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An Excerpt from my, “Adventure and Ecotourism with Mexico’s Glittering Monarchs”.
México’s Glittering Monarchs:
Don’t underestimate it, the North American Monarch butterfly is tough and powerful. It’s capable of herculean flights of 80 miles a day or more.
The Monarch, mariposa monarca (Danaus plexippus, in Latin), has been on the scene in North America longer than mankind. One sees them now just as they have been for countless ages, drifting across open grassy places, investigating every flowering plant. But have you seen billions at one time? In the State of Michoacán you can find all of the Monarchs that spent their summer in the United States and Canada, east of the Rockies and west of the Alleghenies, in their winter haven. (Other sections of the continent, east and west, have migrations with different destinations.) In this book I’ll tell you where and when to find them in México, and the interesting story of how their winter haven came to be discovered.
Michoacán
The large, picturesque state of Michoacán reaches from the Central Plateau down to the Pacific Ocean. The climate varies from the temperate forests of the central highlands to a tropical, jungle coastline. It has some 80 volcanoes. The newest of them, Paricutín, broke the surface of a cornfield in 1943, right under the noses of the terrified local Uruapan farmers.
The area where the butterflies winter, reminds me, somewhat, of the State of West Virginia; mountains with valleys the passing centuries have forgotten. Here, in these seemingly endless tectonic creases in the mountains, the Monarch butterfly finds its winter home. Much of the land thereabouts consists of ejidos, communal lands that are mostly loaned to the native Tarascans, Purepechas, by the government. The local Tarascan Indians will, for a price, haul you, in their pick-up trucks, from your hotel to the butterflies winter haven. There are just twelve known places, all in the same general area, where they spend the winter, all in a relatively inaccessible places—happily for them.
After an hour’s bone-jarring ride up into the mountains over a rough one-lane track the guide trucks and private vehichles will stop in a parking lot. They are prohibited by the Mexican Government to proceed any closer. And then there is an uphill climb, on foot, to reach the butterfly sanctuary. The path is lined, at first, with stands selling all manner of hand made craft items, tee shirts, and the most popular Mexican fast food items, tacos, quesadillas, et al. You might want to sample some since the local eateries are not any better. Stock up on bottles of water as it took me an hour and a half to make it to the top, stopping frequently along the way. You are over a mile high in altitude here. The «path» starts out made of concrete and dirt, switches to stone, and then becomes dirt again with tree roots to stop you from sliding backwards. You will be charged an admission fee about a quarter of the way up, and assigned a «guide».
Living and Writing in Mexico 
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