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.

(You can click on the photos for larger versions)

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.

View the video in full screen by clicking on the little square then hit escape to come back to the blog.

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.

Our Minds are Blown

OMG.  We just had the most astonishing experience at the San Miguel International Writers’ Conference.  This is a week-long conference for writers and readers now in its 15th year.  Madeleine Thein,  the keynote speaker for the evening and a Canadian author of Chinese ethnicity, gave the most incredible speech we have ever heard.  I can’t even begin to describe it. It was a literary work in itself.  Poetry in a way.  She got thunderous and sustained applause when she finished, but then everyone sat there completely stunned and it took a long time before anyone could come up with a question for the Q and A session.  This woman has the most amazing mind - I have never had a thought even one tenth as deep as hers.  I have not read any of her books, but I will now for sure.

Ms. Thein has won every Canadian literary award that exists and her books have been widely translated.  She has a short story collection called Simple Recipes and three novels: Certainty, Dogs at the Perimeter and her latest Do Not Say We Have Nothing.  This last book is about China from 1949 to 1989, Mao’s revolution to Tiananmen Square.  

I really would not want to be tomorrow night’s keynote speaker having to follow her.  I think I would call in sick.

A Mighty Wind

No, I'm not talking about flatulence although that has been a problem for both of us from time to time since moving here.  😀  The wind outside has been incredibly strong yesterday and today.  I went up on the roof terrace yesterday to check on our outdoor furniture and all seemed well, but I went up again today because the wind is even stronger and discovered that the furniture had been blown up against the wall and two of our cushions had blown away.  Fortunately they blew down in the empty lot next door and we were able to retrieve them with only a few nasty burrs to pluck out.  The wind was so strong that it was hard for me to walk against it, so our plans to walk into Centro today have been postponed.

The other problem caused by the wind is the dust.  There are three major construction projects going on next to us and the dust is unbelievable.  Even with all the windows and doors closed, the dust in sifting into the house because there are gaps around the doors and sliding glass doors.  Apparently nobody uses weather stripping here, so we will be installing our own soon.

A lovely Sunday Hike

There is a hiking group that meets early every Sunday morning in SMA and goes out into the campo, the country, to hike in scenic areas.  We made our first hike earlier this month and joined the "moderate" group rather than the "ambitious" group.  It's a good thing we chose the easier group because we hiked over 6 miles with some moderate gain in elevation.  It was a beautiful day and the scenery was rugged but lovely.  We started and ended near a little village called Juana Ruiz.  (Click on photos for larger versions)

 It seems that every little village, no matter how small, has a church.  We encountered this one just after starting out.  The next one we came to a little higher up in the hills is probably abandoned or seldom used.  

At one point we crossed a slow moving river.
During the rainy season, it might not be
passable.

We walked through some farmland and had to go through a number of fences.  We were very careful not to do any damage and to leave the fences just as we found them.

We also encountered some stone walls and I loved the bright colors of the lichen.

 

Some of the scenery-the lake is in the background but hard to see in the mist and haze.

Murals in Colonia Guadalupe

The Guadalupe neighborhood is famous for the murals painted by a variety of street artists.  Graffiti was a problem in the area, so an expat lady organized a program to have good artists paint murals instead.  They have become very popular with tourists and many residents, but now some residents and city officials oppose them and are painting them over.  The city is painting buildings, for free, in the Centro area in historical colors of red and ochre, which to my mind will make the streets monotonous.  I like the mixture of colors on the houses.  Guadalupe is not part of Centro, so many are hoping that at least some of the murals will be saved or that new ones will be painted when the owners of the houses give permission.  Here are some photos from our walking tour.  It is amazing how talented the artists are and even more amazing to see what can be done with cans of spray paint (some use other kinds of paint as well).

My favorite

This is painted on a huge textured door.

Revolution Day

I've been so busy with Spanish school and all sorts of other activities that I haven't had time to post anything.  Now I'm catching up.

November 20th is Revolution Day in Mexico, and there are parades all over the country.  Young people, both men and women, dress up as revolutionaries and march through the cities.  Here are some photos from the parade in San Miguel de Allende.

This soldier has plenty of bullets

Many women joined the military, but according to Wikipedia, the men
believed they should be home cooking and cleaning.

Groups of cheerleaders represented various corporate interests

Participants in youth activities marched - these kids attend a cooking workshop

Parade royalty watch from a balcony

These large puppets are very popular

What an amazing week!

The Day of the Dead (Día de Muertas or Día de los Muertas) celebrations started on Monday the 28th with a charity benefit at the home of a local couple.  The house and garden were gorgeous and filled with art, the food and drinks were delicious, and the guests were an interesting mix of mostly expats, snowbirds and locals.

Enjoying ourselves

Late lunch in the garden

On Tuesday we were treated to lunch by a fascinating man, the head of the ProMusica organization that brings world class musicians to SMA.  For a modest amount, we became patrons of ProMusica and will have 16 concerts and 8 cocktail parties to meet the artists between now and March. Then on Thursday, we had a market tour and cooking class in the morning with Chef David Jahnke, a German chef who has been living and working in Mexico for about 20 years.  We purchased food at the market and then went back to David's house where we prepared several dishes: cactus leaf salad, "Chile Relleno" stuffed poblano peppers with tomato sauce, corn tortilla huitlacotche cheese quesadillas and fried plaintain and other fruits with cinnamon sugar.  (huitlacotche is corn fungus - delicious, believe it or not)

Cactus leaf salad

Chile Relleno

Fruit dessert

Thursday was the 31st of October, Halloween, a holiday the Mexicans have adopted recently.  It is controversial because some people feel it conflicts and takes away from Day of the Dead, but the children and families we saw seemed to love it.  Kids don't go door to door asking for candy - they all converge in the Jardin, the central square, wearing a mix of Halloween and Day of the Dead costumes.  We took a large shopping bag of candy and it was gone in a few minutes - a real feeding frenzy of polite little kids.

Friday Nov 1st was All Saints Day and the start of the official Day of the Dead events.  For this holiday, doors are decorated and altars to departed relatives are set up with photos, flowers and items the deceased liked including favorite foods. 

A large altar in a courtyard

A very large display of flowers was located in Plaza Civica

There was a big business in face painting the traditional "sugar skulls" and painting stations were set up near the Jardin during the day and evening.

At 8pm there was a big parade of Catrinas and Catrins, the famous "dead" figures.  We were there in face makeup I applied along with hundreds of others walking along the cobblestone streets.  Great fun and friendly crowd.

Cynthia

Erich

Afterwards we retreated to the Rosewood Hotel, probably the fanciest in town, for a dinner under a large tent-like covering.  It was fun being at dinner with almost everyone in costume and face paint, although the temperature had dropped and it was a bit chilly sitting outdoors.

November 2nd is the official Día de Muertos.  First we attended a concert, Mozart's Requiem in D Minor,  in a very old church in Centro.  There was a large choir and orchestra and the sound filled the church.

That evening we attended an unusual concert at Los Senderos, a place just outside of town.  There is a big man-made lake and a large sculpture that lit up in different colors along with the music.  It was chilly so we joined some folks around a bonfire while listening to the music.

After all this activity, Sunday was a welcome day of rest.