A visit to the Monarch Butterflies

Erich and I just spend two wonderful days viewing butterflies at two sanctuaries on the border of Michoacán and State of Mexico, a bit over a 4-hour drive from San Miguel de Allende.  We arranged for a custom tour with Follow Me Tours who provided us with a fabulous driver and guide named Aldo who spoke perfect English and was extremely knowledgable and fun to talk with.

We were making good time on the highways until traffic came to a total halt because the Mexico City taxi drivers blocked the highways to protest Uber.  That same day, 140 highways across Mexico were blocked due to a variety of protests.  When our driver found out that our exit was also blocked, he made a U-turn, and tried to cross the median, an effort which took 5 or 6 tries as we kept bottoming out.  We finally made it onto the highway going in the opposite direction, and he managed to find an open route to the other sanctuary we were planning to visit.

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Our first visit was to the Sierra Chincua sanctuary which is very close to the better known El Rosario sanctuary.  The entire protected biosphere is 56,259 hectares (139,000 acres) but the butterflies roost in much smaller areas between about 9,000 to 12,000 feet in altitude.  After using the clean facilities at the entrance, we mounted horses for the uphill trek to where the butterflies were located.  The owners of the horses lead them along the trail, so no riding skill was required.  After 20 minutes or so, we dismounted and carried on up a gentle grade with a wide path to the "quiet zone" where the butterflies had massed.  It was a warm, sunny, glorious day and the butterflies were quite active especially because February is mating season.  They certainly weren't shy and we saw numerous amorous couples.

The forest here was beautiful with many tall, straight oyamel trees which are favored by the Monarchs.  There were also many pine trees and lovely open spaces filled with wildflowers and milkweed, the butterflies' favorite food.  Even if we hadn't seen butterflies, it would have been a delightful trip into the mountains.  We spent a good hour watching the butterflies flutter by, then descended on horseback.

Next we drove to the small resort town of Valle de Bravo situated on a pretty lake.  The town is a weekend escape for residents of Mexico City.  On a weekday evening it was very busy with local people, and we had a nice dinner at one of the restaurants.  Our hotel, Casa Dorada, was right on the charming central square and we enjoyed walking around the next morning looking at the market and the church.

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On Wednesday we headed to the Piedra Herrada sanctuary where we were greeted by thousands of butterflies that had come down to the lower elevations and were flying all around the highway.  All the cars were driving very slowly so as not to injure the little creatures.  Once at the sanctuary, we mounted horses for the much steeper climb up the mountain.  This was a longer ride, at least 30 minutes,  but we were glad we didn't have to do that hike uphill.  The butterflies were flying all around us as we rode up.  We got off the horses and continued uphill on a very narrow path through the trees with some treacherous footing in the soft dirt.


The viewing at Piedra Herrada was even better because we were able to get closer to the trees where they were clustered.  At the end of the trail, we stayed for a long time enjoying the amazing sight of millions of butterflies and the quiet of the wind rustling the trees and the birds singing.  Although the butterflies are very light, the clusters of them are heavy enough to make the tree branches sag.

A truly delightful experience and highly recommended.