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!

The Journey Continues

Little buddies that usually greet me when I walk to Erongaricuaro.

And the hiking contiues!  On 1/23 I took a combi to Eronga then went for a nice long walk to La Zarzamora, on the ridge way above the town. Walked up past the old railroad station then kept on going, up, up up (but not too steeply) on a sometimes rutted road, 'til I came out among lovely mountain meadows.

Lupine Along the Trail

and Madrona Flowers

Grassy Lane through the Meadows

Three Sentinels in the Meadow

Eventually came to the paved road and walked toward the village of La Zarzamora (The Blackberry),  looking back to views like this:

I stopped by a wooded gully where birds were flitting about among the bright red flowers...

..... and saw a lovely Slate-throated Redstart:

From the pueblo of La Zarzamora there was a great view down to Lake Patzcuaro:

It was a beautiful 4-hour walk - a little warm but with a nice breeze.  And the driver of the combi I took back down to Eronga shared fresh strawberries he had just bought from a guy selling from his truck 

I finally took another hike with Friends of Cerro Blanco, an expat group, on 1/24.  It was a pleasant, easy hike through farmland west of Patzcuaro, with nice mountain views (as usual).

Hikers

As I hike around, it's so nice to be greeted by so much color here, even in the dry season:

Agave Flowers

Lichens on a branch

My friend Doug Taron from Chicago arrived here on 1/28 - I had company! The next day we took a nice long loop walk through Mal Pais, which Doug was especially interested in exploring.

House finch & Black-Polled Yellowthroat (?) we saw along the way

Doug happily taking in the beauty of Mal Pais - with my favorite local volcano in the background.

Sunlight shining through a bromeliad in a tree.

Doug works at a nature museum in Chicago and is a butterfly specialist.  He was eager to see what beauties the area had to offer - and maybe add some species to his life list (which he did!).  At Georgia's's suggestion, Doug & I took a bus to Tacambaro, the "Balcony of the Hot Country", then a taxi down to Pedernales in the tierra caliente to butterfly along a little river...

Double Waterfall in the River

 .......and through fields of sugar cane.

Doug on a path through the sugar cane fields - camera in hand

Here's some of what we saw:

Julia Longwing

Queen Butterfly - closely related to the Monarchs

Fatima Peacock

And of course there were flowers, too:

Tropical Milkweed

Clitoria - named after what you're thinking.

The next day Doug and I took a nice 6-hour walk - and Doug photographed lots more butterflies.  We we hiked to the petroglyphs, up through a pasture to the railroad tracks, and along them way over to the train station ruins above Eronga, and finally down to that pueblo where we had a delicious very late lunch at Dona Mary's on the plaza.

I really enjoyed having Doug here for 4 days and sharing the beauty of the area with him.  He left on the 1st of February - but got stranded in Dallas and didn't get home until the next day because of a blizzard in Chicago.

On the 1st I went to a celebration of the Purepecha  (the local indigenous group) New Year in the neighboring pueblo of Uricho.  Got there in time to see a very colorful parade, which wound around the town to the churchyard where gifts were tossed to the crowds.  They threw bread rolls (I caught a whole-wheat one!), woven reed fans, hats - and big lemons!  You really had to stay alert if you didn't want to get whacked in the head by one.

Colorful Drag Damsels in the Parade

Band Members - pretty in pink

Gayly-bedecked but somber dancer

Musicians young and old

And there was dancing to the music:

Father (in deer mask) and son dancing

  And lots of folks eating and watching:

The very next day I went to the celebration in Tocuaro, the neighboring pueblo in the other direction,  which included a pastorela, a dramatization of the struggle between good and evil, with a chorus of children bearing colorful staffs and narrating the action...

....and demons in intricately-carved wooden masks (for which Tocuaro is famous):

Me and my favorite demon.

The demons' costumes are decorated with thousands of bright sequins

The demons were slain by the cute angel, at the prodding of the priest:

Lots of characters joined in on the action:

 

I went to the pastorela with Georgia and friends, who had been invited to stop at the workshop of Felipe Horta, one of the village's master mask carvers.  We got to tour his shop...

....and get a good look at his skillful - if sometimes frightening - work:

This one - yet to be painted - won second place in a show by area artisans

Felipe and his family were gracious hosts, and treated us to drinks and tasty corundas (the local triangular tamales steamed in corn leaves).

The other day I went on a spending spree and paid $18 for 12 bananas, 12 little limes - and getting my teeth cleaned!  The fruit cost about a dollar,  the cleaning about $17, a bargain even here in Latin America, where I've usually paid $30 to $35.  And that's why I get my dental work done here!

Tomorrow my friend Paul Cameron comes to visit!  Looking forward to spending time with him, hiking around here, and visiting the butterfly reserve where millions of Monarchs winter after migrating here from the U.S. and even Canada.  Hoping to get some good pics and a bit of video!

A  bit of local color to end this post