uploaded it to this blog the quality was really poor.  So I uploaded to YouTube and was more successful.  You can view the video by clicking on the link:
/www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aExxoCJjmU&feature=youtu.be

Monarchs alighting on the trees.

Neither the pics nor the video truly do justice to the experience of being there in the forest with millions of butterflies.  So many wings were beating that you could actually hear them!  Paul and I were both moved to tears.

Paul with a Monarch

Back down in Macheros we ordered trout for dinner - and then went and caught it:

Paul catching his dinner at the trout pond

As we sat waiting for our trout to be cooked, dark clouds moved in, the wind picked up and rain poured down as a thunderstorm moved through the town.  Toward the end of dinner the power went out so we finished by candlelight.   (Meanwhile, we later learned, Arocutin was hit by a hailstorm, with several inches accumulating on the road near my casita!)





In the morning we took a lovely walk on back roads down to the village of La Piedra, enjoying the sunny day and beautiful mountain views.

In La Piedra we caught a combi to Zitacuaro, to begin our long trip back to Arocutin.

Paul and I did some more hiking while he was here, including climbing el Estribo, an extinct volcano on the edge of Patzcuaro.  We walked up an impressive tree-lined cobbled road:

The street lead up gradually to a pavilion with a view (which was mostly lost in the morning fog).  But we continued up to the rim of the crater - by climbing 417 steps!

Nearing the top

We took our time, took many a rest - and avoided looking back down!  We made it, though, and walked around the rim of the crater, which now contains a corn field instead of lava.

Paul on the rim

Corn in the Crater

As the day went on the fog did clear, so eventually we got some nice views.

View from el Estribo

Paul was thrilled to get to see about 20 new bird species while he was here - with Georgia helping him to identify them and even taking him on a field trip down to the Jaracuaro bridge.  Here are a couple of the beauties he got to see:

Rufous Hummingbird

Black-Vented Oriole

And on his last night here,  Paul was treated to a couple more less-appreciated sightings:  a little black scorpion on the kitchen floor and this 8-inch long centipede in the bathroom:

It was great to have Paul here. Now he's back in wintry Vermont - where I'll be just 2 weeks from today!  I'm in no hurry to leave here, where I've been having a wonderful time, but it will be nice to get back to family and friends - and a bit of New England winter.

Parting shot, from my most recent hike in Mal Pais, where I explored a new trail that petered out and then bushwhacked  until I met a man on horsback who pointed out a trail to Tocuaro:

My favorite volcano, with orchid plants in the foreground.  Must get back here when they're in bloom!