On a recent vacation trip to Mexico City, I decided
to devote one day to catch up with the Monarch butterflies (Mariposa
Monarco) that had flown down from this area to their wintering home
in the high mountains, 150 miles west of Mexico City. So, early one
morning, before sunrise, I was on a 6:25am. bus heading out of the "West"
or "Metro Observatorio" bus station. I was bound for ANGANGUEO,
passing through TOLUCA and on to ZITACUARO.
It would be a four hour bus trip, some of it on narrow winding roads,
ringed with deep ravines. Luckily we had a good bus driver. If I had
known then what I know now, I would have got off the bus before the
end, at OCOMPO, and gone to the better-known "EL ROSARIO"
Sanctuary, because there would have been less walking. However, I went
all the way. At ANGANGUEO I was about to embark on another four hour
trip, this time, mostly on foot. It started out by standing on the back
of a pickup truck, packed with the local native women, who were on their
way up the mountain, called "SIERRA CHINCUA", to sell food
and drink and souvenirs to the tourists.
After getting off the truck, the real trek began. Off I went with an
English couple (to become my Spanish interpreters) and one of the local
guides, thinking that I would see the Monarchs just over the first hill.
No way! Only after about three miles going up and down, and around the
mountain side, did I find what I was looking for - millions of Monarchs
flying like an orange cloud in the bright sunlight. The Monarchs were
all over. Taking pictures of them was a snap. It was Kodak heaven. After
marvelling at this migration miracle for 20 minutes, and asking the
guide questions like, "Why did the butterflies come here and not
somewhere else?" and "How did they find their way here?"
and getting no real answers, I just accepted the miracle on faith. Time
was up. We then started making our way out of the mountains. We didn't
want to miss the last bus.
I think the guide took us back a different way, a so-called "short
cut", because I got the workout of my life! At 3500 meters high
(yes, that's two miles in anybody's book), the oxygen is scarce. I huffed
and puffed. At a couple of places, I was offered a horse ride, at who
knows what cost, but I refused. If the Monarchs could get in and out
on their own steam, so could I.
Back at the park entrance, we found that the cost to ride back to town
to catch the bus had gone up, so that going down the mountain would
cost more than what it had cost to come up. We declined and started
the long trek back to town on foot. The "locals" had to be
taught that it wasn't always a seller's market. Luckily within 10 minutes
an American family picked us up in their pickup and truck-cap, and I
gave them" gas money". They had done their research well when
they had reached the park, and no-way did they have the time and energy
that day. They would go instead to "EL ROSARIO" park the next
day, because they had found out there would be less walking there.
The trip back to Mexico City by bus was uneventful. It was night. No
nice scenery to see. But no ravines to have to watch either, rolling
off from the edge of the road. The day ended with a mad-rush taxi ride
from the bus station to the hotel in one of those green VW "bug"
taxies, that tourists have been known to be robbed and shot in. Just
ask the U.S. Embassy there!
Was the trip worth it? You bet! It's not for every tourist. Just those
of us who love nature, and are so awe struck by it all that this is
just another mountain to be climbed, and a memory to be cherished!